Good Production Practices: Working with your Vet

The Pork Board is part of a checkoff program which works with packers, consumers, and hog farmers to figure out the best way to care for the pigs, and provide resources to the growers.  Animal agriculture is in an interesting place because we have to look out for the animals with veterinary supervision, meet the demands of our direct customers- the meat packing companies,- and give the end consumer the products they desire; preferably while generating enough revenue to pay our employees and give us room to grow.  In an ideal world, all of these would align perfectly, and achieving balance would be easy.  Since nothing is every perfect, it's a challenge to find a set of standards that will suit all the different customers.

For this reason, the Pork Board has worked to make a list of 10 "Good Production Practices."  These practices are part of industry wide training, and are part of our auditing processes.  They are written into our Standard Operating Procedures, and are practices fully backed by our vets.  They have input from our buyers, who are influenced by their buyers.  It's a bit clunky, and a bit slow to react, but it is the system we have in place now that draws the line on what's acceptable, and what's not.

The first practice is to have a good relationship with your vet.  This relationship isn't just a once in awhile office visit, but much more hands on.  Almost on a daily basis someone on the farm is contacting one of our vets.  On my farm, we have two.  One lives just minutes from the farm, and he is our local large animal vet.  He visits with us regularly, and makes suggestions on what he sees.  He works closely with our swine vet who travels to see us a few times a year, but makes most of our major protocol changes.  Both vets work together on every decision we make when it comes to animal care.

These vets also update us on information pertaining to medical withdrawals.  They make sure we know if information on the products we use to treat sick pigs changes, so we don't use the products against their recommendations.  They make sure that anything we give to treat or prevent sickness makes sense, and is actually working.  They also make recommendations on how to avoid sickness by implementing better cleaning practices, and proactively improving our herd's immunity.  Any treatment we use is very expensive, so anything we can do to avoid having to treat pigs is worth it.

(Grandpa and I- Founder and 3rd Generation)

Over the years, the way we farm has changed, and so has the way we evaluate things on the farm.  What hasn't changed is our commitment to growing a safe food supply.

Sugar Shack

When winter turns to spring, we start getting excited about the maple syrup harvest.  My family doesn't harvest any sap ourselves, but we do have connection with some of the local Amish who do.  Today we went down to pick up our supply for the year. The weather has been temperamental for the last week, so more syrup for us!

(Pure Michigan Fresh Maple Syrup)

I find it interesting how different products are made, and for anyone who doesn't know about the syrup process, it is pretty neat.  First, the trees are tapped, for the sap.  Tapping doesn't kill the tree, it just allows the sap to drain out through hoses and be collected in a big container.  Every syrup maker has a different container set-up, but it seems that most in my area drain them into large plastic tubs. 

Then the sap is taken into the "sugar shack" where it is boiled down until it just the thick, sweet, maple syrup is left.  In our family we use the maple syrup on pancakes and french toast, but also to cure our homemade bacon.  The most syrup is produced in years where the temperature fluctuates above and below freezing.  This year it was very cold, and then warm for about a week, so we were worried the syrup harvest wouldn't yield enough for our Amish friend Levi to sell us his extra syrup.  Fortunately, (at least for the syrup season)  it has cooled back down in Michigan, so we were able to replenish our stock.  

#MathieuStrong

This week is the first week of 2015 canoe training at home.  Last week, we were all recovering from Florida, so the training was pretty light, but over the weekend we got back out there for a 2 1/2 hour paddle on Saturday, and another 1 1/2 hours on Sunday.  Not the longest training for us, but it also isn't very nice out yet. We started our first interval training (well 2nd if you count the bit we did in Florida)  of the year yesterday, and I can definitely tell I haven't tried to move that fast in quite a while.  Hopefully we will be at somewhat prepared for the first race of our season this weekend.  

Besides canoeing, Mike and I decided to enjoy the weekend at home by going rock climbing at a nearby gym on Friday, and then run the first 5km of the year on Saturday.  The rock climbing was fun, but we tire out pretty quick, and were sore going into the run.  I didn't have any expectations going into the race , and once we got started I could see Mike was much further ahead of me than usual.  When I got to the finish line, I was shocked to see that I beat my time from last year by 20 seconds, and that Mike had set a new personal record by 45 seconds!  No wonder he was pulling away so fast.  Mom, Dad, and friend Weston also went to the race with us, and everyone had a good time.  

(Paddling Group on Sunday)

About a month ago I wrote about a fellow paddler, Mathieu, who suffered a terrible logging accident.  Tonight is a benefit dinner to help him transition his house to suit his new life.  Paddlers from all over are encouraging Mathieu with the #MathieuStrong logo.  So far, #MathieuStrong has been out skiing, on multiple rivers, at restaurants, St. Patrick's Day parties, and at different businesses.  We hope to continue to let Mathieu know we are thinking of him, and inspire him during his recovery.

Audits: The Farm Scorecard

When people think of farms, they usually think of just a few cows, chickens hogs, and goats munching on some grass in a pasture.  If they think of commercial farming, they oddly think about someone in a suit calling the shots for "cheaper at any cost" or "just get them on the truck, no matter how many shots you have to give them."  Rarely do they think of the farmer in overalls having to make business decisions, and follow defined quality standards.  

I received a letter in the mail this week, stating that the packer we sell our hogs to is switching its auditing program.  Along with the switch comes upwards of 200 pages of new paperwork to read through and implement in the coming months.  It isn't necessarily a bad change, but it is hard to make the adjustment from one system to another.

(Early Morning visiting the pigs.. 20 F outside 68 F inside.)

We have been conducting formal audits and checks on our farm for approximately 10 years.  This isn't to say we didn't do our own in house checks on a regular basis, but we never looked at those checks as a way to provide information to our customers.  Our current program has our managers do a weekly animal handling a care audit, and a yearly audit of each farm location done by myself.  I visit the farms much more often of course, but that  is my formal check of the facilities.  We then get 3rd party audits randomly from our packers, who come in to review our records, and make sure that we are doing what we claim to be doing.  Anytime we are out of line, we have 30 days to correct the problem with a written plan, and by implementation.  Sometimes this requires a re-audit.

On top of the audits, we do training for each person that works with pigs.  That includes all of the people working directly on the farm, plus our Amish contract barn owners and their families.  In all, 4 months out of my year is spent with a focus on training.  After the training is completed I visit locations weekly to make sure that things stay up to our standards.  Training focuses on recognition and treatment of illness, daily management practices, moving animals, how to identify and euthanize animals properly, and what animal abuse looks like.

It may not be perfect, but every training, every audit, and every farm visit gives us the opportunity to improve how we care for the animals.  Even though it makes me nervous to have an audit, it also shows that we are doing everything that we can to ensure the pigs are raised in a safe, and conscientious way.  

Paddling in the Sunshine State

Last week you may have noticed I was a little bit quite, and that is because I took a nice week off to canoe train in Florida.  The canoe training "camp" is our transition from ski season to paddling season.  It gives us a nice base going into the spring for the early races in the season, and provides a much more pleasant environment to do a 4 hour paddle than Michigan is the first week in March.  This isn't the type of Florida spring break where you go south and to the coast, but a north-central Florida river trip.   This year we paddled 32 hours over 8 days, ran 5 days, did yoga on 2 days, and ate everything in sight.  That's what I call a successful training trip.

(Lunch stop on the river)

This camp isn't just with my family, but with paddlers from all over North America, and this year a group from the UK.  It's a great way to get together with everyone after a long winter.  With so many people attending, there are 30-40 boats on the water each day.  Everyone is really eager to switch partners, so each day is a chance to paddle with one or two different people.  

When we aren't paddling or eating, everyone sits around the campfire and chats.  This year I spent quite a bit of time talking with our new British friends, Mark, Mike, Shirine, and James.  It didn't take much convincing, but next Easter my husband Mike and I plan to head over to the Devizes to Westminster International Canoe Race.  It is a 125 mile race where paddlers/teams start individually based on what time they think they will hit the outgoing tide at the end of the race.  In addition to this very different starting style, there are 77 portages!  The most portages I have done in a race is 6, so that will definitely be something to practice.

The training trip to Florida did exactly what it was intended to do- gave me some long hours in the boat, let me meet some new people and get to know old friends better, and it let the snow melt out of southern Michigan.

Meet our Pig Farming Experts

Happy National Ag week!  It's nice to see all of my farmer friends taking the time to talk about how much they love agriculture with their friends.  People really seem to be into it this year, and a lot of stories are being shared.

(Ag story: wait until it's a bit drier to get in the field.)

This week on our farm we had one of our consultant's visit.  His name is Al, and he has spent is whole working life in the pork industry.  He comes through our farm about once a month, often with our other consultant Dale, and they look at all of our pigs, making suggestions on everything from feeding to handling to maintenance.  Al works closely with our vet, and with the people that sell us breeding stock in order to help us make the best decisions for the farm.  Dale really takes interest in pig structure and genetics, and helps us select the right animals for our system.  These two consultants have practical experience and industry connections, helping us to solve any problems we may have.  They also give us valuable outside information.  Sometimes you can look at things every day, but not actually see the problem.  Dale and Al keep us in check.

In addition to our consultants, we work with two vets.  One vet is a local large animal vet, and he visits each of our farrowing farms (where the piglets and mamas are) once a month to do a general health check-up.  He works closely with our other vet, who is a swine vet.  The swine vet doesn't make it out to the farm as often, but he is only a phone call away for any help that we need.  Our local vet takes care of us in emergencies, and helps us with diagnostics on a regular basis.  We are lucky to have two vets that can work so closely together and help our farm.

Besides these visits, our management team meets once a month in order to discuss all of the information that the consultants and vets give us.  This helps hold the whole team accountable on the changes we have decided to make, as well as make sure that we are all on the same page.  We also chat on a daily basis to make sure we are accomplishing the things we intended.  There are still things we miss, but working together makes a difference.

Keeping the communication flowing from top to bottom is one of the harder jobs on the farm.  Even a small change has 10 people working on it, and easily 10 another people having to implement it.  No one person on the farm is an expert on everything, nor should they be.  Farmer's generally don't make changes to their farming practices without talking to an expert.  We don't want to do anything that will harm the animals, the land, or the farm family.  Not every decision is the right one; not every change is positive, but we move forward with the information we have and keep trying to improve.  That is a huge part of any farm story.

Farm Update: Sawdust Day

Winter is (hopefully) coming to a close, but last week we had some nice and cold weather for one of the more fun jobs on the farm.  Twice a year, a big semi trailer pull into the farm full to the brim with bagged wood shavings.  What do we do with the wood shavings on the farm?  We use them to bed our trucks after cleaning for each new group of pigs we transport.  This keeps them warm and dry, plus it makes them smell like a forest (only kidding!).

Anyone that can spare even a few moments come around to help unload the 1150 bags.   It usually takes 1-2 hours to have everything off of the truck and put away.  We unload by assembly line, with 3 people on the truck moving bags forward for 2 guys to stack them on pallets while 2 more guys transport them on carts to where they are stored and 1 more guy helps to stack as needed.  It's nice to do this on a cold day, since you warm up fast from all of the moving.

This may sound like a miserable job, and most of the time I don't look forward to it, but once we get moving it is pretty fun.  It's nice to work side-by-side with friends and family and actually be able to see that we are accomplishing something.  Everyone is happy and working together.  It definitely acts like a team building activity, since most of the people that show up don't actually work together everyday, and may not even know each other that well.

(Chris, myself, and Dylan after filling the barn with saw dust bags)

Sawdust day also brought us a new face on the farm, Dylan.  Dylan is the newest employee on the farm, and sawdust day was his first on farm experience.   He was able to some real on farm experiences within a few hours of filling out his paperwork, plus he met many of the people he could be working with in the future.

Part of the culture on our farm is that nobody is too good for any job.  Some days I make hiring decisions, and some days I power wash and unload sawdust.  We all try to do the best that we can for the pigs, the people, and the community.

Ski Season in Review

For those who don't know, my family has cross country ski raced for years.   I guess we really love to be outside regardless of the weather, and we really like to race.  I spent a lot of weekends in my childhood ski racing, riding in the car, and playing in the giant parking lot snow piles at the various trail heads around Michigan.  This year Mike (my husband) and I raced the whole Michigan Cup ski circuit, which finished up on Sunday.  I had a fantastic year of racing, and I really enjoyed learning from the some of the other women I competed against.

My teammate Kaitlyn is probably one of the toughest competitors I know.  She beat me in nearly every race of the year, finding another gear somewhere at the end of the race and skiing easily away from me.  In the only 50k classic race we did this year I thought I had her beat, but with 8k to go she sailed by me like I was standing still.  I learned from her that you can never get complacent if you are in the lead, and that you can never give up when you are behind.

(Myself, Erica, and Kaitlyn together early in a race- photo credit Frosty Freestyle)

One of my favorite people to ski around is Erica.  She is on a different team and probably the most natural skier I know.  I only was able to beat her in one race all year, so most of the time I just tried to ski behind her for as long as possible and gain as much technique as I could from her.  She makes every part of the race look easy, and it reminds me that my skiing should be that way, too.  Going harder doesn't always make you faster.  Skiing behind Erica is deceptively easy; that is until I realize that all of those little things that make her better than me also make my legs very tired.  At that point I just have to deal with the fatigue and just try to keep her gap from growing too fast.  She has taught me to ski smarter, not harder.

Probably my favorite race of the season was my worst finish, but I skied with a good friend, Mariah.  Mariah is the most fun loving person I know.  This particular race was my first 50k skate race and I was apprehensive about even being able to make it the whole way.  Mariah is usually the next girl behind me in most ski races. She always finishes strong, and I knew that wasn't my normal race pattern.  For the 50k race I decided to ski behind Mariah from the start, hopefully being able to finish strong since I paced it better than usual.  About half way through the race she wiped out on a downhill and I was ready to ski away from her; two minutes later I broke my ski pole and fell in right behind her again.  The whole rest of the way I skied right behind Mariah, even across the finish line.  We both had so much fun, and it made the distance seem like nothing.  I have learned from her to stay positive, keep going, and to love everything that you do.

(Mariah skiing into the finish just ahead of me- photo credit White Pine Stampede)

After getting to spend time with all of these ladies, and enjoying such a wonderful racing season, it is bittersweet to see it end.  Thursday we are headed to Florida for the kick-off of canoe training, and I am excited for that too, but it is hard to say goodbye to my ski friends until next year.