Bird City is actively involved in community and business development which will assist in maintaining a high quality of life and decrease the out migration of our families.
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS
 In November 2005, discussion began for a new dairy facility near Bird City. Construction began in April 2007, and the Bird City Dairy began milking on September 13, 2007. Bird City Dairy is owned and managed by Mike, Clay and Ken McCarty, along with their families. The team will also include 19 full-time employees working on the farm. The McCarty brothers, along with their parents, Tom & Judy McCarty, own and manage McCarty Dairy near Rexford, KS, and originally came from Pennsylvania 8 years ago.
Other Bird City Dairy facts:
- Bird City Dairy has a total of 2,100 cows with 1,800 milking. They raise 200 heifer calves on site. Seventy-five bull calves are sold each month.
- The farm is on 215 acres 3 miles east of Bird City along Highway 36.
- The herd is milked 3 times a day producing 135,000 pounds of milk every day. This is equivalent to 15,000-16,000 gallons of milk!
- It takes three 8-hour shifts of 3 people to keep the parlor in operation 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
- Every month, over 4 million pounds of milk is transported from the dairy to a processing plant in Omaha or Lincoln
- The milk is stored in two 6,300 gallon tanks and is picked up every day.
- There will be 250 semi-trucks transporting milk, feed and cattle every month.
- The dairy uses sand bedding. The sand is separated from the manure in a settling lane. The farm recycles this sand by reusing it to bed the stalls.
- The double 30 parallel milking parlor provides efficiency and a pleasant environment for both the cows and employees. It takes about 5 minutes to milk a cow.
- The cows are fed a total mixed ration of alfalfa hay, flaked corn, soybean meal, cottonseed and minerals.
- Feed needs per year include: 17,000 tons of silage, 6,000 tons of hay, 150,000 bushels of corn. Other commodities are also used.
- Cows are housed in a free-stall barn and open lots which keep them comfortable year-round.
A lagoon stores the manure. It is incorporated into the cropping rotations according to nutrient management plans.
To better assist our businesses, we needed to identify their needs and concerns. Through the Kansas Department of Commerce, a Bird City Business Retention & Expansion Survey was conducted.
The Bird City Century II Development Foundation has established a Business Incubator Program to assist existing and prospective businesses. The program includes business plan writing and resource assistance, and a revolving loan fund.
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS
In order to provide the citizens of Bird City and their families an enjoyable place to gather and play, the city park, located in the northwest area of the community, is undergoing a major renovation. New playground equipment, walking trail and sand volleyball court are only a few of the improvements. Freshly painted buildings, path lighting and beautiful landscaping with a pergola and benches will complete the project. Look through our Scrapbook to see pictures of the park before, during & after.
In order to assist the city of Bird City to take a proactive role in community development, a 5-year (2007-2012) strategic plan has been developed with the assistance of Western Prairie RC&D. During three town hall meetings, the citizens of Bird City identified the issues they felt of most importance to the survival and growth of their community. Feel free to review the Bird City Strategic Plan and its goals and objectives for Education, Community & Business Development, Recreation, City Infrastructure & Beautification, and Housing.
Bird City participated in the “First Impressions” program in October 2005. The program is designed to bring outside community leaders to a community they are not familiar with to experience their First Impression of that community. The First Impressions report for Bird City was compiled by the Huck Boyd Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.
The purpose of conducting a “community assessment” is to help local communities identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and priorities before allocating resources to implement strategies or tasks that will address those priorities. It is anticipated that communities conducting a community assessment will use what is learned to prepare or update a collaborative comprehensive land use or strategic plan. The Bird City CAT (added note) was completed in September 2005 and the results of the CAT have been used in the compilation of the Bird City Strategic Plan.
COMMUNITY & BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT RESOURCES
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VAN DOREN PARK RENOVATION: