A brand new agricultural steel building was built over the existing barn while the old one was still in use.

A successfull debut project

This spring a brand new beautiful blue barn was opened at Yttermoen Gård in Nord-Trøndelag, Norway. For the farmers, Karin and Eirik Fjerdingøy, it was a day to remember. It was also a significant milestone for O.B.Wiik as this is the first steel building to be set up solely for agricultural purposes. We’re happy that all expectations were met.

“We chose O.B.Wiik for a number of reasons, but it was the complete package they offer that made us decide,” says Karin Fjerdingøy, the farmer at Yttermoen Gård. “We were welcome to communicate our needs and wishes throughout the project, and we are very happy with the representative from O.B.Wiik. The follow-up and support has also been very good.”

A new barn over the old one

“Karin, Eirik and I had a good relationship from the start, and that was a key factor, since the project had to go on while the old farm building was still in use. We sat down and made plans on how we could make the project run parallel to their existing needs,” said Andreas Volla, the project manager at O.B.Wiik.

In fact, the new building was actually built over the old existing one. Bit by bit, the old barn was covered in the new one, while the milk production kept on continuously. The next phase was the complete overhaul of the inside of the barn. Automation like milking robots and feeding robots was installed, and today the barn is a good example of how high-tech solutions shapes modern day agriculture.

A collaborative project

Felleskjøpet, a Norwegian cooperative for farmers, was involved with the project to secure the best solutions.

“We made initial sketches along with Felleskjøpet, and their recommendations were followed to create the solutions we wanted. This went along without a hitch, since O.B.Wiik also was in direct contact with Felleskjøpet,” farmer Eirik Fjerdingøy explains.

“«If you want it, we’ll make it happen», they said, and that was very reassuring to us”, Eirik concludes.

This is a description O.B.Wiik can recognize:

“It’s a concept as much as it is a building. We’ve partnered up with people with the same vision to create a modern agricultural building with robotics, automation and state-of-the-art technology,” says CEO at O.B.Wiik AS.

He also highlights the efficiency of the process:

“We are used to very short periods of construction for all our steel building, and the barn project benefitted from that. The steel frames used in this barn are produced to exact measurements and assembled to precise instructions. This way you get a compact and efficient building period. We can’t imagine there’s any faster way to do this type of element production,” CEO at O.B.Wiik concludes.

15 percent increased production

Since the new barn was fully in use, milk production has increased by 15 percent. The reasons? Well, the new housing produces less noise, which is good for the wellbeing of the live-stock. Also, modern, efficient machinery results in less manual labor and more time spent caring for the live-stock.

Karin and Eirik are happy, their cows are happy and we at O.B.Wiik are looking forward to our future agricultural projects.