TBF 053 :: Phil Kramer from Niman Ranch Part Two, News from the Farm, and a Hard Lesson Learned

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**As I transition to www.TheBeginningFarmer.com I am quickly realizing I'm not as web savvy as I had hoped! In the meantime I will be posting here as well for those of you subscribed through RSS ... and hopefully will have that fixed soon.**

Two weeks ago I had the opportunity to participate in a Practical Farmers of Iowa Farminar about "Making Niche Pork Work for You at Any Scale". The 90 minutes scheduled for the on-line event (you can click the link above to watch a recording) went by faster than I could have imagined and I learned a lot along the way. There were so many great questions from Kate, the other beginning farmer, that we didn't have much time to talk with Phil Kramer about Niman Ranch. Luckily I happen to know Phil because his farm was where we purchased our first Hereford gilt so I asked him if he would be willing to come on "The Beginning Farmer Show" to talk about raising pigs for Niman Ranch. Phil takes us through the process of bringing Niman Ranch feeder pigs to the farm all the way through taking them to the pick-up location and everything in between!

In the second part of the interview Phil and I talk about the profit possibilities when raising pigs for Niman Ranch, the art of being a farrow-to-finish hog farmer, and of course we dig into a discussion of Hereford hogs which is something that Phil and I are both passionate about. If you have any questions for Phil about Niman Ranch or just raising pigs from farrow-to-finish in general please leave a comment below and I'll make sure Phil gets your question and answers if he is able to.

Links Relevant to This Episode

• "Making Niche Pork Work for You at Any Scale" Farminar"
• Niman Ranch Website
• The Niman Ranch Hog Raising Protocols
• National Hereford Hog Association

As always, I want to thank you so much for listening and supporting the show with your encouragement and reviews on iTunes! I am continually working to produce a better show, and I'm thankful for all of the listeners sticking with me as I learn. If you do enjoy the show, don't forget that you can subscribe on iTunes and leave a five star rating and review (by clicking the link). If you are an Android phone user you can also subscribe on the free Stitcher App. It is so very encouraging to know that people are listening and enjoying the show!

I would love to hear your questions, show ideas, or comments about the show. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail! As always you can follow along with "The Beginning Farmer" and Crooked Gap Farm by checking out these links ...

• Crooked Gap Farm
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Oh No :: No More Bacon!

Just the other day our local news station had this article on their website ...

"Bacon, pork prices to increase next year"

There were a few quotes that stood out to me ...

The group said farmers worldwide are cutting their herds "at a significant rate" that could double pork prices in Europe in the second half of next year.

"If I were purchasing all my grain to feed my hogs, I'd probably be closing out right now," said David Struthers. 

"You will be able to eat BLTs next year. You just might be paying a little bit more for the bacon than what you did this year, but we will not run out," said Joe Kerns. 

"If we have another dry year things could get really ugly," said Struthers.

Wow ... there is so much to think about in this little article. First of all it has me scared ... the fear has been there deep down for awhile, but I've tried to not let it come to my mind. But, I'm with Mr. Struthers ... if we have another dry year things could get really ugly. As a beginning farmer who still hasn't established everything on the farm and as a hog farmer that must purchase feed I don't even want to begin to think about grain prices going any higher than they already are. I'm praying (really praying) for a wonderfully cold and very snowy winter followed by the muddiest spring the farm has seen!

The article goes on to talk about the shortage that is expected in Europe and the probably price increases that will be seen in the United States. Many hog produces are cutting the numbers in their herds (in fact I know a few hogs leaving the farm in my area as well) and once those cuts are felt there will likely be price increases.

But, for me the most telling quote was this one ...

The National Pig Association is calling on consumers to choose local products to help boost prices to help farmers.

I whole heartedly agree with that statement! I have one question though ... are they talking about purchasing from local farmers directly or purchasing for local grocery stores. The only reason I ask is because at a recent taste test there was a pork shoulder roast from the local small-chain grocery store. The person hosting the tasting talked to the meat department at the grocery and asked about where it came from ... the grocery store said it came from Tyson, but that it probably was an Iowa pig. The host then called Tyson directly and they said there was a chance that it came from Iowa, but it also could have come from Canada or Mexico.

My thoughts ... purchase directly from you farmer and then know for sure you are supporting your local farmer! In fact we haven't raised our prices yet (and hope not to), so you can reserve a hog for the spring at the same prices you could last fall.

I Will Call You Vindicator ...

Back when I was a kid and my dad had pigs in every building that could possibly contain them on the farm we had a boar for a short while. I'm not really sure why we had it, I just remember having him ... thinking he was HUGE ... and then that he was gone. His name was Vindicator and I have always thought that was the perfect name for a board. In fact I like it so much so that it just may become the "boar name" for the farm (regardless of how many boars we have over the years). Naming our new boar is even more fitting though because of where the name comes from.

My dad got the name idea from a Jimmy Stewart/Maureen O'Hara movie titled, "The Rare Breed". Basically it is a cowboy movie about a bull that comes over from England and needs to end up in Texas and it has Jimmy Stewart (he's Bulldog Burnett) and Maureen O'Hara, so what else could you want. Here is why Vindicator is the perfect name though ... the bull in the movie ... it is a Hereford! It's a perfect fit for us then. Our Hereford boar is now Vindicator!

Now that we have the name thing out of the way, here is why I decided to purchase a purebred Hereford boar. Right now we have one Hereford sow and a couple other crossbred sows (Berkshire crosses). They all have had nice litters and been good mothers and each of them has their benefits. With the crossbred sows we gain a little hybrid-vigor and with the Hereford we help maintain a pure line that was bred for an outdoors based system. By having a purebred boar we are able to have the best of both worlds right now.

In the future I can see us adding to our Hereford herd and possible adding some other crossbred sows to make some three-way crosses, but for the time being I need to work slowly and make sure I'm doing things the way I want to and the way they need to be done. Right now ... Vindicator is hanging out with the Hereford sow. I can't wait until she farrows again because those little red pigs with white faces sure are cute!

Snug as a Pig in a Rug ... err ... Hay Pile

Yesterday was a big day for the pigs on the farm and an even busier day for me (I really wish it was summer, not just because of the snow, but because I could use some more day light). I spent yesterday and this morning getting ready for some new pigs, and after some work at the church I headed out to Norway (the town, not the country) to pick up some Hereford feeder pigs and a Hereford boar (I think I will name him, but that will come later). I decided to add a few more feeder pigs because our Hereford pork is selling so well and I wanted to keep that going.

The trip there and back was fairly uneventful except for the wind and snow blowing across the road, but I was glad that I ended up at this particular farm to pick up pigs. This farmers grandfather was one of the men who helped establish the breed in the 1930's and the family has been raising Herefords ever since. It was pretty cool to see him still working in the family business and sticking with the breed that his family helped develop.

Once home though is when the real fun began. Job number one was to unload the six feeder pigs into their new home and then the boar into his pen. That was a relatively easy job, although I did have to take some time breaking the gates out of the snow and ice pack. Oh, and did I mention it was dark? But, once the trailer was unloaded the real fun began ...

I had to load a pig to take to the locker tomorrow ... in the dark ... from a rather large pig pen ... while said pig would rather be sleeping! Needless to say, the loading process took awhile because the little piggy didn't really want to go exploring in the dark. So, I was just patient and calm and once the pig was finally in the loading pen things went very smoothly and it jumped in the trailer.

The moral to the story ... umm ... try harder? I guess sometimes that's just the way things go and you really can't do anything about it ... that's the moral to the story!

Eat a Pig, Save a Breed ...

(It is true that this picture has nothing to do with pigs. But, as I was out doing chores this morning this was the beautiful image that I saw ... and all the hogs were still asleep in their huts. I didn't feel like I needed to wake them up from their slumber just for a photo op.)

As new producer members of the Iowa Food Coop this is only our second month with product listed. Last month we sold bundles of our Berkshire/Hereford pork, but this month we were able to list individual packages of our pure Hereford pork. So far it has been selling fairly well (probably better than I expected), and those sales made me think of the importance of eating the rare breeds in order to support the rare breeds.

It almost sounds counter productive to eat a pig from a breed that has dwindled to less than 2,000 individuals nationwide (according to the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy website), but if people aren't interested in eating them ... well, then there is no need to raise them. If you are interested in supporting and helping heritage breeds survive you have to eat them and support them through your purchases!

I chose the Hereford breed because it seemed like it was well suited to the small-scale farming that we are doing and so far that has proven to be true. As I have mentioned before the breed was developed here in Iowa and Nebraska from Duroc, Chester White, and Poland China lines. Being developed in the 1920's I believe they are uniquely breed for an outdoor farrowing and finishing system.

Another thing that I have found to be true is that they are a fairly easy tempered and docile breed. I realize that my pig experience isn't vast, but of all the swine that have graced the farm these pigs have been the easiest keepers and by far the easiest to load! In my book that is a big plus.

If you are in the area and interested in supporting a small, but important, breed we are going to be taking two more to the locker later this month. We will then have cuts and packages available through both the Iowa Food Coop and directly from the farm.

A Piggy Update...

It has been a couple of weeks since the piggies were born, so I figured that it is time for a little piggy update. Momma sow continues to do a very good job with her motherly duties and all seven little pigs seem to be doing very well (although there is one slightly smaller than the others). She also seems to be keeping her condition and looking good despite her recent farrowing and the heat. I will admit that I'm very impressed with the Hereford breed if this sow is a good representation. The litters may not be as big, but she is doing a very good job and the pigs look great!

As you can see from the picture above the pigs have also figured out how to get out of the hut. I have a board up across the door, but now they are big enough to get a running jump and hop in and out (it is pretty funny to watch). They still spend most of their time in the hut, but do like to get out and wander around a little bit. In fact they even stray through the fence panels and into the winter cattle lot!

In other kinds of related pig news ... Our sow's first litter of pigs is just about ready to head to market. Again we are going to be selling by the half and whole and would love to have you as a customer! These pigs are a Berkshire and Hereford cross and have been growing very well. The combination of those two breeds should mean some pretty tasty pork (the Berkshire is known for the quality of its meat). If you are interested in purchasing a half or a whole just shoot us an
e-mail .

More Than New Pigs...

**Thanks to a week of Vacation Bible School and a good morning of work today's post is very late compared to normal. But, it is a post nevertheless.**

I thought it would be a good idea to update the progress of the pigs that were born Sunday afternoon. As I mentioned there were nine pigs born and all seemed to be doing very well that evening as they bellied up to the bar and got their first meal. But, that night (in the midst of one major thunderstorm after another) she stepped on or crushed two. Since then she seems to be the model mother, but I'm not getting my hopes up to high yet.

The new pigs on Sunday evening weren't the only new additions to the farm that day though. That night at my soccer banquet one of the dad's asked me what kind of farm dog we had. I responded that our dog really wasn't much of a farm dog, but that we had been looking for something bigger. To make a long story short ... he offered us a male Great Pyrenees that is three months old.

Now we have a big dog on the place! I would love any tips on training a Great Pyrenees though...

Lots of Little Piggies!

When we got home from the soccer banquet last night my wife found nine little piggies lined up and getting their first meal. Most likely they were born while we were off celebrating the end of the soccer season and it seems that all went well. Now comes the hard part ... making it through the first week or two and seeing how momma sow does with all the little piggies around her. I believe she had nine pigs in her first little as well, but lost four to crushing. Hopefully that was just some new mom jitters, but as we build our swine herd I know that it is something we are going to have to work through.

This is where the "letting pigs be pigs" thing comes into play. So far there have been two pigs lost. We know that there will be losses on the farm (especially when farrowing pigs), but we also want to get our herd to a point where we have good mothers that know what they are doing and can do it well. That is why I like to visit the Sugar Mountain Farm blog. When I read the posts over there I know it is possible to have sows that know what to do out on pasture.

For now, we are just going to enjoy the new pigs and help provide the best environment that we can for the pigs and for the momma sow. It is so amazing to me how creation just works itself out. Like I told my wife ... "It's like she delivered them and then they got up, made a left turn and walked over to grab a bite to eat." It is pretty incredible how that works out!

Two More Classes...

This morning we are off to our second-to-last session in the "Grow Your Small Market Farm" class. I have not been updating very much about this class, but let me just say that it has caused us to look at the farm in a completely different way and we are excited about that! Now, we just need to catch up on our business plan work and get farming.

But, since it has been a busy week I don't have much time to post today. I just thought I would share the above picture with you. When I got home from soccer practice tonight it was just such a beautiful evening on the farm that I spent some time hanging out with the pigs and enjoying their sounds. I have to admit that I think red pigs are pretty cute...

What Worked ... And What Didn't

With the new pigs on the farm I thought it would be a good time to share some of the things that we will be changing with this group. All in all we were pleased with the way that we raised them and will follow much of the system as before, but there are a few things that will be changed. Most of the changes are just are a part of the continued journey to the place that we would like our livestock systems to be at. But, some of them are really based on what I didn't like about the first group.

Change #1: The most obvious change that we have made is a location change. This change was based on a couple of things. First of all the original pig pen was meant to be turned into a garden, I'm not completely sure if that will happen this year because we ended up keeping the pigs longer than we wanted to and thus we didn't have a chance to prepare the garden last fall (spring mud is not good for the plow, disc, and tiller). But, we also moved them because we wanted some fresh clean ground for them. Hopefully our perimeter fence will make an appearance soon so that they can have that clean flesh ground more often.

Change #2: At least to begin with I'm going to be feeding the pigs twice a day (we will see how that goes) by hand instead of with the bulk feeder. I would like to them to get a little more used to me being around and amongst them in hopes that it would help with loading and moving in the future. But, it also allows me to try some different things with feeding.

Change #3: I am going to be building a feeding platform on skids soon (once I get some oak from the sawmill). I still want my feeding area to be portable, but the place where they eat is a place that gets torn up the most so I would like to try this out for a while. Also, it would be nice to build a slightly bigger platform for the water (another place that gets really torn up).

Change #4: Since our new sow is due to farrow in June we will need to have an adequate farrowing hut for her. I have researched many different hut plans and I can't say that I have come to a conclusion yet, but she will have something more than a steel hut (unless I can find some English style huts ... I may use one of those).

Those are a few of the major changes that we are going to make. There will be others though I am sure because we are still learning a lot (I don't see the learning subsiding anytime soon)!

Safe and Sound...

*Today's post is a couple hours later than usual, but I'm still trying to catch up from the long day that was yesterday ... a 5:00 AM wake up, a pig pick up, soccer practice, and youth group (back to back to back) took a toll on me and I'm trying to catch up with my work.

But, as you can see from the picture above the piggies are all safe and sound in their new home. In fact it looks like they decided to sleep in today because I snapped this picture after 8:00 AM. I am really pleased with the way the pigs look and how they have grown. The Berkshire and Hereford cross is something that I'm very interested to watch grow, and of course taste. There might even be a chance that one of the gilts (four gilts and one barrow) gets to stay on the farm. If I can find a Tamworth boar (or semen) it is a three-way cross that I would be interested in trying out.

The sow though is probably the most exciting part because she is bred to a purebred Hereford boar and this June will give us our first litter of pigs born on the farm ... and they will be purebred Herefords. She is very easy going and nice to work with and I aim to keep it that way be feeding her and the pigs by hand instead of using the bulk feeders (at least to start with on the pigs).

Of course all these new pigs mean one thing ... we will have pork available this summer and then probably again in the fall/winter. If you are in the area and would like to get on the waiting list just shoot me an e-mail.

Picking Up Piggies...

This is a day that I have been waiting for, and today it is finally happening. Today I'm going to pick up a bred Hereford sow and 5 pigs from her first liter that are Berkshire crosses. I would call them feeder pigs (and I could have called them that earlier), but I believe the better word for them right now is shoats. I am excited to see what these pigs are like and how the finish, but I am most excited about the bred Hereford sow. She is bred to a Hereford boar so we will be getting some thoroughbred (I've been reading a lot of "Harris on the Pig" lately) pigs from her first liter. Who knows ... maybe some of the gilts could be the foundation of a pig herd on our farm.

But, picking up the pigs is the easy part. The real work was getting a new spot ready for the pigs and getting it all fenced in. Our garden was going to go where last falls pigs were raised (we will see if that actually works out) so we needed to find a new spot until our perimeter fence is put in place. I had to tear down the old pen, which was much easier because the ground is rather soft (pulling posts out was easy), and then set up the new fence. I'm all about working smarter, so I am using one side of the cattle lot as the new pig pen and then I only had to set up three sides.

Everything is ready now and before soccer practice this afternoon I will have some new pigs on the farm. Hopefully all will go well and I will have pictures tomorrow!