Agriculture Hydraulic Doors

Big Red Shed - 'Country Style' Helicopter Hangar

It's big, 60' wide and 104' long. It reaches 46' tall at the peak. A 40' x 16' Schweiss hydraulic door is neatly camouflaged into the front wall. It's 'Country Red'. Its roof line is punctuated with two handsome 4' x 4' cupolas. And it also sports matching 16' wide 'lean-tos' on both sides of this beautiful country structure that does indeed look like an 'old time country barn'. But country barn it isn't.

This 'eye catching' post frame building is the new headquarters of Reynolds Aerial Service, Mansfield, IL. Owners are Paul & Kimberly Reynolds. Parked inside are his two Bell 47 helicopters equipped with 80-gallon tanks and 32' wide spray booms. The south 'lean-to' is the business office plus three horse stalls for the part-time pleasure of the Reynolds girls, horseback riding in their country neighborhood. The 16' x 104' 'lean-to' on the other side of the building will likely be a gathering place for trailers and tractors. And of course extra space for the tools, paraphernalia, shop gear, etc., that just always tends to show up when you build a structure big enough to 'attract all this other stuff'.

"We're just so totally pleased with this new structure. Perhaps bragging just a bit but with the extra touches of my wife Kimberly, plus Noah and his crew, this really is a handsome building," commented Paul Reynolds.

Contractor was Graber Buildings Inc., Sullivan, IL, about an hour from Reynolds property. Construction started the first week in December with finishing touches completed the first week in February. Noah Kauffman, co-owner with his brother-in-law, said he had a 6-man crew on this project. Weather was mostly great for a mid-winter construction challenge.

'Yes, this got to be a fun project. Paul's wife, Kimberly, had some neat ideas for some special touches such as the extra windows with special white frames," said Kauffman. He added, "We had a great crew on this project and that'swhat makes these projects so good. Also that big Schweiss hydraulic door fit perfectly. I'm just very satisfied with the Schweiss door people and so are the Reynolds," said Kauffman.

Those special touches included a 12' x 12' slider door fastened into the front edge of the big hydraulic door of the helicopter hangar. Though this slider door doesn't open, with white cross bucks and windows, this 'fake' slider door does indeed add a country touch to the big structure.

"It was important that this building had some character and country charm, with two separate roof lines with windows between them, the traditional red color, and the extra windows built into the Schweiss door accomplishes this," commented Kimberly.

The hydraulic door is a Schweiss hydro powered unit built by the Minnesota manufacturing firm famed for Schweiss doors on airport hangars across America. Schweiss is rapidly getting the construction and architectural world aware of the fact that Schweiss also manufactures a great line of hydraulic powered doors. And it's this 40' x 16' Schweiss Hydro that captured the fancy of both Kauffman and Paul Reynolds.

Graber Buildings had some earlier experience with other Brands of hydraulic door and it wasn't good. "We had to tear out that door. It was an engineering failure. Since that bad experience we've installed 5 Schweiss units and their quality is suburb; so too is their service. Anyone looking for a great hydraulic door should certainly consider the Schweiss brand," commented Kauffman.

The entire building has steel siding and steel roof. Eventually an in floor heating system and interior insulation will make this a year-round facility for maintenance work of spray equipment and nurse trucks.

The aerial spraying business of Reynolds Aerial Service is in its fifth year. His 21-year old daughter Kelsy is also a licensed pilot, flying both airplanes and helicopters, could very well be piloting with her father eventually.

Summed up Paul Reynolds, "We wanted a building that complements our home. We live in the country outside a small farming community. We needed an office for our aerial spraying business. And we needed a big door so that we could easily pull our helicopters inside without having to fold and unfold the spray booms each time. We will set our choppers on small trailers for quick access to this new indoor shop."

This new structure ended up bigger than he originally anticipated. "We did a lot of research on what we needed, even making scale models of both the structure and our helicopters and different equipment that's part of this business. Moving these scale-sized items around inside the scaled drawing of our potential new structure we could see we might be building to small.

"My wife added another 16' to the length of the building after we had already signed the contract with Noah. But you know what? She may have better vision than I do. Already that 'extra space' seems to be coming into use."

The south-side 'lean to' houses the business office, plus restroom and utility room, a heated workshop and the three horse-stalls, each equipped with 'Dutch Doors' for more of that extra touch. The two cupolas also sport copper weather vanes.

Even the big hydraulic door had some 'cosmetic surgery'. Factory equipped with black rubber sealers across the top line, Reynolds noted that black hinge line 'stood out like a sore thumb'. So he went to Otto Canvas in Arthur, IL, an Amish community and had them sew on a red canvass fabric used for outdoor awning.

His comments on the Schweiss door? "Quality and engineering design is really good. The hydraulic power units work smooth and quite fast. The remote control for opening and closing is convenient. So far the door is perfect and it gives us exactly the look we want for the total building.

"Also because the building will eventually be heated I questioned if a sliding door would give you a tight seal around the bottom and edges for good heat control. This Schweiss hydraulic fits like a glove. It's going to be easy to insulate and to keep the heat inside the building."

Noah Kauffman's first acquaintance with Schweiss was at a trade show. He suggests people should take a look at the Schweiss website. "It packs a bunch of really good information and suggests lots of ideas for different uses of Schweiss doors, both the hydraulic and their bi-fold versions," noted Kauffman. His firm now builds between 80 and 100 structures yearly. He graciously acknowledges the strong farm income in recent years has been a boon to his construction business be that machinery sheds, horse barns, even several commercial business structures.

Reynolds was in the heavy equipment and aggregate sales his previous 20 years until the 2008 economic bust hit America, and his industry. His flight training was courtesy of Uncle Sam right out of high school. The Desert Shield/Desert Storm stint in the early 1990s was his last hurrah with the U.S. military. However he stayed current on his flight certificate and 5 years ago farmers began asking him to take on an aerial crop spraying business. He chose helicopters because of more precise spraying patterns. Today 90% of his business is fungicide applications on corn and soybeans. And he too is grateful for the technology intrigue of farmers who keep ramping up crop protection programs.

Koehn Construction

Koehn Construction Services is the kingpin in Kansas and Missouri Farm Country

Fredonia, Kansas is a city of 2,482 and the county seat of Wilson County, Kansas. The quiet picturesque city is in the southeast corner of Kansas farm country at the junction of US Highways 400 and 47 within 150 miles of Wichita, Kansas City and Tulsa Oklahoma. It was founded in 1868, and saw considerable expansion in the early 20th century, with a fossil fuel boom.

Fredonia bills its city as "In the Heartland . . . Where Pride Flies High. Where The Flag Flies High." You could call it a good ole' American city with deep roots and noble values.

Along those same lines is a successful company which emerged out of Fredonia; Koehn Construction Services, LLC (pronounced "Cane") a full service general contractor. They specialize in commercial and agricultural markets, specifically, pre-engineered metal buildings and grain storage systems.

Their website boasts: "We are not a company that just designs or sells, or for that matter just erects them! We take care of 'you' our customer from the design until you move into your completed project, 'competitively.' It's that simple, our customers are our sales team. They sell 90 percent of our new projects, if you need a new building or bin give us a call, we will not only 'try to make you happy,' we will! Our mission is; 100 percent satisfied customers.

"From the frames to the last screw, we use only the best in building products regardless if 'everyone else' is satisfied with a little less. We will not compromise the building integrity for the dubious 'honor' of having the cheapest building package available. We are confident that we provide the best value for your dollar, every time."

Koehn Buildings, Inc. became a metal building contractor in 2004. Over the years, going back to the companies founding, Koehn Construction Services has been a loyal customer of Schweiss Doors and uses only our innovative machine storage hydraulic doors on their buildings.

"Ag buildings is where we started; they comprise 40 to 50 percent of our business. All our building projects are custom in nature and unique to each customer. One of our farm shops here is a 100'x300'x20' building; 80' to 100' farm shops are probably the most common sizes that we build," said Owner-General Manager Lyle Koehn.

Corn, double-crop soybeans and winter wheat are the primary crops in the Fredonia area.

"We are also doing lots of commercial manufacturing projects. Most here seem to prefer hydraulic doors - they understand hydraulics and how that works. We also prefer the hydraulic one-piece doors. The main reason is simplicity, they are a little more expensive than a bifold door, but they have less moving parts. Most of the doors we do are 40' to 50'-plus wide and 16' to 18' tall.

"We've been using Schweiss Doors for about eight years now and haven't used any other manufacturers door. Most of the hydraulic doors we put in are on farm buildings. After we put in our first Schweiss Door we knew it was a quality product and we've stayed with them ever since. Our customers are very happy with how they work. We also do the installs, which is fairly easy. We don't sell or install any sliding doors. Schweiss doors are very good quality doors; heavy and well built. There's no door out there that is as heavy as a Schweiss door. Everybody else uses lighter gauge materials," said Koehn.

He commended Schweiss Doors for on-time delivery and noted that the staff at Schweiss Doors has been very helpful over the years.

Schneider Farms - New Farm Hydraulic Door impresses at Schneider Farms

After construction was complete on his new farm shop, Dean Schneider, a crop and livestock farmer of New Ulm, MN finally got to show off his new 80' x 84' farm shop at a fundraising event hosted by his family. "When I pushed the button and the the whole wall opened up, everyone was just amazed," he said. The awe was provided by their brand new 40' x 18' Schweiss farm hydraulic door installed on the southern wall of their massive building.

White exterior walls accented with red trim along the borders of the huge hydraulic door make this new farm shop a truly striking building. The Schweiss hydraulic door also features large, red-trimmed windows and additional access doors to the facility.

"I've told Dean for years that he should build a new shop," Dean's wife Lori said. "Our farm equipment is big. He and our sons take great care of the equipment, so a better facility just seemed in order."

Dean agreed, adding, "We did some touring checking out other farm shops, so we pretty much knew what we wanted. Plus, our son Chad has his own construction company - North Star Builders in New Ulm - and he helped with the layout and actual construction. So this was very much a family project."

With the whole family in mind, the Schneiders wanted to make sure the facility featured some special additions, such as the 24' x 32' office and a cozy break room to accommodate their kids, visitors and crews.

"The break room space is great. Gives some special room for visitors and space for our crews during harvest. Plus, we needed an office to get some of the bookwork of our operation out of the house," Dean explained.

WHY THE BIG SCHWEISS DOOR?

"Because of the local connection," said Dean. "We see the Schweiss operation often because it's only about 40 minutes from our farm. So if there were any issues with the door, we knew we could rely on the Schweiss crew for quick service. Our only choice really was, 'Do we do Schweiss Bifold or Schweiss Hydraulic?'"

Dean added, "We did check out a hydraulic door firm further west in Minnesota, but the Schweiss door just looked better to us. Better design, stronger construction, heavier cylinders and, frankly, easier people to work with."

How did Dean end up choosing a farm hydraulic door over the bifold door? Dean stated, "It's a cleaner, less busy look. It really complemented the total interior look of our shop, plus it was easy to insulate."

The delivery of the Schweiss door was prompt and fit in seamlessly with the Schneider's busy schedule. "Plus, they told my son exactly what dimensions were needed for the doorframe. When my son fitted the door into the opening it was flawless. Just a perfect fit, and that's something when you're dealing with a space that big," said Dean.

The Schneiders hosted a social "barnwarming" fundraiser last April for a local baseball team in an effort to upgrade their playing field, drawing inspiration from the movie "Field of Dreams." They ended up hosting around 300 people, and all were thoroughly impressed with the brand new shop.

But what everyone really wanted to see was the lifting of the big hydraulic door. "Everyone was amazed. They had never seen a structure where the entire wall opened up. That just blew people away," Dean said with a laugh.

What's up next for this new "social center" which also happens to double as a farm shop? Dean's son Ross graduates next year, so Lori is already planning the graduation party in the farm shop. A wedding anniversary celebration may also be in order down the road for the Schneiders!

Dean says that his new shop has already become the neighborhood meeting place for morning cups of joe and even the occasional happy hour gathering after work. In essence, this is the Schneiders' very own field of dreams, since the idea of "If you build it, they will come" certainly has come to life.

MORE SPECIAL FEATURES OF THE SHOP:

• Wash stations along both the east and north walls with slight gradient of concrete floor into 50' long drainage basins.

• Several outlets along both these two walls for convenient hookup of a power washer unit.

• Heated flooring under the entire shop floor

• Semi truck access from both sides of the building. The trucks can also drive in from the west side and drive out the south roller door.

• Geothermal heat supplied by a system of 12 runs of piping buried 9' deep.

• An 18' ceiling with 20 high-intensity lighting fixtures built in.

• Blanket insulation in all walls plus 20" of cellular spray foam in the ceiling.

Chad Hoese - The Proven Benefits of Hydraulic Doors for Farm Equipment Storage

If you were to go just three miles north of Glencoe, Minnesota, you would find Stoney Creek Farms. This 2,500 acre spread of land produces corn, soybeans, and a herd of 60 dairy heifers. The man that tends to this land is Chad Hoese, a 29 year old new-generation farmer.

Hoese grew up learning the art of farming from his father, Terry Hoese. Terry passed away five years ago, and ever since then, Hoese has been running the entire operation himself. Hoese has taken the farm and made it his own, expanding his machinery line and his buildings in an effort to modernize. Hoese said that this expansion has kept him busy seven days a week.

His latest addition? Hoese recently put a Schweiss One-Piece Hydraulic 29.10' x 14' clear door onto his wood frame cold storage building. This door helps to protect his two beloved semi trucks, along with some other equipment. Hoese knew the benefits of hydraulic doors for farmers, and he knew the time to make the change was now.

"The sliding doors that were on there were a bear in the winter and these particular ones were a bear in the summer too," Hoese explained. Whenever Hoese would try to raise or lower the doors, they would either hit the frame at the top or they would drag on the floor. He knew that it was time for an upgrade.

"I asked Mike Schweiss if he took trade-ins," Hoese joked, "He said he didn't want them old doors."

This isn't Hoese's first run-in with Hydraulic Doors. Nine years before he installed the hydraulic door, Hoese installed a 44' x 16' Schweiss bifold door on a large machine shed. This bifold door gives the machine shed a nice, clean look when it's closed.

Hoese says that he has had nothing but good experiences with his Schweiss doors. A few years ago, he had Schweiss do the strap conversion in order to use an autolatch rather than having to use cables. The bifold door now has a 16' height and lifts quickly and trouble-free. It also provides a nice shaded canopy when it's open.

"We had trouble with springs breaking and cables winding up. The straps are so much superior to the cables," Hoese said. He knew that the strap conversion was the way to go.

Hoese first encountered Schweiss Doors when his father first got his big shed built back in 2006.

"We had good luck with the bifold door we have, so that's why I came back to Schweiss for the hydraulic door," Hoese said, "Schweiss has a good product and gives good service, so why not get another one?"

When asked what he likes most about hydraulic doors, Hoese praised their simplicity. It also doesn't hurt that the door can be opened in less than 30 seconds.

"There aren't many moving parts, so hardly anything can go wrong — it's just up and down. My hydraulic door is smaller, and it goes up a little faster than my big bifold," Hoese said. "I think if I had the opportunity to put another door on another building endwall, I'd probably go with a bifold, because there is a little bit less stress on the building, and bifolds go up so you don't have to move the snow."

Hoese was even able to partially help with the installation of the hydraulic door. He measured the opening, did some welding work, and pre-hung the door. After that, he got the tin off of the old door in order to prepare for new exterior cladding. Finally, the Schweiss Door crew came out to finish the job. All in all, the entire installation took about eight hours.

"On the inside, we ran some braces back to the headers. [Mike] encouraged me to get the new wrap-around hinge. It works really well," Hoese exclaimed, "I'm not a door expert, but it looks good and works smooth; the grease zerks are really great and the pump works good."

All in all, Hoese was happy. "I would recommend Schweiss doors to others."

Paul Lux - Hydraulic Door is Perfect for Paul Lux Farm Repair Shop

Around these parts Paul Lux is known as a "Jack Of All Trades" and master of many. He's one of those guys who can and has fixed everything from refrigerators to airplanes and everything in between, which is why he's chosen to utilize Schweiss Hydraulic Doors for his repair shop.

After retiring from full-time as a mechanic, Lux decided he needed a good size shop at his Cosmos farmsite to carry on the Mr. Fixit type work that he does. A sign on the wall refers to it as "The Busted Knuckle Garage."

Lux grew up in Sleepy Eye and bought the building site just south of Cosmos, MN from his dad, Joseph, in 1991. He owns a little farmland with it that he rents out.

His Perkins metal building from Willmar is a 54' x 96' that has a 45' 9" x 17'8" Schweiss hydraulic door with remote opener on it and two 48" x 36" windows. The shop portion of it is 54' x 56' with the rest of the building used as a machine shed. The shop has in-floor heat.

"The hydraulic doors seal a little better as far as air leaks, they are a little tougher with less moving parts and I think they open and close faster," said Lux. "I think the bifolds with straps now open a lot quicker than the old cable doors did, and you can park closer to them, but with the hydraulic door you have a big awning for shade when the door is open. The install by Schweiss went good. I went to work in the morning and when I came home it was done. I was looking at a trade-in door that would have needed shortening, but Mike and I figured it would cost just as much as a new door to have it fit right."

He said his brother has a different make hydraulic door on his building and says that door was built very cheaply. The hydraulic unit wasn't anywhere near a Schweiss hydraulic pump and metal in the door was lighter gauge with bracing placed farther apart. He said it was all-around lesser quality.

"I use the shop for repairs. I fix everything from soup to nuts; chain saws, four-wheel drives, tractors, skid steers, lawn mowers, dehumidifiers, belly mowers, cars, trucks and a lot more," said Lux.

Lux said he uses his door a lot, especially during the summer and hasn't had a lick of trouble with it.

He recalled a bad storm that came through on July of 2011. It took half his grove down and he had trees down on the west side of the building, but the door came through fine. He definitely recommends Schweiss doors to others and said every once in a while people come out to see his door and ask how he likes it.

"One thing about the Schweiss doors is Mike keeps improving them all the time," noted Lux. "He went from an 'L-line' to the wire they now use to weld them, bigger frames, a better hydraulic unit, better cylinders so they can't twist or have one side get ahead of the other. I see Schweiss now has new wrap-around hinges that are welded to the door better."

Turtle Farms - Turtle Farms Like their Reliable, Quick Opening Hydraulic and Bifold Doors

Turtle Farms of Gibbon, MN, managed by the brother combination of Mark and Brad Turtle, along with Brad's son-in-law, Andrew Hansen, have been loyal Schweiss door customers ever since they put up their first farm shop.

They started out with one of the first hydraulic doors manufactured by Schweiss when they put up their original 60' x90' x heated shop with a 33'7" x 17'1" one-piece door. A little over two years ago, when they saw a need for additional storage for farm machinery, they put up another new 60' x120' building, this time with a 40' x 18' bifold/liftstrap door. They like both of the hydraulic doors in their farm shop equally well.

The Turtle's take care of a good amount of acreage producing corn and soybeans on the farm originally run by their dad, William, going back to 1960. Both Mark and Brad, who said they've been farming on their own since 1972 became familiar with Schweiss Doors dating back to when Mike Schweiss started putting them into production over 35 years ago. Andrew Hansen, however, had firsthand knowledge of the quality put into Schweiss doors, having worked at the factory as a welder for a 12-year stint after graduating from Vo-Tech.

"We went with a hydraulic door for our shop; it's just a simple and cleaner door, and maintenance free for the most part," said Brad. "The speed is about the same as our bifold door and we didn't want to go any higher with the sidewalls. We wanted as much height as we could get. The bifold door is so big, and with this big door we didn't want so much hanging out there. There are times when we leave the bifold door open all day."

"We don't want to pull down our hoppers. We've got a 40' head now on our combine; you're never really big enough said Brad.

Over the years, they said they looked at other hydraulic door builder's doors and weren't very impressed with what they saw.

"Mike's doors are built heavy-duty and as good as anything I've seen. Some of the others have such little brackets," recalled Mark. "Some put little tubes and pieces in their doors; a lot of Mickey Mouse stuff in those other doors. Others are cheap and you can get them for less, but you don't get much."

"The bifold door with the straps opens quick, faster than I thought it would; pretty similar in speed to the hydraulic. The Schweiss autolatches are nice and both style doors seal nice in all weather. We've never had any trouble with either of our doors." noted Brad.

Andrew said they weren't necessarily looking for a fast opening bifold door, but they certainly didn't want a sliding door.

Farasyn Construction of New Ulm put up their first shop. The second Country Wide Lumber building from Hector was put up by Jay Larson Construction of Gibbon. Installation of both doors was done by Schweiss Doors.

Revier Feed - One Impressive Feed Storage Building!

It stands tall, nearly 40' to the roofline. It's big, like 120' x 200'. Concrete walls standing 16' tall wrap all four sides of this huge structure. And it holds nearly 1 million bushels of corn. We're talking about the huge feed storage structure at Revier Cattle Company, a beef operation with feedlot capacity of about 16,000 head. But what makes this structure especially unique are two steel feed storage hydraulic doors, each 15' 6" wide and 15' tall and positioned at both ends of this feed storage structure.

So why these big and very sturdy hydraulic doors? General Manager Tom Revier simply said, "These doors provide containment for the grain without any loss of space, plus once we get enough grain out of either end of the structure, we can then drive in with our power scoops to load directly into our feeding wagons."

Bunker walls are the usual solution to containment of grain in horizontal flat storage. But big bunkers take up space, and aren't always easily moved.

Schweiss hydraulic doors to the rescue. Constructed with 3/4-inch steel welded into a framework of 8-inch beams, each door weighs 2500 lbs. Yes, it does take 'oversize' pistons to lift such a heavy door so Schweiss's engineers sized both the pistons and hydraulic pumps larger. Schweiss doors were installed with the "New" Red Power hydraulic system!

To make certain there is zero leakage with several thousand pounds of shelling corn piled against the doors, four 6-inch long steel pegs drop into the concrete footing at the bottom edge plus two steel pegs on each edge lock into the steel I-beam framework of each door. Each hydraulic door also has a 54" wide x 44" tall steel slider which lets the grain pour out for augering into the feeding trucks. Once enough grain has been emptied out the big hydraulic door can then be safely opened and a front-end loader goes to work.

Each feed storage hydraulic door also has a 54" wide x 44" tall steel slider which lets the grain pour out for augering into the feeding trucks. Once enough grain has been emptied out the big hydraulic door can then be safely opened and a front-end loader goes to work.

What generated this 'first' for a Schweiss hydraulic door? "We had a need," explained Revier and his first call was to Schweiss Doors, only about 15 miles from Revier Cattle Company. "Both Mike and Dave Schweiss came out. They quickly saw a heavy-duty hydraulic door would work in this situation. They took measurements, designed both the I-beam frame to support the doors, plus the extra heavy steel and framework for the doors.

"I think many country elevators using flat storage could use this idea. No moving bunker walls and easy access once you open the doors. No grain loss, no storage loss. It's perfect," summed up Revier.

Introducing A New Line Of Hydraulic Doors

These Schweiss Hydraulic Doors are the first of a new line of doors built and designed specifically for grain / corn storage. Why use a regular bunker wall when a moving hydraulic door can do the same job and save you time and add security to your building.

With thousands of dollars worth of crops, grain or feed at stake these hydraulic doors are the perfect solution to keep your product safe and keep the weather out. To support the forces of grain against this door takes a supper strong design, the Schweiss design does just that. These doors are built using the best hydraulic system on the market, the "Red Power" System.

Brad Schmoll - Lake Lillian Farm Has Big 45' Schweiss Hydraulic Door

When Lake Lillian, MN farmer, Brad Schmoll, built a new 80' x 102' machine shop on his farm last year he needed a big door to get his machinery in and out so he called on Schweiss Doors to install a 45'x20' hydraulic door for farm equipment storage

Schmoll said he chose the hydraulic door style because he thought it would be better for heating the building. The hydraulic pump is mounted out of the way about 9 feet off the floor and the door is equipped with a remote opener with two handhelds. Three windows, which are 7 ft. to the top, allow a good amount of natural daylight in and a place to look outside when opening the door.

Schmoll also has a Schweiss 35'x15' bifold door on this farmsite quonset building.

Sullivan Farms: A Modern Technology-Based Family-Run Farm

When you think of farms, it is unlikely that the first thing that comes to mind is technology. Most people think of farms as humble businesses without the need or desire for technology beyond farming equipment such as tractors or combines, and back in 1968 when Sullivan Farm began, that was very much the case. However, this family-owned and operated farm has become more than equipped to handle the latest technology with Schweiss agriculture doors.

"To be honest with you, back in 1968 you hardly had any money to farm," Mike Sullivan recalls.

"You just kind of put a package together that you could live with trying to expand a little at a time so that you didn't go broke doing it. It was probably just as tough back then to get going as it is now."

Mike's great grandfather, Dennis Lorden, started farming with just 80 acres of land in Morton, Minnesota with his father, Jim Sullivan, farming north of Franklin. The Sullivan farm gradually evolved into the large acreage establishment it is now, growing exclusively soybeans and corn with the help of several full time and many seasonal workers.

Now Mike's sons Tim, Pat and Joe are key components in keeping the farm up and running, and they're making sure they stay up to date on developments in the farming world.

"The boys have gone to a lot of decision planning seminars to keep them up very well on the latest farming developments. Tim is basically head of the office. He takes care of paying the bills and doing all the paperwork that needs to be done everyday. Pat is the shop manager taking care of all the help and making sure all the equipment is ready to go, and anything that needs to be done from day-to-day. Joe is kind of the overseer of all the precision and GPS technology to make sure that works. He also works with Pat and Tim when needed. The boys all kind of take orders from each other." Mike said.

It was about 20 years ago that the Sullivan Farm received its first hydraulic door. Since then, they have added four more Schweiss doors, including bifold doors that replaced all of their sliding doors.

The Sullivans are so dedicated to their Schweiss doors that when they were constructing a new building on their property Joe refused to go with a builder that wouldn't use Schweiss. "When we built the east 80' x 150' building, we had two bids. The one who wouldn't put a Schweiss door on our building didn't get the job," Joe imparted. "Schweiss customer service and reliability is second to none; Schweiss gets things done."

Mike agreed, raving about the dependability, quality and professional service they received. Over the years, they have continued to recommend Schweiss doors to others and show them off to those visiting the farm. They now have five Schweiss bifold doors run with a multi-channel master system, allowing them to open and close each door with the same system that they can control from their tractor, combine, or truck. They attest that their daily professional lives have been made infinitely easier and are now bonafide Schweiss customers for life.