Midwest Pork Conference- Industry Risks

This week had us on the road to Danville, Indiana for the Midwest Pork Conference.  This is a newer event on our schedule, but the programs are relevant, the meeting is well run, and the the price point keeps it in the budget.  This year, we had five attendees- Bruce, Weston, Julie, Dave and myself.  After the meeting we each picked a top takeaway from the event.  We had so many good things that I can develop a series- each piece addressing a major consideration in our farm's production system.   Like any business, we have to be aware of risks and manage to minimize their impact, or use them to create market opportunities. Our first speaker was Steve Meyer, a top ag economist from Express Markets Inc. Analytics.  Steve talked about 4 macro-level risks to farms.

1. Exports

Exports have been a huge part of agriculture in the last twenty years.  The pork industry relies on our trade partnerships with Japan, China, Canada and Mexico, among other smaller trading partners.  With NAFTA under review, and the TPP dead, our trade is not as secure as it once was.  Without some trading relationships and place, we are at high risk to produce more pork in the USA than we can possibly consume.  At the on farm level, the best we can do is call our representatives urging the resolution to our trade partnerships. 

2. Disease

I have mentioned health challenges on our farm quite a bit, and the last three years have really tested our system.  I have realized the truth in how we can take health our health for granted.  A foreign animal disease entering the United States has huge implications.  Our animals wouldn't have any immunity, similar to when small pox made it's way to North America.  It's something that always seemed too far away to worry about, but after our herd contracted PRRS (something that seemed like it would never happen)  I realize that this is a real threat. 

On the farm it's about recognizing how we can spread things on our own- usually either with people or pig movement- and managing to reduce our risks.  Simple things like washing hands, changing boots, and looking at the youngest pigs first in the day make a big difference.  Also, taking the time to diagnose anything that looks suspicious, instead waiting to see if it goes away in a few days can really help us make better decisions, before we have a big problem due to slow reactions.

3. Labor

Finding the right people and placing them in the right positions is one of the most challenging parts of my job on the farm.  A good employee put in the wrong place can quickly turn into a disengaged team member who is looking for something else.  The time and commitment that is put into developing people makes these bad management decisions on my part really stand out.  Coupled with that is that fewer people want to work with livestock than in the past, partially due to exposure, poor marketing, and farms not willing to pay the going rate for skilled labor.  It may not seem like it, but most of the work on the farm take training, attention to detail, patience, and critical thinking.  These skills all have to developed and should be rewarded. 

Our farm is lucky to be in a supportive community, and we haven't had to deal with many of the labor struggles of our neighboring farms.  However, there is no guarantee this will last, so we constantly are working to secure a work supply by visiting local high schools, and working with two community colleges and one university to provide farm tours, and internships to future agriculturalists.  Even if these things don't directly lead to hire on our farm, they do help to keep our agriculture community going. 

(New Feed Truck!)

4. Feed Costs

Feed is the most expensive input when growing animals.  How the crops do each year in our area greatly effects how well we can raise hogs.  A wet summer may help to produce a big yield, but that doesn't mean the corn, soybeans, and wheat will be of good quality. For example, if corn kernels are lighter than usual, it takes more kernels to feed each animal.  If the kernels are too wet, they attract mold and other fungi, which can make the corn taste bad, and in high levels can cause growth problems.  We do our best to dry and store our corn properly, but we can only get it fresh out of the field one a year, so what goes into the bin is what we will be feeding until the next season. 

To manage this risk, we have a nutritionist (Dave) who looks at each feed ingredient for quality and available supply, and then formulates a feed ration to have the proper mix of energy, amino acids, minerals, and palatability to encourage gut health.  Gut health is EVERYTHING in keeping pigs fed and healthy.  To mitigate mold or fungi problems, we may try feeding more wheat, which is harvested in July, to dilute out any corn problems, since corn fed in July has probably been in storage since October.

Next week, we will look at things we can do to start our pigs off right after transitions- particularly after weaning.

PRRS Update: A Year in Review

(Fall morning on the farm- on the right side in the distance you can just make out the hog huts.)

Over the past six months, we have had made big strides in recovery from our PRRS outbreak.  All four of our farrowing farms have been producing PRRS negative (it's a good thing to be negative!) piglets for roughly 4 months now.  This means we have decreased our use of antibiotics to treat secondary infections that arise when the pigs immune systems are compromised from the primary disease.  It's great to see healthy piglets and sows again, and our production through the summer seemed to be better than ever through the summer.  This caused the problem of having too many pigs and not enough space to grow them. We were moving and selling pigs lighter than we usually do, but after the last year it didn't seem like a bad problem to have.  We have continued to vaccinate our sows every 3 months for PRRS with a different vaccine or serum each time, so our strain is less likely to mutate into a new strain and cause massive losses again.

Since we have negative piglets being born, you would think that everything is healthy and disease free, but that is not yet the case.  When recovering from this type of disease, everything is done in stages. With the farrowing farms appearing to be clean and stable we now have to empty and clean all of our nurseries, and then all of our finishers.  Right now we are working through each nursery, getting it completely empty, washing, and then letting it sit empty for a few days before loading with new pigs.  Prior to all of the farrowing farms producing negative pigs, we had to mix sick pigs with clean ones, so the clean ones would also get sick.  It wasn't something we wanted to do, but there weren't many options.  Once we had all negative pigs coming to the nurseries, the older pigs in the nursery would spread the sickness to the younger ones who hadn't been exposed and cause more loss.  By emptying and cleaning each barn, we hope to break the cycle.

Another problem that has developed in the finishers are an outbreak of Circo Virus.  Since our older pigs have a compromised immune system, they are susecptible to secondary infection.  Circo Virus is a disease that has been present in our herd for a number of years, but is usually controlled by a vaccine we give to pigs just before they are weaned.  This would be similar to how the measles or chicken pox are now controlled in the human population.  Now we think we are seeing the Circo flare-up due to PRRS immune suppression, so we are giving a booster shot of Circo vaccine to pigs   before they leave the nursery.  We just started this last week, so we are vaccinating a lot of pigs in a short period of time, trying to save them from sickness as they get older.  Once the Circo Virus develops clinical signs, there isn't a whole lot we can do to help the pigs, so vaccination is the best we can do to raise a healthy herd.

At this point, the pigs are recovering better than expected by our vet, even though it feels slow to all of us on the farm.  We have had setbacks due to secondary infection, but as of yet we haven't seen any re-break from PRRS, and if we can keep it that way we will continue to work towards becoming PRRS naive once again.  The difference between negative and naive is that when we have a negative herd we will still vaccinate for the PRRS virus, but once we go naive we will stop vaccinations and see if the pigs stay disease free.  Not only does this save us money, but it will also mean we have eliminated the virus from our herd, as small pox has been eliminated from human populations. Anytime you can eliminate a deadly disease it is a victory.