The Braum Dairy Farm is located on land between the communities of Tuttle and Minco, Oklahoma. The farm covers approximately 15 square miles and lies along both sides of the South Canadian River. When purchased over a thirty-year period the land was in various pieces. A large part of it was wasteland and most of it was not fully developed.

Work on the land by the Braum’s Construction Crews included jetties on the riverbank to stabilize the sandy bank during seasonal flooding. Our construction crews also built most of the buildings on the farm including the milk barn, free-stall barns, processing plant, water treatment plant, and waste treatment facilities. They also helped build a 600 ft. private bridge across the South Canadian River. This bridge not only provides access to the various fields, but it also makes the public roads around the farm a safer place to travel by taking the large farm equipment off of the roads and highways. In addition, Braum’s crews also recently completed a private mile long lighted entrance road to the farm and plant.

All of these improvements were financed privately without government funds. Braum’s believes in a free market. We don’t believe that the government should spend taxpayer money to promote private businesses and Braum’s never accepts government farm subsidies.

At Braum’s, we do things from the ground up. Corn and alfalfa are grown to provide the forage part of the ration for our dairy herd. Both of these crops are harvested as ensilage and provide a uniform ration 365 days a year. We have the capacity to produce, feed, and store a total of 200,000 tons of alfalfa and corn silage each year. The alfalfa is cut six times during the growing season and the corn is cut once. After the corn is cut a cover crop is planted to protect the soil. This is plowed under in the spring.

The alfalfa and corn silage are mixed together with grain to provide a uniform complete ration which is fed to the dairy herd several times each day. The grain part of the ration is made from locally purchased corn, milo, barley and soybeans. Because there is not enough locally grown corn for our needs, a considerable amount is imported from Kansas and Nebraska.

Locally purchased soybeans are roasted here on the farm, which makes them more digestible. By producing and mixing our rations right here on the farm, we are able to monitor the specific and ever-changing needs of the herd. We believe in natural. It’s a big part of what we do. That’s why we don’t inject our cows with hormones to increase milk production. We have never fed them antibiotics in any form nor have we ever fed them meat and bone meal which have been linked to BSE (mad cow disease).

We buy thousands of tons of wheat straw from the local farmers. This is a by-product of wheat grain harvest and has been plowed under or burned in the past. We grind the straw and use it for bedding for the dairy herd in our free-stalls. Free-stalls are 4’ x 8’ cubicles where cows can lie down whenever they wish to. These cubicles are elevated to be above the flush water used to clean the barns. All the barns that house the cows are built on a 3% grade to facilitate the periodic flushing and cleaning of the floor areas.

The flush water carries the manure to a concrete collection ditch which connects to two concrete slurry pits with agitators. From there the slurry is pumped over stainless steel screens which separate the fibrous material from the liquid. The liquid then flows to two settling basins. The first basin is emptied each day of the settled solids while the settled solids in the second larger basin are constantly being removed by mechanical scrapers and pumps. The settled solids are pumped to several stainless steel extruders which separate more of the water from the sludge.

The liquid after being screened, treated, and settled of most solids is pumped to the growing crops. This natural fertilizer greatly reduces the need for chemical fertilizers. The separated solids are made into compost and used on the cropland. When composting is complete there is no odor.