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Washington Evening Journal
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Mike and Patty Ledger enjoy helping with Jefferson County Pork Producers
PACKWOOD – Mike and Patty Ledger are members of the Jefferson County Pork Producers, and participate in the group’s many grilling outings throughout the year.
The Ledgers live on a farm about halfway between Packwood and Fairfield. Though they’re not out of the hog business, the couple raised hogs and cattle for decades until a little over a decade. Raising hogs was second nature to Mike, since he grew up doing exactly that on the farm, but it took some getting used to for Patty, who grew up in town.
Patty grew up in Washington and lived just a couple of blocks from the square, so she was a city gal. Mike, meanwhile, was a country boy who went to school in Packwood and later Pekin High School. The couple now reside on Mike’s family farm, and when Mike was a boy, he was responsible for farrowing hogs.
“We let the sows out of the stalls twice a day to eat and drink, and while the sows were out, we had to clean the stalls,” Mike remembers. “We waited to wean the piglets until they were five weeks old. The stalls had solid floors, so we had to bed them with fresh straw twice a day.”
Mike said that, during the winter, the piglets were under a heat lamp. He said the piglets were kept away from the sows for their own protection, since a sow could roll over onto a piglet without knowing.
Mike said he enjoyed life on the farm, and felt from a young age that he would grow up to be a farmer.
“We were busy all the time, and it was hard work,” he said. “It was a lot more labor-intensive at the time than it is now.”
Mike graduated from Pekin in 1973, and within a few years after that he met Patty McFadden, who was working as a caretaker in the Washington County Hospital. Mike’s aunt was a patient there, and Patty was helping to take care of her. Mike recalled that his aunt was always anxious to introduce her nephews to eligible young ladies.
“I went to see my aunt one evening, and she called Patty down to the room right away,” Mike said. “She was playing matchmaker, and the rest is history.”
Mike and Patty wed in 1977, and for 35 years they lived a mile north of Mike’s family farm, before moving into the family farm, where they reside today. Patty said life on the farm took some getting used to. She was so accustomed to having shops right outside her front door in Washington, and now the nearest town was 10 miles away.
“I couldn’t get used to not going to town all the time,” Patty said. “Mike said, ‘you have to make it count.’”
Patty tended a garden and helped Mike with the pigs. The couple raised hogs until about 2008, when health problems forced them to get out of the industry. Patty recalled one incident in particular that made her realize it was time to quit.
“The last year I helped with hogs, I got three broken ribs,” she said. “Somebody yelled to stop that hog, and the hog went between me and a six-by-six post. I said, ‘I’m too old for this.’”
Apart from Patty’s broken ribs, Mike was also having back problems. They continued raising cattle for a few more years until 2011, and after that have done exclusively row crops. Their son, Aaron Ledger, farms with them.
The Ledgers remain active with Jefferson County Pork Producers, and regularly help out with the organization’s grilling events. The group grills as many as 10 times per year, for events such as the Greater Jefferson County Fair including the Monday auction night, the Barnyard Bash at Maasdam Barns, the First-Responders Appreciation Picnic, the scholarship meal for the Greater Jefferson County Foundation, every other year at the Kenny Norton Southeast Iowa Farm Show, and Arnold Motor Supply’s open house in the spring, just to name a few. The pork producers also do a full shift from 3-9 p.m. one night at the pork tent at the Iowa State Fair.
In addition to the regular grilling events, the group sponsors a scholarship for any high school student in Jefferson County who plans to study in an agriculture-related field in college. The group has about 30-35 members, who enjoy seeing each other at the cookouts, since the club does not have regular meetings.
“Everybody is so busy, it’s hard to find a time when everybody can get together,” Mike said. “Between phone calls and emails, we keep in touch with each other.”
Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com
