Tomorrow’s leaders in the local pork industry

FAIRFIELD – Jefferson County has a number of teenagers and young adults who are making their mark in the hog industry.

Fairfield High School has at least five students who work with pigs part-time before and after school and on the weekends. They perform chores such as vaccinating the hogs, loading them, caring for the sick ones and cleaning the barns. All of these FHS students who work with hogs are in Fairfield’s FFA Chapter, and they’re looking forward to the National FFA Convention in Indianapolis Oct. 23-25.

FHS student Wyatt Lovelady said he started working at the hog barns owned by Jacob Adam and his father, and that led to opportunities to work for other hog producers.

What does Wyatt like best about working with hogs?

“The money,” he said. “It’s not always consistent work, but it is a good opportunity for learning and to meet other people.”

FHS student Rider Robertson said he’s worked with hogs practically his whole life ever since he was a little boy.

“I’ve always been in hog barns,” he said.

Rider was asked what the hardest part of the job was.

“If you have sick pigs, it’s not fun,” he said.

Jacob Adam said that to avoid passing disease from one barn to another, it’s standard practice to change boots and overalls between barns. FHS student Brock Metz added that, if one of the barns has a sick animal, they always visit that one last during their rounds.

Brock started working with hogs three years ago through Rider’s father.

“I help load, vaccinate and do whatever chore is needed,” he said.

Jacob said a typical hog barn has 2,400 hogs, and that it takes about 45 minutes to properly check the animals, which means monitoring their food, water, cleanliness and if any of them are sick.

“Pretty much everything is automated,” Jacob said. “The feed is automated. The ventilation is automated. Every time the barn warms up a degree, it turns on another fan.”

Jacob said that the barns are set to cool automatically as the pigs age. For newborn piglets, the barn’s temperature is set to 80 degrees. By the time the pigs leave the barn, the temperature has been lowered to 64 degrees.

“In the summer, there’s no air conditioning but there’s so much ventilation,” Jacob said. “The average barn recycles the air every 25-30 seconds. The air is moving through that fast. When it’s 90 degrees out, it’s nicer in the barn than outside because there’s so much air movement.”

Jacob has worked with hogs for 12 years, though he didn’t grow up with them. His father farmed, and Jacob wanted to farm, too, but first he had to get his foot in the door with a less expensive operation, and that’s why he chose to start raising hogs.

“I wanted to farm, and this was a way to get into farming and have somewhat consistent income,” he said. “A lot of people wanted to get into ag, and raising and taking care of pigs was a way for them to get a salary as they started to row crop farm. The manure is incredible fertilizer, which saves us from having to buy commercial.”

Cameron and Calvin Mclain are brothers who are students at Fairfield High School, and they’ve worked with hogs a long time. Cameron said he started working in hog barns at the age of 6, and by 12 he was washing hog barns. He does other chores like loading and vaccinating pigs, too.

“Ever since then, it just took off,” he said. “I know it. I think it’s fun, and it pays well.”

Of the four high school students The Union spoke to for this story, they all said they want a career in agriculture. Jacob explained that the capital-intensive nature of the business makes it hard to get into and out of, so those who try it out by purchasing a building have to commit to it.

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Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com

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