Ruminations 24-04: Pastured Pork Commentary 4
If you stuck with me this long, you know about the video. This is the final major point made before a less pointed discussion was made about hogs and hog barns in general that encompass all the points then some. If you have read through the last 3 weeks’ discussions, THANK YOU! Whether you agree with what I am doing or with what folks at This’ll Do Farms/Barn Talk do, isn’t the point. It’s having these deep dive discussions and learning the how’s and why’s to help each other farm better. With that lets discuss the fourth topic: Weather
#4 Weather and Limited
Production Window
It is hard to refute his claim that here in the Midwest we are weather limited to half the year for outdoor production, especially with hogs. This is again a very true statement. There is a reason I only raise animals from about May to November each year. I don’t have the facilities or equipment to produce during the winter months. This ultimately limits the number of animals I can raise and makes the winter months lean in cashflow. Compared to confinement operations, my method does not compute or appear to be profitable at all, when looking at simply pounds of pork produced or $/day generated.
All that said, what is the true cost of raising hogs in confinement all year round? I am not talking about money for costs, I am talking about all the additional costs not on the balance sheet. by producing 2 times the amount of pork, because you operate all 12 months instead of 6, you generate 2 times the manure and require 2 times the feed and water. That’s twice the compaction on soils, twice the monoculture farmland, twice the water not recharging in the aquifer.
Without belaboring the point further, I would just pose this question: Does the value of an extended growing season justify the environmental and production costs to do so? If the answer is yes, more power to you. For me and my farm, it is a staunch no. Regenerating the land so it can take care of me, my family, and our customer base, is more important than the additional revenue… and costs.
If you have made it this far, I want to say thank you again. I will have one more discussion on this topic to tie it all up next week!
