Beef Carcass Breakdown-What to expect

March 1, 2009

You want to buy beef, in bulk, direct from a farmer.  What should you expect?  Here is a link to beef carcass cutout charts. 

A carcass is cut in half and then can be further divided into front and rear quarters.  The front quarter has more hamburger and roasts.  The rear quarter has more of your higher value steaks and will cost more per pound.

There is a better way to divide a beef carcass, though.  Ask for a half of a half.  You’re still buying a quarter, but you are buying half of the front quarter and half of the rear quarter.  That way you get some of all the cuts. 

I will detail the breakdown of a quarter I sold to my sister recently.  The steer weighed 925 lbs.  His hot carcass weight was 500 lbs.  The hot carcass weight is what is left after skinning and the head and guts are removed.  This is the weight we use to figure our price.  We charge $2 per lb. so that makes the steer worth $1000.

My sister received a half of a half or a quarter.  This is what she received in individual cuts:  33 lbs. hamburger, 4 lbs. rolled rump roast, 2 lbs. liver, 5 lbs. tenderized round steak, 6 lbs. sirloin steak, 5 lbs. cube steak, 6 lbs. chuck roast, 6 lbs. arm roast, 8 lbs. t-bone steak, 6 lbs. rib steak.  Total weight of packaged meat equals 81 lbs.

This is a typical cutting order for beef.  Our butcher charged $83 for this quarter.  There are many variations and different cuts that could have been requested.  It is an asset to have an experienced butcher in our community.

The total cost for the quarter is $333.  $83 to the butcher and $250 to the farmer.  My sister received 81 lbs. in packaged meat, so her cost per lb. is $4.11.

If you have any questions, please comment or email.

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Wild Food Foraging Fun

February 26, 2009

What is going on in the header photo?  Someone asked if I was in a cult?  Does a cult get muddy in the Mississippi river?

We were foraging for Wapato or Arrowhead.  Tremendous amount of stomping in the mud to break loose golf-ball sized tubers that were a staple in the diet of some Native American tribes.

It was a class taught by Sam Thayer.  Forager’s Harvest is his company, which seeks to bring responsible wild food foraging, his passion, to a wider audience. 

Sam is a genius.  When he walks through the woods, he not only knows every plant; he also knows the scientific name, life cycle, habitat, which part is edible, and how to prepare it.  He presents all this information in a fun way.  I couldn’t help but catch his excitement.

The classes are an interesting mix of people of varying ages and skill levels.  This photo was taken by Rose Casey, a middle-aged gardener from Madison.  Thanks Rose.

If this interests you, don’t be shy, jump right in.  It’s the best way to learn.  Sam’s book is the best; but there are other books available as well. 

Don’t eat anything you don’t know.  And don’t worry; you will be able to accurately identify plants.  It is what we are meant to do.  Do you have trouble identifying a dandelion? 

I was foraging long before I knew Sam.  I just didn’t think of it as foraging.  When the wild raspberries are ripe, I eat my fill in raspberries every day for about two weeks.

As a farmer, we are always battling weeds. To eat my enemy gives me great satisfaction. 

Stinging Nettle is a plant that has tormented me since childhood and is one of the first to appear in the spring.  Cooking renders the plant unable to harm.  Sam says Nettle is higher in vitamins and minerals than spinach.  I’m looking forward to spring.  Happy Foraging!

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Why are Old Farmers Quiet?

February 22, 2009

Why are old farmers quiet?  Some would say it’s because they are hard of hearing, and that would be true.  But I think it’s more than that.

A lifetime of seasons:  planting, growing, harvesting, dying.  A lifetime of doing:  Planning, trying, succeeding, failing.  What is there to say?  What is to be warned about when the failures made the man as much as the successes.

A humble farmer knows success comes not from him.  Sun, water, soil, seed, collaborate to make the miracle he’s witnessed many times. 

And who would say it isn’t a miracle?  Seed, carried in bags, stuck into cold soil in the spring.  Seed, hauled away in wagons in the fall.

A farmer’s work is faith in action; to believe in the miracle once again, and to act, by putting the seed into the soil.

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Capital Gains: A Great Way to Reduce Your Tax

February 19, 2009

We met with our accountant today to do our income taxes.  We found out we have to come up with money for Uncle Sam we don’t have right now.  So why are we happy?  Capital gains!  For every $10,000 we made with capital gains, we saved $3,000 in tax.

Capital gain is an underutilized tool to reduce tax.  We have concentrated on using capital gains to increase our after-tax income.  If your farming enterprise typically doesn’t show a profit, this post will have little value to you.

Ordinary income is subject to self employment tax, (social security), which is 15%.  Ordinary income is also taxed at increasing brackets beginning with 10% and going to 35%.

Most people think of stock appreciation when they think of capital gains.  The Bush years were kind to the capital gain tax rate.  Depending on your tax bracket, capital gains were taxed at 5% or 15%.  In 2008, according to our accountant, capital gains were taxed at 0% or 15% depending on your tax bracket.  Self employment tax is not applied to capital gains either.  This is another savings of 15%.

Capital gains occur in livestock farming with the sale of breeding stock.  Breeding stock used on your farm.  If an animal is used as a parent on your farm then it is breeding stock. 

If an animal is sold to another farmer for the purpose of becoming a parent, but was not a parent on your farm, it is classified as ordinary income. 

Animals sold as meat are classified as ordinary income, unless the animal was used as breeding stock, and then sold as meat.  That would qualify as a capital gain.

How does this work for our farm?  We sell many animals for meat.  We sell many animals for breeding stock to other farms.  The profit from these sales put us into the 15% tax bracket for 2008.  We also have to pay the 15% self employment tax on this ordinary income.  This means that for every incremental dollar we make, we pay 30% to Uncle Sam.

But for every capital gain dollar we make, we pay no self employment tax and 0% federal tax because we are in the 15% tax bracket.  This is a savings of 30%.

Even if we are in a higher tax bracket, the most tax we would have to pay on capital gains would be 15%.  This would still be a substantial savings.

So how do we shift more of our income from ordinary to capital gains?  Most farmers look at breeding stock as a cost and a net drain to their farm.  They select a $600 heifer from within their herd for breeding stock and keep her for her entire productive life of 10 to 15 years.  At the end of her productive life, and sold on the commodity market for hamburger, she will only bring $300 to $500.  It looks like a loss.  The capital gain tax break will make up some of the difference but it still doesn’t look very lucrative.

What if the $600 heifer is kept as breeding stock but sold at a younger age, say 7 years, for $900 or $1000 to another farmer.  Now your asset is appreciating and you have the capital gain tax break besides.  This is the strategy we have been using.

To make this system work and to keep your herd size constant you will have to keep more replacement heifers.  Heifer management and the selection of a calving-ease bull is paramount to success.

Also keep in mind that taxes change all the time.  It appears that the 2009 capital gain tax rate will be the same as 2008.  This tax break may disappear by 2010.  Take advantage of capital gains while you can.

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Triple Bottom Line Accounting: A Truer Measure of Success

February 18, 2009

How is your company’s Triple Bottom Line, (TBL)?  Triple Bottom Line is the concept that a balance sheet can be more than profit or loss.  Social and ecological factors, as well as economic factors, need to be considered for a company to be truly successful.  People, planet, and profit.

TBL can even be considered for your personal life.  Almost everyone makes/spends money.  Everyone has an impact on the environment.  Everyone has social interactions.  How is your personal TBL?  Where would you like to improve?

TBL is highly relevant for a family farm.  We own/manage the farm. We live and raise our family on the farm.  We are the labor.  We consume its products.  We interact with neighbors and the surrounding community.  We pass the farm on to another generation.  Farmers were thinking about TBL before the concept was named.

Let’s look at TBL from the perspective of my farm.

PROFIT          

There are three of us on this farm.  No one has an off-farm job or any other source of income.  We need to make enough profit every year to cover our living expenses or we will have to borrow the difference from the bank.  This would take our net worth in the wrong direction.

A farmer can use many write-offs to reduce his tax burden.  Machinery depreciation, interest on loans, and health savings accounts, are examples of write-offs, along with regular business expenses as well.  However, it’s worth noting that if a farmer wishes to pay down debt he must use after-tax dollars.  So, even though we want to minimize our taxes, it’s not a bad thing to show a profit.

Our farm had two tough years in 1998 and 1999 when the hog market crashed.  Since then, we have been able to cover our living expenses and pay down some debt every year.  Our economic bottom line is ok for now.

PEOPLE

For the most part, the three of us work well together.  We communicate regularly and respect each other’s contributions.  Each of us can take time off from the farm when we want to.  We take time to interact in our community and visit friends and family.

What concerns me is our average age, which is 56.  It’s been said that if the average age in your company is over 35, your company is dieing. 

How will I manage the work-load if my parents want/need to retire?  I don’t really want to work with an employee.  Could I find an intern who would like to apprentice farm?

Our social bottom line is ok for now, but changes loom in the future.  We need to visualize and make plans now. 

PLANET

There are many ways to measure ecological bottom line.  Soil is probably the most popular way to measure ecological bottom line for a farm.  Is there a net gain or loss in volume of soil?  Is the soil more or less mineralized?  Are we growing better crops with less synthetic fertilizer or does it take more synthetic fertilizer to grow the same crop?

Soil is vitally important to us.  We use contour strip cropping to protect our soil from erosion.  We use no-till planting on some of our acres.  We use crop rotation to break the pest cycle.  We use legumes to produce nitrogen for the subsequent corn crop.  We use animal manure to mineralize the soil.  We have started mob grazing in our pastures to mimic the soil-building properties of the bison-made tall-grass prairies.

With all of these techniques though, I’m still not happy.  Soil tests don’t show an increase in organic matter.  I want to double the organic matter in our fields.

Last spring I saw some soil erosion in our tilled fields.  I don’t want to see any.

On the other hand, we continue to grow excellent crops with very little synthetic fertilizer.  Animal performance on our pasture is excellent.  Wildlife seems to be as abundant as ever.

I’m excited about changes we are making, but we need to monitor our ecological bottom line closely.

This is an overview of the thought processes that constitute our TBL.  What factors are important for your personal TBL?  Does your company practice Triple Bottom Line accounting?

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What’s in a Product? Read the Label

February 11, 2009

What’s in a product?  Do you think you know, so you don’t have to check?  I’ve had two instances where I’ve been shocked by the content of something I thought I knew.

Corn syrup is in just about everything.  Would you believe it’s in bratwurst?  I was running low on different meats and thought I would pick up some bratwurst from our butcher when I delivered hogs last Monday. 

I picked up a package of brats and read the label and put it back quickly.  I was trying to stay away from corn syrup before I started the meat diet.  I especially don’t want any now.

I called Carrie, one of my partners, and asked her, “Do you know Weber’s puts corn syrup in their brats?”

“Yes,” she told me.  “That’s why we came up with our own recipe.  It doesn’t need to be in there.”

I agreed.  I told her I would be over to pick up some brats soon.

The second time I was shocked was when I was negotiating a partnership with Carrie and Eric to direct-market meat together.  We discussed our production protocols and what the consumer wants.  One of the items we discussed was feeding animal products to animals.

“Never have, never will,” I confidently asserted. 

A few days later I was grinding feed and thought to look at one of the feedbag labels.  We put 40 lbs. of a vitamin/mineral premix in every ton of hog feed.  There is a kajillion ingredients on the tag and I guess I had never read all the way to the end before.  When I read the last ingredient I had to sit down.  Animal fat.

I called our feed salesman and asked him if he knew.

“Yes, it’s just a little bit.”

“Why?” I asked.

“To keep the dust down.”

To keep the dust down.  The reason JBS United puts animal fat in their feed is to make the feed less dusty.  You’ve got to be kidding me.  They are a progressive company when it comes to swine nutrition, but massively out of touch when it comes to the ultimate consumer.

I asked if we could get our feed without animal fat.  He wasn’t sure but would check for me.  Turns out JBS United has a natural product line called, Grand Prairie.  All we had to do was ask.  We switched over right away and the hogs have done just fine on the new feed.

What’s in a product?  Read the label, but do it sitting down.

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Better-tasting Pork: Fat is where it’s at

February 6, 2009

Your job as a direct-marketer is two-fold.  Marketing:  make the sale.  Production:  produce a product that turns a casual customer into a repeat customer.

Most people have never eaten a juicy, flavorful pork chop.  There are two reasons for this:  overcooking and too-lean pork.

Fat is where the flavor is.  I read that blindfolded volunteers could not tell the difference between pork, beef, or chicken meat, if  all the fat was removed from the protein.

People will continue to overcook pork.  However, pork with more fat will stay juicy longer.

What can we do as direct-marketers? How can we increase the odds that our customer will have an excellent eating experience with our pork?

We can educate our consumers and change our swine genetics.  This takes time and is an ongoing process.  Hand out cooking information, talk to consumers about how they cook, select boars with more intramuscular fat, (marbling).  Some of the breeds such as the Duroc and Berkshire have boars that are clearly superior for intramuscular fat.  We have used some of the Durocs from SGI to increase the marbling in our pork.

But there are two things you can do right now.  Take your hogs to heavier market weights and only use barrows for your direct market. 

In the 1980’s most market hogs had over an inch of backfat at a market weight of 220-250 lbs.  The meatpackers began to demand a leaner hog and were willing to pay for it.  They also asked for heavier hogs to increase their throughput.  Swine geneticists took the cue and bred hogs that stayed leaner to heavier market weights. 

Consumers didn’t want fat either.  The Pork Checkoff  jumped on the lean bandwagon and began to advertise, “Pork, the other white meat”.  Consumers thought they were buying a chicken-like product and in many respects they were.  However, pork doesn’t make good chicken.  So we ended up with drier, less flavorful, more expensive than chicken, chicken-like pork.

Now everyone has realized the pork industry swung the leanness pendulum too far.  Changes have been made in the industry.  The meatpackers changed their buying grids to no longer reward the super-lean hogs.  However, it takes a long time to change the nation’s swineherd and pork is still quite lean.  This is where your opportunity as a direct-marketer lies.

Many of our pork customers tell us one of two things.  “We have never had pork like this before.”  Or, “this is the pork I remember from my youth.”  Either way we’re golden because we are creating a noteworthy eating experience for them. 

Back to what you can do right now to improve your pork.  Hogs have more marbling the heavier and fatter they become.  We shoot for a 220+ lb. carcass which means the live weight is 300+ lbs.

We only use barrows for our direct market.  Barrows have about .2 inch more backfat than gilts and correspondingly more marbling.  Also, there can be quality issues if a gilt is butchered when she is in estrus.  Barrows are a sure thing. 

There are two disadvantages to taking your hogs to heavier market weights.  Feed efficiency is reduced as hogs grow larger.  And an athletic 300+ lb. hog can be quite a challenge to load.  Happy marketing!

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Loan payment calculation

February 2, 2009

In Brief

            Farming requires capital.  Most farmers require borrowed capital.  Do you know how to calculate the payment on a loan?  Do you know the trick most banks use to take more of your money?  Hint:  How many days are in a year?  If you answered 365 you are not a banker.

In Detail

            I came home from college one weekend and found my parents at the kitchen table scratching their heads.  They couldn’t figure out how the bank came up with the yearly payment due. 

            I had taken “Math of Finance” in college.  I told them, “I got this,” implying a young mind was needed.  They were gracious enough to let me try. 

            Let’s say the loan was $10,000 dollars at 8% for one year.  Common sense would tell you $800, right?  Why was the payment due $811.11?

1.  Take the interest rate, 8%.  Move the decimal over two spots to the left, .08.

2.  Divide .08 by the number of days in a year, 365 days, equals .000219178, the daily           rate.

3.  Multiply the daily rate by the principal, $10,000 dollars equals $2.19178, the daily charge.

4.  Multiply the daily charge by the number of days in the loan.  In this case, 365 days times $2.19178 equals $800.

            This is where my parents smile and tell me this is what they came up with too.  Let’s figure it again.  $800.  Ok, maybe there was a leap year, or the loan term was for a few more days than 365.  Look at the loan.  Look at the calendar.  Count the days.  Nope.

            Ok, we’re not too proud.  Let’s go see our loan officer and ask him to figure it out for us. 

            He got out our loan application and showed us where there were two boxes.  One was to calculate the loan based on a 365 day year.  One was to calculate the loan based on a 360 day year.  Our loan had the 360 day year checked.

            So now we figure again.

  1. Take the interest rate, 8%.  Move the decimal over two spots to the left, .08.
  2. Divide .08 by the new number of days in a bank year, 360 days, equals .000222222, the daily rate.
  3. Multiply the daily rate by the principal, $10,000 dollars, equals $2.22222, the daily charge.
  4. Multiply the daily charge by the number of days in the loan.  It’s still 365 days; because this is how many days we had the loan.  So 365 days times $2.22222 equals $811.11.

Ok, we see.  But why does the bank use a 360 day year?  What is that, a Mayan calendar or something?  The loan officer hemmed and hawed and couldn’t answer us.  Finally, he took us to the bank president who told us it was to increase the bank’s yield. 

      Take out your loan and see if it’s calculated with a 360 day year.  This is what is called, “increasing the bank’s yield.”  What would you call it?

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2009 New Hay Seeding

February 1, 2009

In Brief

New grasses we are trying:

Fleet Meadow Brome

Enhance Tall Fescue

Pradel Meadow Fescue

Gain Festolium

            Two salesmen talked me into trying Festolium.  I asked them what they would recommend on a field where I will be taking a first cutting of hay and then grazing 3 more times throughout the summer and fall.  My concern is that Festolium does not dry well for hay.  This particular Festolium is a hybrid of Meadow Fescue and Italian Ryegrass.  If you have experience with this grass, please email me. 

In Detail

Our farm is in the driftless region of southwest Wisconsin.  Contour strips on rolling hills.  Our crop rotation is one year of oats/new seeding, two to four years of hay, and one to three years of corn.  Fertility varies from high on fields we can spread manure, to low on fields we can’t.  To combat the removal of fertility on the fields that don’t get manure and also to help with the summer pasture slump, we graze some of these low fertility fields after taking a 1st cutting.  We buy our oats, barley, alfalfa, and some of our grass seed from Kieler Feed and Seed at Kieler, WI.  Phone: 608 568 7707

This year we plan to seed down 50 acres.  We plant two bushels of oats and one bushel of barley per acre.  This combination seems to stand and yield better than straight oats.  We plant Robust barley which is the common variety offered.  For the last two years we have planted Kame oats.  Kame is an early oat with excellent standability.  This is very important to us because we use most of our oats for grain and straw.  We need the oats to stand until harvest so harvest is easier and  it doesn’t smother out the new seeding under it.  We booked the Kame oats at $7.30 per bushel and the Robust barley at $8.40 per bushel. So our small grain seeding will cost $23 per acre.

The forage company that Kieler Feed works with is LaCrosse forage.  We plant 10 lbs. of alfalfa per acre.  We use an economical blend called K500.  It has good winter hardiness, disease resistance, and regrowth.  It costs $128.95 per 50 lb. bag with a volume discount.  So cost per acre is $25.79.  We have used this alfalfa for the last four years and are happy with it.

I have been trying new grasses for the last four years and have yet to solidify a protocol.  The reason I am trying new grasses is because my Dad planted the same old recipe for the last thirty years:  10 lbs. alfalfa, 4 lbs. brome, and 2 lbs. timothy.  This recipe makes for a good quality, high volume, first cutting hay.  However, the grasses are non-existent for second and third cutting.  Grass makes a great beef hay.  And having some grass in there also makes the cattle less susceptible to bloat when we graze the fields.  So I want a grass that is good quality and will show up for every cutting.

To educate myself I read everything I can.  One of the best resources I have found of late is the 2009 Forage Resource Guide from Byron Seeds, phone: 800 801 3596.

Here is what we have tried in the past: 9 – 10 lbs. alfalfa per acre unless noted otherwise.

2005:  4 lbs. Extend Orchardgrass.  Beautiful, thick, grassy field.  Even seems to crowd out the alfalfa.  These are the strips we looked at during my pasture walk, May, 2007.  I love the way this grass comes back for 2nd and 3rd cutting.  The only problem with it is it gets so mature for 1st cutting when we cut it in June.  I would like to get it cut in May this year if it isn’t too upsetting to the old guard who has never made hay before June 1st. 

            4 lbs. Reed Canarygrass and 4 lbs. Perennial Ryegrass.  These grasses never showed up in any quantity so I rotated quickly back into corn.  We had good luck with Reed Canarygrass establishing on a bottom about 10 years ago.  It grew as tall as the tractor fenders for first cutting.  Came back well for subsequent cuttings as well. 

            9 lbs. Birdsfoot Trefoil, no alfalfa, 4 lbs Climax Timothy, and 1 lb. Perennial Ryegrass on a bottom.  I envisioned a sea of yellow flowers prime for grazing on this creek bottom prone to flooding.   Instead, we had high weed pressure seeding year and the Birdsfoot never amounted to anything besides a plant here and there.  The good news is we had thick, tall Timothy the first couple of years and the Ryegrass just seems to keep getting thicker.  The cattle love grazing this field now.

2006:  Some of these grasses are from Barenbrug.

2 lbs. Climax Timothy everything.  Spotty, but nice when its there for first cutting. 

            4 lbs. Barolex Tall Fescue.  This is a nice grass for grazing with good regrowth.  I may use more of it in the future.  Its only problem for us is it doesn’t make a high volume 1st cutting.

            4 lbs. Hakari Brome.  Big disappointment.  Light stand first couple of years and non-existent after that.

            4 lbs. Peak Brome.  Big disappointment.  Light stand and little regrowth.

2007:   2.5 lbs. Barliza Timothy everything.  Disappointing.  Doesn’t seem to show up as much as the Climax.  And I paid double for the Barliza.

            4.5 lbs. Barolex Tall Fescue.  Same as above.

            4.5 lbs. Hakari Brome.  Same as above.

            4 lbs. Barliza Timothy.  I thought I would have a thick stand of Timothy and alfalfa.  Disappointing, never showed up so I had an alfalfa field.

2008:    4 lbs. Baraula Orchardgrass.  Looked good last fall.  Looking forward to checking the yield this year.

This is what we are going to try in 2009:

2 lbs. Timothy per acre for everything.  When it shows up it makes beautiful first cutting hay. Also we’re not spending a lot of money.  We are using the old standard, Climax, which we booked at $56.95 per 50 lbs.  So our cost is only $2.28 per acre.

4 lbs. per acre Pradel Meadow Fescue on our 12 acres of back bottoms.  The back bottoms are prone to flooding.  Meadow Fescue is supposed to tolerate wet soils.  Our cost will be $10 per acre.

4.5 lbs. per acre Fleet Meadow Brome on our 11 acres at our other farm.  This is mostly a nod to my Dad who loves Brome.  However, this Brome is supposed to show up in the summer and yield more than Smooth Brome.  Its expensive, $185 per 50 lbs.  So this will cost us $16.65 per acre.

5 lbs. per acre Enhance Tall Fescue on 19 acres at my place and at the home farm.  These fields have good fertility as they get a fair amount of manure.  They also get some abuse from traffic and cows so I wanted something that would be tough.  Our cost will be $11.50 per acre.

5 lb.s per acre Gain Festolium on 10 acres East hills.  This field is isolated and hard to farm.  We make first cutting hay and then graze every cutting after that.    It will cost us $11 per acre.  We are also grazing the back bottoms so I am thinking of hedging my bets by mixing the Festolium and the Meadow Fescue and planting the mixture in both fields.  What do you think of that idea?  Look for yield updates this summer.

 

 

 

 

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Artificial Inseminaton of Swine

January 31, 2009

In Brief

Artificial Insemination (AI) of swine is common.  We have used AI exclusively since 1994 to incorporate new genetics into our herd.  While it is not difficult, a little information can increase your chance for success.

In Detail

We use no reproductive drugs to assist in breeding.  Consequently, we only AI sows as they exhibit a more consistent estrus compared to gilts.  Estrus is when a sow is fertile and will allow herself to be inseminated.

Swine semen is usually collected and shipped fresh, not frozen.  It will stay viable for about a week after collection, but its potency is reduced as it ages.  So it is important to synchronize estrus in the sows you want to inseminate so the semen will be used promptly.

The best way to synchronize estrus in sows is weaning.  Sows consistently exhibit estrus 4-7 days after weaning.  We wean the sows 4 days before our semen arrives.

The boar stud we use is Swine Genetics International (SGI).  SGI collects its boars on Mondays and Thursdays.  Semen is shipped next day air UPS and will arrive at the farm on Tuesdays or Fridays.  So we wean sows on Fridays or Mondays.

Sows are housed as a group adjacent to a boar or boars.  The sight and phermones of a boar stimulates return to estrus.  If a boar is not available, an aerosol can of boar phermones can be used.  Sows are fed ad libitum, (all they can eat).

Sows will begin to act squirrelly as they approach estrus.  They will vocalize more and begin pacing around the pen.  Their vulva will swell.

On the afternoon of the second day the boar is removed, preferably to another building.  If the boar is allowed to remain next to the sows it will make estrus detection more difficult.  This is because sows tend to fluctuate throughout the day in their expression of estrus.  They will exhibit estrus strongly for several minutes, get tired, and then lie down and rest.  If you are not observing constantly you will miss estrus detection in some sows.


On the morning of the third day, the morning before the semen arrives; we move a boar back within walking distance of the sows.  We use our hydraulic trailer, which lowers completely to the ground, and have the boar locked in the front.  We let two sows out of their pen at a time and gently walk them towards the boar.  If they are in estrus they will stop by the boar and lock their legs.  This is called ‘standing heat’.  Often, their ears will waggle and they will emit a characteristic growl.


To test for standing heat, put some weight on the sow’s back with your hand.  If the sow is in estrus she will stay locked in one place.  If she is not in estrus she will try to move away from your pressure.

We wait and watch for a couple of minutes.  Sometimes a sow will take a few minutes to lock into standing heat.  If a sow is in estrus, she receives a chalk mark.  If I suspect a sow is close to being in estrus she receives a different colored chalk mark.  The sows are removed from the boar and put back into another pen.  This continues until all of the sows are heat checked.  We check for estrus twice a day, as close to twelve hours apart as possible.

Why don’t we just let the boar stand by the sow’s pen and observe the sows in their own pen?  Some sows are less aggressive and will not exhibit estrus in this situation because they don’t want to crowd next to the more dominant sows which are standing near the boar.

Research has shown that on average, sows ovulate 40 hours after the onset of standing heat.  To become pregnant, live sperm need to unite with ovum. Timing is the crucial element for successful insemination.

Once a sow is observed in standing heat, she is inseminated 24 hours later.  She is inseminated a second time 12 hours after that.  If observation of standing heat was accurate, this protocol should result in live sperm uniting with ovum.

Insemination is similar to heat detection on our farm.  A boar is placed in the front of the hydraulic trailer.  Two sows we want to inseminate our let out of their pen and shut in the back of the trailer.  They should still be in standing heat and will lock themselves in place which makes it easy to work with them.  A trick we use if a sow is uncooperative is to place a little feed on the floor of the trailer.

We use a paper towel to clean off each sow’s vulva.  We then insert a breeding rod into each sow’s vulva angling the rod upward so it doesn’t enter the bladder.  We use a foam- tipped breeding rod.  Some rods are corkscrew shaped to resemble a boar’s penis.  You must turn these rods counter-clockwise as you enter the sow’s cervix.

We gently push the foam-tipped rod into the sow until we feel we’ve entered the cervix.  Gently tug the rod backwards.  If there is some resistance, you are in the cervix and ready to inseminate.  If the rod slides back easily you need to reposition.

The boar semen is in single serving plastic bottles designed to inseminate one sow.  Boar semen is priced from $5 to $250 per bottle.  We have found a way to stretch our dollar that seems to not affect conception rates or litter size.  If we have two sows in heat at the same time we will use a half bottle for each sow.

Boar semen needs to be kept at 64 F until used.  We store it in a double cooler in our basement.  We also use a cooler to transport it to the breeding area.

We take a bottle of semen out of its cooler and cut off the tip with a pocket knife.  We put the bottle in the end of the breeding rod and apply very gentle pressure.  If a sow is expressing estrus well, she will actually have contractions that can suck out the contents of the bottle in a minute or less.  This is almost too fast though and we are not concerned if it takes five minutes.   If we are splitting a bottle we remove it from the rod when it’s half empty and use the rest on the other sow.

When finished, we pull out the rods and discard.  We don’t reuse as this will prevent passing an infection between sows.  Rods are priced at about 50 cents a piece.

Sows are returned to their pen.  It is important to not overfeed sows the first month after breeding as this has been shown to reduce conception rates and litter size.  We reduce their feed intake to about five pounds.  It is also important to not stress sows for the next month.  If they need to be moved to a different pen or group, moving immediately is best.

We have had conception rates from 50% to 100%.  The average is around 70%.  We have had the most success breeding in the March through May period.  August is the worst month for successful breeding.  We have not used AI in the coldest winter months as our facilities are outside and we are afraid the semen would freeze.

2 Comments | Curious hogs, Curious reproduction | Permalink
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