Exclusive Sponsor: CHS Nutrition Jesse Brake and his son, Kaleb, stand outside the 2,400-head capacity slat barn constructed on their rural Wilmont farm in 2012. Julie Buntjer / The Globe
Check out this video:
Brake Feedyards to highlight 2,400-head capacity barn on tour By Julie Buntjer | jbuntjer@dglobe.com WILMONT — The business of raising cattle has kept multiple generations of the Brake family busy as they’ve worked to grow the operation through feedlot improvements and frequent shipment of feeders. Today, the third generation is in the process of taking over not just the cattle operation, but the hog operation as well, according to Jesse Brake. His grandfather, Don, started the farm north of St. Kilian, where Don’s father purchased three 80-acre parcels for a trio of his sons. Jesse is joined by three brothers in the cattle business — Joe who drives truck, and Jared and Jordan, each of whom
work on the farm. Their dad, Jerry, is still involved, as are two uncles, Steve and Doug, and Doug’s son, David. “Jerry, Doug and Steve grew the cattle and hog operations … big enough to where us boys can now be a part of it,” Jesse said. “Everybody takes a part in the operation where they kind of lead and we each stay out of each other’s hair,” he added with a grin. During the cattlemen’s tour at Brake Feedyards, visitors will tour the doublewide slat barn constructed on the farmsite nine years ago. The 2,400-head capacity barn houses cattle from 1,000 pounds up to market weight.
The barn, measuring 120 feet wide by 650 feet long, includes mostly slat flooring, with some concrete flooring in the area where the barn was built over an existing feedlot. Corn stalks are used for bedding. “Most slat barns are only a single wide,” Jesse said. “We built a double wide, where you feed on each side. Part of the reason we did it is we saved a lot of money with the way this barn was designed with the pit. “If it was a single wide, we would have been 1,300 feet out in the field,” he CONTINUED ON PAGE 39
ROCK - NOBLES CATTLEMEN’S ASSOCIATION 2021 | 37
