Blue Clay Farms, located in the Red River Valley near Arnaud, Manitoba, started the colony in 1994, raising crops and livestock. The colony also manufactures metal and produces quality products in the BLC cabinet division.
In 2022 after 29 years in operation, Blue Clay decided to depopulate, renovate and expand the 700 farrow to finish the sow operation.
“Which is easier said than done, but the structure of the precast building was in good shape, so we decided to renovate,” said Lucas Maendel, the helper to the hog boss Larry Maendel, also his uncle.
While careful and modest in his job description working under his uncle, Lucas helped plan and purchase the materials and equipment, be aggressive, and ensure things got done.
The colony decided to gut the sow barn and convert it to loose housing using the Gestal 3G feeding system, converting the nursery to accommodate farrowing crates.
This decision prompted a new nursery build and meant expanding the finisher barn to 1100 sows.
“While a busy couple of years but hopefully, our efforts will pay off, and we look forward to a successful future,” said Lucas. “We decided to expand because of depopulation, and the barn set up well to accommodate an expansion.”

He said the expansion was easier said than done because doing a complete renovation requires a lot of cleaning, removing the old barn equipment and concrete and installing all the new equipment.
“It took a lot of debate, should we or not because we spent a lot of money.”
Lucas said everything is brand new, removing the old to make room for the new equipment and extending the barn by 75 feet to have enough room for expanding from 700 sows to 1100.
The colony installed the system through community teamwork and bought the materials from a retailer.
“We went with the Gestal system because it’s a quality product that has the trigger option for individual sow feeding, and we liked the idea of a separate sow pen for every week of production,” said Lucas.
The trigger option for their farrowing feeder is where the sow can activate the feeder to drop feed accordingly to the feed curve and feeder settings. It also has a built-in sensor to prevent the sow from toying with the trigger and dropping to much feed leading to stale and wasted feed. And the Gestal Quattro option for their farrowing because it can efficiently control the heat pads and heat lamps.
Converting the nursery rooms to farrowing worked out tremendously and took shape, repaired the stalls, changed slats, upgraded the feeding system, and the breeding barn is new.
While renovations still need to be completed; the sow barn is on schedule and should be housing pigs on July 3.
Blue Clay finished all the pigs on-site and shipped them to Maple Leaf at Brandon, MB. •
— By Harry Siemens
Photos supplied by
Lucas Maendel

HS personal note: In May or June of 2009, I spent some precious time visiting with and speaking to the members of the Blue Clay Colony near Dominion City, Manitoba. After hearing about how I spoke at another school several years, teacher Shirley Edwards asked whether I’d do the same for the Blue Clay Colony school. In 2009 about 80 people, men, women and children, lived in this relatively new colony, raising hogs, turkeys, and eggs and cropping about 6,000 acres. Men, women, young people, and children came to hear what this farm journalist, and farm advocate, albeit cautiously at first, had to say about specific farm issues as they pertain to their way of life and livelihood. The welcome and respect I received from all were exceptional. The interaction throughout my talk and the formal question period made me think long and hard before I could respond with the answers. Great questions, food, time, and people: I’ll do that again, anytime, at the drop of a hat. Thanks for the pen and card signed by the students with several wonderful warm thoughts and comments. That’s what makes my job unique.
Here’s hoping things are going well on the farm, at your place of work, and wherever you may be.