Yesterday a man stopped by our family feed mill looking for directions and asked me what we were making here in this building. He explained to me he was from the city and he had never seen a feed mill before. I told him we were making feed for our hogs. He wanted to know what the feed consisted of and I told him it was corn, soybean meal, vitamins and minerals. He asked me why we didn’t just feed them grass or hay like the cows he had seen in the fields. I explained that hogs won’t eat grass or hay like cattle. He was amazed to learn this. He told me he never thought about where his bacon came from, he just went to the store and bought it.
I spent about 10 minutes explaining to this man that we use a nutritionist to create the diets we feed our hogs and that our veterinarian plays a key role in our farm. I also explained that our hog barns had computer controlled climate systems to keep the hogs warm in the winter and cool in the summer. He told me it made sense to offer our hogs this care because it was protecting our food supply.
When he left the mill and headed on his way, he told me he was glad he took the time to ask these questions because he had no idea agriculture was so advanced. He said he would appreciate his bacon a lot more and couldn’t wait to share this new knowledge with his wife.
Never miss the opportunity to tell your story, even if it is only to one person. Each new person we tell our story to will be another person who can help tell our story!