Fine-Feathered Farm Gets New Foundation Using Foundry Sand

The Stein Turkey Farm in Evanston, Indiana, is a successful contract turkey operation, totaling 230 acres of land, five 20,000-square-foot buildings, and the capacity to market 100,000 poults (chicks) yearly.  Essential to its continued success is ensuring a healthy environment for its turkey tenants.

To maintain its commitment to clean housing and antibiotic-free birds, the barns’ floors and woodshaved beddings are thoroughly cleaned after each flock makes its transition to market—approximately every 20 weeks. In order to take its clean environment commitment to the next level, however, the farm’s owner wanted to invest in new concrete floors for all turkey barns, and needed enough fill to achieve the proper floor pitch to promote overall flock health.

With the help of our partner, Beneficial Reuse Management, the Stein Turkey Farm used 437 tons of foundry sand from Waupaca Foundry, saving the farm $7,500 on fill and keeping the sand out of the landfill.

In addition, Waupaca Foundry delivered the sand within the most opportune windows of time for the farm, avoiding disruptions to turkey production, thereby maintaining the farm’s revenue stream.

“Without the foundry sand, I would have paid an astronomical cost just for fill,” said Dirk Stein, owner of Stein Turkey Farm. “And because Waupaca Foundry delivered the sand around our timelines, I was able to avoid costly downtime.”

“The material reused saved precious landfill space and allowed Mr. Stein to attain a cost-effective solution to his slab construction that may have been otherwise unattainable,” explained Ryan Thomas, project manager for Beneficial Reuse Management.