Brian Ramel's night time chopping operation As I travel to toy shows I see many good ideas for displays.  I would like to share a few stand out ideas for dairy display building, in a two part series.  When you build a display there are levels of detail you can add to your model farm.   Dairy displays add a variety of interesting scenes to a lay out. We will look at some of the equipment that can custom pieces that dress of a dairy display.  I will also share some building ideas for dairy farms that I have come across. Custom farm toys can add realism to your dairy display.  They are often a big investment and may take several years to collect.  This can be part of the fun of upgrading a display over time.    The Muellers' Dairy Display The first model dairy farm I would like to look at is Zeb & Rick Muellers' display.  The Muellers displayed at the 2003 National Farm Toy Show.

The Muellers 7500 set up for earlage 

The Muellers' added a John Deere 7500 with an 893 8 row corn head to their dairy display.  Why put a corn head on a chopper?  Some dairy farms do this to harvest earlage.  The corn head allows the chopper to snap just the ears off the corn stalk.  Normally a chopper head or a kemper head cuts the entire plant.  The corn head takes in the ear only and the chopper grinds up the corn kernals and cob.  The chopped up grain and cob makes a good high moisture feed.  This type of harvesting would take place when the corn has dried down.  

7500 with duals and custom hay head

Hay Merger

Bulk silo filler

A stand out custom piece on the Muellers' display is a bulk silo filler.  It is an implement you might not notice right away.  The silo filler works with a silo blower.  This implement allows a dump truck to unload into the silo.  The truck backs in and dumps in silage and the filler loads the silage into the blower.  This is a nice variation for a dairy farm, if you want to use a silo rather than a bunker.

Detailed Milking Parlor

Detail was not over looked on any part of the Muellers' display.  The Milking parlor is complete with an office and reck room.  After a milking shift employees can take a break and even watch TV.  Great idea for a display. 

Life Like Dairy Feed Yard

The Muellers' display has a good looking farm yard.  They have it broken into paddocks for the cows.  There are three paddocks where the cows are fed.  The display shows three stages of feeding.  On paddock has the cows being moved into it from the barn.  The second paddock is being cleaned by a tele-handler and the third shows feeding in action.   This set up gives good detail of the feeding steps on a dairy.  It is not all one look.

Free Stall Barn

Adam Suntken's Swather

Adam Suntken's 2003 National Farm Toy Show display featured a cattle feed lot.   This model farm had several details you might consider if you are building a dairy farm.  The farm was very neat and incorporated a field, shop, feed storage and cows.  What I liked most of all was that Adam had a hayfield on the edge of the farm.  Having fields around the farm helps highlight the farm in the middle. 

Hay Field

Cattle Chute

I asked Adam what his favorite part of his display was.  He liked the cattle loading area the best.  He spent allot of time building the chute and loading pens.  The time was well worth it.  

Feed Hut

Many dairy farms are starting to use hoop buildings to store feed and equipment.  These structures are metal hoops covered with plastic.  They are inexpensive compared to a pole barn and keep the elements out.  Adam Suntken built a hoop barn to put green feed and big bales in.  This was a stand out idea for the display.  You notice it right away and it is true to a real farm.

Self Propelled Chopper and Big Baler

John Sampson's Bunker Silo

A popular item for dairy displayers to build a bunker silo.  I see collectors asking on Toy Tractor Show.com's Toy Talk asking how to build a bunker silo.  Bunker silos allow dairy farms to chop hay and corn in bulk.  Dump trucks and semi-trucks can haul silage at a fast pace from the field to the farm.  At the farm the trucks can dump the silage into the bunk and the drive back to field.  With a traditional vertical silo it can several minutes to unload.   

John Sampson has a great way to make a big bunk silo in 1/64 scale.  He molded a base out of Styrofoam to create a look of a cement bunker.  Rather than buying a few pounds of green train material to fill the bunker he used Styrofoam to create a cap.  John measured a piece of Styrofoam to fit the top of the bunker.  He then carved Styrofoam to look like the top of a silage pile.  He painted the foam green to look like haylage.  He then took train material and piled it in front of the cap.  This material covers up the gap underneath the Styrofoam and gives a natural silage pile look.  The material also allows for a loader to be placed into the pile as if it was moving feed.  John's bunker is a great way to create a big silage pile with out investing allot of money.

Silage Pile

Foam Top

In the June Toy Tractor Times Part II of the Down on the Dairy series will look at making a 1/64 hay field and additional dairy displays.

Up Next:  Making a 1/64 hay field.

TTT May 2004 Page 7

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