Raising the Best Pig to Meet Consumer Demand

One of our main goals as farmers is to provide healthy, affordable food for people across the country and even the world. In order to have those cuts of pork the consumer wants at their local grocery store, butcher shop or restaurant, we watch consumer demands and in the last two years have changed our genetics to a Large White Duroc crossbreed to meet those wants.

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!

Corn, Beans, Pigs & Kids January Update

It is crazy to thing it is the last day of January!  This month seemed to fly by for our family and for our farm.  Here has been what we've been up to this month raising Corn, Beans, Pigs and Kids:

Corn & Soybeans

When it comes to our crops this month the main thing we've been working on is gathering information and making decisions for the Agricultural Act of 2014 (aka the Farm Bill).  This new Farm Bill has enrollment deadlines quickly approaching that will impact some of our risk management tools we use on our farm for the next five years, so it is important we fully understand what our options are.  To help us learn about these choices we have been attending informational meetings in our area hosted by Iowa State University Extension and USDA/FSA (Farm Service Agency).  This is also a time of opportunity to update our farm's production history, so we've been busy gathering all of our data to do that too.

Weather affects our crop ground all year long.  This month we've seen a thick snow cover from a few snow storms at the beginning of the month, disappear here in the last week.  The ground thawed a lot, at least in the top couple of inches.  I actually got mud on my boots when I walked out into our field to take the photo below yesterday!  But as with life in Iowa, that is all about to change as we have 6+ inches of snow coming tonight and cold temperatures to follow.  They always say that if you don't like the weather in Iowa, just wait a couple of days and it'll be completely different!

Pigs

Our pigs are currently six months old and weigh around 220 pounds.  We have been caring for them for the last 14 weeks.  The big thing during the winter is to keep them warm.  You can see in the photo that we have added extra insulation and protection on the walls of the barn to keep a consistent and comfortable temperature of 65 degrees Fahrenheit for them.

Kids

This has obviously been a big month for our family, as we added JP to our family.  JP has been an easy going baby so far who is starting to become more alert longer each day.  It is crazy to think that she is already three weeks old, but at the same time, we have forgotten what life was like without her.

As for LP, he is enjoying being a big brother to two sisters.  One of his favorite activities currently is to build with an erector set he got for Christmas.  He loves taking things apart and putting them back together, or rebuilding something completely new.  Future engineer possibly?

And MP can't stop kissing and hugging JP.  If you would let her I think she would show her affection every other minute all day long.  MP's favorite activity is reading.  We probably read 20 books a day.  Her current favorite is "Tickle Time!" by Sandra Boynton.

What were you up to in the month of January?  What was the best thing that happened to you or favorite thing you did?  Remember to Comment for a Cause!

First-Time Combine Rides for #FranklinCoHarvest Bloggers

It isn't everyday that we have visitors on the farm, so it was a lot of fun to have several bloggers from the #FranklinCoHarvest Bloggers tour visit us in the field this afternoon.  My Farmer and I were able to share our experiences and knowledge about farming and answer questions they had about our farming and technology practices.  Plus, the highlight for all of them was that My Farmer took them all on their first combine rides.

The Walking Tourists, It's Just Life, Jeni Eats and DonnaHup.com
after their combine rides with myself, MP, My Farmer and Musings of a Pig Farmer
and LP is up in the combine waiting for his turn :)
(Thank you Donna Hup for the photo!)

After everyone got a chance in the combine, I took them to visit our hog barn site.  They were able to take a look at our auto-sort set-up in our buildings and understand how we keep the pigs in the perfect environment all year long.  For some, it was the first time they'd ever seen a pig.  I loved how enthusiastic all the bloggers were for both their combine rides and pig encounters.  I'm excited to see what all the participants of this year's #FranklinCoHarvest Bloggers Tour share about on their blogs in the coming weeks - not only their experience in the field with us, but about all the other activities they've participated in all weekend long.

Have you ever been on a combine ride?  I loved how today LP couldn't believe it when Donna from DonnaHup.com said she'd never been in a combine.  But I think LP (and the rest of our family) would be surprised how true that is for so many people, even right here in Iowa.  Giving combine rides today was a great experience for everyone involved!  Remember to Comment for a Cause!

(This post is a part of a 31 Days from a Tractor Seat series.  The best way to keep up with this series is to follow via email on the right sidebar of this post and by liking the Corn, Beans, Pigs and Kids Facebook page.)

Farm Friday

As you might have been able to tell, I haven't been blogging as much as I typically like too here lately.  We finished planting our corn and soybean crops the last week in May.  Since then we've been busy with field work such as spraying and side-dressing our corn.  I thought on this beautiful, and hopefully not scary, Friday the 13th, I would give an update on everything we raise on our farm:

Corn:
Like I mentioned, we have been busy spraying our corn and also side-dressing it.  Side-dressing is a special machine that spoon-feeds nutrients to the corn crop during this key vegetative growth stage of its life.  As you can see our corn is growing quite nicely.

Spraying our corn
(I'm afraid all of my side-dressing photos didn't turn out too well)

'Beans:

Almost all of our soybeans were planted the last week of May and have also grown very nicely so far.  On our farm we rotate our corn and soybeans so we have about 2/3 of our acres in corn and 1/3 of our acres in soybeans.  Rotating our crops helps with disease and insect control, as well as spreading out our work load in the spring and fall.  Plus rotating crops can help with higher yields.

Pigs:

On our farm we usually have a couple different age groups of pigs at all times that way we can spread out the work load throughout the year.  We recently just got in a group feeder pigs, who all weigh about 40 pounds, and we will finish them to about 270 pounds, hence our pig farm is called a feeder to finish hog farm.  We received around 1,200 feeder hogs a week ago today.

and Kids;

Just like our corn, soybeans and pigs, our kids are busy growing too and keeping us busy!  LP is Mr. Independent and loves being outside.  If I would let him, he'd stay outside all day long.  MP is busy working on walking.  She hasn't let go yet or tried walking alone, but I imagine she'll be taking her first steps soon.  Here are a couple photos of the kids from this past week's Iowa Ice Cream Trip to Hansen's Dairy Farm outside of Hudson.  I'll be posting about our trip soon so stay tuned!

LP petting a baby calf at Hansen's Dairy Farm

MP getting kissed by a kangaroo at Hansen's Dairy Farm

I hope you enjoyed today's Farm Friday update!  Do you have any questions about our farm where we raise Corn, 'Beans, Pigs and Kids?  Remember to Comment for a Cause!

A Look Inside Our Pig Barns

Yesterday morning this guy:

and 1,144 of his closest family and friends arrived on our farm!

My farmer and I have two feeder to finish pig barns where we bring in pigs around 40 pounds and feed them to a finishing weight of around 270 pounds.  Each barn can hold up to 1,250 hogs, so in the case of this group it will hold 1,145 pigs.  We buy our hogs on the open market, as we do not raise pigs for any specific pork company.  This group of hogs came from a sow operation in Atlantic, Iowa (around 170 miles away) that our family is part owners of.  Our other barn has pigs in it from Minnesota.  We also commonly get pigs from Canada to fill our barns.

Usually just My Farmer takes care of the hogs but yesterday LP, MP and I got to participate in the unloading of the new hogs.

My Farmer and LP counting the pigs as they come off the truck

LP really enjoyed helping his Dad count the pigs as they came off the truck (good thing My Farmer was there to help him though since LP can only count to three...), checking the waters and the feeders, and in general just checking out all of the pigs.

LP making sure the first truck of pigs (first half)
were all settled and comfortable before the second truck arrived

The second semi-truck is here with a little more than 550 feeder pigs on it

Three Generations checking pigs as they come off the truck

The barn is full!

If you are interested in learning more about our hogs on our farm check out these other posts:

• Auto-Sort Finishing System
• The Perfect Environment

Get Your Flu Vaccine So You, Your Family and Your Pigs Stay Healthy

The Flu Epidemic of 2013 is all over the news lately.  Currently 47 states are at widespread epidemic levels. A lot of the articles I have ran across about the flu include reminders to get your flu vaccine and what to do to prevent, but I didn't expect to see something in my latest Pork Checkoff enewsletter about getting the flu vaccine to help with herd health.

Some of our pigs saying hello!

But it makes sense, doesn't it!  Getting the flu vaccine not only protects the farmer, but their animals too.  Many of the articles I have ran across remind people to stay home if they have the flu so it doesn't spread.  Well, farmers have to work through all sorts of conditions, that includes being sick at times.  Getting the flu vaccine and doing preventative measures such as washing our hands, keeping equipment and buildings clean, and wearing farm-specific clothing and boots, can help keep us and our hogs healthy.  We, along with other pork producers, pride ourselves on producing quality, affordable pork in clean and healthy environments every day, 365 days a year.  So for the health of yourself, your family and your pigs - remember to get your flu vaccine and enforce bio-security practices!

Happy National Pork Month!

October in National Pork Month!

In honor of National Pork Month I'll be reinstating my Tuesday Tasty Pork Recipes this month!  So stay tuned tomorrow for my first delicious Pork Recipe.

Farm Friday

This week we have been loading in and out several loads of hogs and trying to get some planting done between rains.  Due to the rain, we have only been able to be in the field two days this week.

Here is a picture of some of the pigs that arrived this week.  We start raising the pigs after they have been weaned from their Moms (sows).  At this point they are usually 10 to 14 days old.  We get most of our weaner pigs from farrowing (birthing) farms in Canada.

Welcome to my backyard!  Here is a picture of the corn in the field that surrounds our acreage.  This corn was planted on April 17th.  This stage of development for the corn is called VE (Vegetative Emergence).  If you look closely at the photo you can see the start of the first leaf of the corn plant.  After the Vegetative stages in corn, corn has Reproductive stages.  I'll continue to document the growth of the corn "in my backyard" each week of the growing season.

LP loves being outside and this week we weren't able to be outside as much as we wanted.  So LP moved his step stool over to the window in the living room and used it to look outside.  He would stand on it for over a half hour at a time just talking and waving to our dog, the trees, rabbits, birds, etc.  As you can see in the photo of our dog Bailey, LP would have gotten really dirty playing outside most of this week!  Now I don't mind and actually encourage LP to get a little dirty, but I draw the line when our dog looks half black, half golden.