The dairy producer said farmers around his area of Kitchener can no longer compete with people buying up 100-acre farms to build their dream homes when the price tag is as high as $6,000 and $7,000 an acre. Sure, it comes with an old farmhouse but new buyers tear them down and rent out the land, he said.

In Renfrew County you can buy good farmland for $1,500 an acre with a house "or even less," he said cheerfully. The top price for cultivated land sold by Farm Credit Canada in his area in the last two years was $1,000. Nagel bought up 530 acres, which includes two houses. He’s already moved into one but is still commuting to keep up with the milking back home until the new barn has been completed.

The dairy farmer plans to milk 150 Holsteins starting the first week in October in arguably the largest barn built in Renfrew County. At 96 ft. by 400 ft., it will house a Westfalia-Surge double 10-herringbone milking parlour. The barn will have capacity for 300 animals and he hopes to be milking that many in about five to 10 years. He's selling the old farm and will haul all his equipment and cattle to Renfrew this month.

Nagel, who immigrated from Holland 15 years ago, has other reasons for coming east.

"I like it here," he said.

"There is more room for a farmer here. The Kitchener area is getting very busy. In south western Ontario there is a lot of competition among farmers. here (in Renfrew) people have more time for you whether you have 60 or 600 cows."

He added that, with new environmental laws, having a lot of land is important. he and his wife, Corina, made their decision to move easily. Their business partners, Nagel's sons, Jan, 25 and Arno, 21, "are very excited. They can't wait. This gives them an opportunity to grow."

One unique feature in the big new barn is that they opted for sand bedding (1.5 feet of gravel below 2 feet of sand) because he says it provides more cow comfort.

"It's a lot better. There is no bacteria alive in sand. When he switched from wood shavings to sand the somatic cell count went down a lot. It helped with mastitis. Udder health improved big time. I'm not really a rubber mat fan. I had one in Holland. Certainly, they have improved."

Sand bedding has some inconveniences but it's a popular option in western Ontario. It's harder on the equipment and sand will have to be dug out from the manure pit every second year, he said. he added they will need five loads of sand each month to replenish what the cows track out of the barn. Instead of an L- or T-shaped barn, this one is a rectangular.

"It's a little cheaper way of building," he said. "It's more like what you see in Europe - everything under one roof. You guys have more winter in your area than western Ontario. It's harder to keep the frost out. Cattle (under one roof) will help heat the building."

With the constant travelling between farms, Nagel couldn't have done all the crop work at the new site himself. He is grateful that Ari and Marja Van Lindenberg, of Renfrew, grew all of his crops this year.