He got his answer after what seemed like a meaningless fall in the barn. He tripped on a cement step that he had cleared from the age of four and landed on it, chest first. "I felt it was a cracked rib and I’d suffer through it," he said. "I did that before."

But each day he got weaker. In four weeks he didn’t have enough energy to milk the cows. His sister, Anita, was the hired worker and took over the chores. Eric was sent to the Ottawa Heart Institute where doctors discovered that the fall had caused his heart to bleed. It would have killed him if he hadn’t been given medicine that expanded his heart to stop the bleeding.

"When I saw how many family and friends helped out, we decided we should stay," Eric said. His parents live next door – between his house and the new barn — and his wife’s parents live two kilometres away.

From that day more than one year ago, the expansion decision got easier. They moved the 40 milking cows in September from a low ceiling tie-stall barn to the new 43 ft. by 210 ft. tie-stall with height and space and light. They can now milk up to 60 cows in the new barn where cutting costs on this 350-acre farm was not the main priority. "I wanted the most cow comfort and as operator friendly as possible," said Eric, 34. "You look after the cows and they’ll look after you."

Here are some of the main features in the new barn, which you can see for yourself at the open house on Oct. 18:

"Everybody that has it says it is money well spent," Eric said. "It’s easier on the shoulders and back. I can pull the 8 milkers and the sanitation cart in one go to the other end of the barn without breaking a sweat."

The Legend rubber mat, ½ inch thick over a 1 ½ inch carpet underlay, was installed by Lawrence Dairy. "This was a lot more expensive but way more comfortable," Eric said. "There was no question. That’s what I’m going with. It is less abrasive and more durable than canvas." It also came with a five-year guarantee followed by a five-year pro-rated guarantee.

This is becoming a more common feature in tie-stall barns. "This gives a lot more freedom and flexibility" to the cow, he said. In this barn, however, Eric also decided on burying the water pipe under the cement and two cows share one water bowl. ‘There’s a constant flow of water to the bowls," he said. "It should never freeze."

The two rows of stalls are designed so that the cows face the outside wall, which is the feed alley. The milking alley down the middle of the barn simply cuts down on the walking. "It’s a lot slicker to milk," Eric said. It took him one hour to milk 40 cows in the old barn. So far, two people have knocked down the time to 35 minutes in the new digs.

The wall plexi-glass panel windows are more durable than canvas and let a lot more light in, Eric said. And the four large Ventec ventilation fans at the one end of the barn suck out the heat on hot days. "I love it," he said. "It keeps the air flowing and you have a lot fewer flies."