Pay it Forward with #HamsAcrossAmerica

The holiday season is a joyous time for many - celebrations with family, special treats and dinners, and presents under the tree.  It is easy for me to take all of this for granted, but for some, they don't have a support system and money can be too tight for those special treats, dinners and presents.  So My Farmer and I joined other pig farmers from across the country and paid it forward by donating holiday hams to families in need.

We decided to reach out to our local Crisis Intervention Service and help a couple of the families using their services.  Our friend Katy made us aware of the needs of the Service Center after doing a service project for them last month.  It means a lot to us that we were able to donate holiday hams to two families that are clients of our local Crisis Intervention Service, both after struggling with domestic violence.  The director let us know how much each of these families appreciated the hams, as they both have large families and are not receiving any support from the abusers.  Knowing these families are now able to celebrate and feed all of those growing bellies means a lot to us, as those are two things we care about for our own family.

Our family, and other pig farmers from across America, encourage you to pay it forward and give a holiday ham this holiday season.  Who would you like to give a holiday ham to?  Remember to Comment for a Cause.

Happy National Ag Day! #DayinIAag

Today is National Ag Day, so I thought what better to do, then share what we are doing today on the farm:

Joe from Brokaw Precision checking seed meters

We have been busy getting ready for spring planting.  Today is a busy day in the shop, as we are hosting a Planter Clinic.  This is where local farmers come in and get their planter meters checked.  We offer this service to our seed business customers.

Seed meters are part of our precision planting system that controls the seeding rate and population of individual rows on our planter.  Each row has its own meter.  This systems allows us to stop seeding where we don't want to plant, all on the go.  Our seed meters are checked for their efficiency by checking how many skips or double plants the meter has through a test on the meter machine.  Making sure our meters are working properly is one way for us to make sure that our planter is putting seed into the ground accurately, and in the end, increasing our yields.

Doesn't that giant picture of pork ribs
I'm standing in front of look good!

Now, while the guys are busy in the shop, I am actually busy in Des Moines for a social media training at the National Pork Board.  This is a great opportunity to meet other pork farmers from across the country and to discuss #realpigfarming.

Speaking of pigs, our barns are getting ready to go to market.  Soon My Farmer will be turning on the auto-sort feature of our barns to start sorting hogs that are in the ideal weight range into a select pen.  This element not only helps reduce labor, but also reduces stress on both My Farmer and Father-in-Law, and on the pigs.

So there is a little look into our day in Iowa agriculture.  What would you like to know more about?  Remember to Comment for a Cause!