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.