Doody Calls at the Minnesota State Fair

The Minnesota State Fair may have changed in the last 152 years, but the animal barns typically remain the same.

The popular barns and farm animals provided a clean family destination at the fair in 2011 due to Doody Calls - which offers comprehensive, pooper-scooper service for dogs, cats, geese or whatever type of animal waste needs cleaning. This year, that included the animal barns at the Minnesota State Fair.

Mike Kuehn-Hajder, of Maple Grove, is the owner of the Maple Grove location of Doody Calls which has been servicing the west and central Twin Cities area for more than last three years.

As Kuehn-Hajder puts it, “My passion is poop.” And where is there more poop than the animal barns at the Minnesota State Fair?

After spending over twenty years in business retail, Kuehn-Hajder’s said his goal was to “do something different and make a living at it."

"So I invested in Doody Calls and have been growing the business ever since,” he said.

He approached the fair four years ago, offering to scoop up after the horses and mounted patrol on the parade route as a goodwill ambassador to promote his business.

“When I approached them on that they said it was too late in the year and to come back next year so I approached them right after the first of the year. They sat down and talked and said, absolutely it was a good fit and more importantly we may have something else for you. So, they sent me on to the sanitation building personnel and they said it would be great if my company could come in and help them out,” Kuehn-Hajder said.

That was three years ago and his company continues to grow the business above and beyond the initial three year contract.

According to Mitch Wirka, Minnesota State Fair Sanitation Supervisor, his team hires 40 to 50 employees to take care of the non-barn, night maintenance and delivery of paper products. During the day, they have service people ensuring restrooms on the hill are fully stocked and cleaned.

“We work hand-in-hand with Doody Calls to make sure everything runs smoothly,” said Wirka.

Kuehn-Hajder said his crew of 60 maintains the barns for animal waste. They also make sure the trash and debris is picked up in and around the barns along with keeping the barn bathrooms supplied.

“This year we are actually cleaning from top to bottom the cattle barn," Kuehn-Hajder said. "Pickers clean up all the glass, cans and bottles. Scoopers, or service technicians, come in and scoop poop which is then shipped out and recycled by the farmers. Semis of waste are re-utilized with the straw and hay. It works out well for the farmers and really well for us. We require 20 to 30 service technicians that work five hours straight just to get the cattle barn ready for the next day."

The animals at the fair each day changes, but often includes livestock such cattle, sheep, swine, goats, poultry and rabbits to horses and llamas.