Except for interruptions in construction during periods of lamb market down-turns, Dion Van Well has kept up a regular schedule of facility expansions on his farmstead, just south of Watertown, S.D. Here is a list of his major projects:
- 1993: Hip roof barn remodeling. Tore out wood floor, replaced with clay.
- 1995: New barn with wall-style feeding. Also installed a sorting facility.
- 1996: Hip roof barn lean-to.
- 1997: Hip roof barn lean-to.
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- 1998: Hip roof barn lean-to.
- 2002: 40-by-96-foot "commodity shed" to keep bales and chopped hay.
- 2003: 60-by-144-foot hay shed.
- 2005: 32-by-144-foot lean-to on the hay shed for feeding lambs.
n 2006: Remodeling a 64-by-96-foot barn and added another 30-foot section and wall-style feeder. "We tore off the roof and made it so it was insulated so it wouldn't drip. I use that one for the lambing barn," Dion says. "I added one of those feeders in the wall. We use that barn for lambing and the old hip-roof barn."
- 2007: 60-by-180-foot large barn, which holds ewe-and-lamb pairs or feeder lambs, depending on the season. He also installed a scale to go with a sorting facility.
