Custom Painted Silo Promotes Dairy Farm

Custom Painted Silo Promotes Dairy Farm AG WORLD 32-5-21 A Holstein-spotted silo attracts the attention of drivers passing by the John and Nancy Hourigan farm near Elbridge, N.Y. For the owners of the 850-head dairy, it's a way to promote dairy and to beautify their farm. "It's become sort of a landmark," Nancy says. More than a decade ago, the couple asked their barn painter to paint Holstein spots on the old concrete silo which they no longer used. "We're both a little crazy about being neat," she adds, so annually they have painting and maintenance work done on their buildings. "When Nancy came out to say what she wanted, she said if we had any questions how to do it, just look in the pasture," recalls Tim Fratus, who helped his step-father and brother paint the silo. After spray-painting two base coats, the painters hand painted the black spots. Fratus has retouched the silo a couple of times in past years. Fratus says he enjoys the challenge of promotional painting. He's painted checkerboard patterns on the top of a couple silos, and yellow smiley faces on others. A neighbor who is starting a cheese business wants Fratus to paint his Harvestore silo. "I'll white stencil the business name and, at 60 ft. tall, it'll be very visible," Fratus explains. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Tim Fratus, Coatings Plus Painting Co., P.O. Box 521, Waterloo, N.Y. 13165 (ph 315 539-4692; coatingsplus@bluefrog.com).

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