The Beginning Farmer Show

paulreachesLast week 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! The great thing about my discussion with Phil is that regardless if you are interested in raising pigs for Niman Ranch or not he shares a lot of great information about raising hogs outdoors and without antibiotics (they do use vaccinations and wormers in the Niman program). Phil grew up on a farrow-to-finish hog farm and has been working with Niman Ranch for 11 years now so the pig business is a business that he knows through and through. I only wished we lived closer so I could pick his brain more often! 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

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 ...

Direct download: TBF_052.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:08am EDT

1901732_808161969211762_1164505881_nWhile talking with my uncle the other day about grain bins, grain dryers, wagons, feed mixers, and of course my latest hard lesson learned, that was mentioned in the last episode, he began to tell a story. The story was full of great thoughts for me as a farmer, but the biggest thing that I took away from it all was one little piece of information that was relevant to the overall lesson. The little piece of information came in the from of this quote, "When father came out to the farrowing shed" (that is the quote as best as I can remember). At first glance that isn't a very exciting statement, but it reminded me of something very important to my beginning farmer journey. What it reminded me was that my uncle, who is on my speed dial and receives calls weekly, didn't just up and gain his farming knowledge all by himself in the matter of a few moments. He was on the farm from the very beginning and farming alongside his father (my grandfather) for years as he grew up and learned and then even as he became an adult. I am confident that if I could pick up a thimble's worth of knowledge that passed between my grandfather and my uncle I would be lightyears ahead of where I am now. That is why I am continually talking about the importance of interning on a farming, volunteering on a farm, or just getting out and talking to farmers in general. And, that is why I believe that mentors are without a doubt one of the most important tools in the toolbox of any beginning farmer. My mentors range from family to friends to the neighbors that I work for now and they are indispensable!

Links Mentioned in This Episode

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 ...

Direct download: TBF_051.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 1:31am EDT

Practical_Farmers_of_Iowa_horizontal_logoDon't forget about the upcoming Practical Farmers of Iowa Farminar featuring "The Beginning Farmer," Ethan Book.

Tuesday, February 18th 7:00 - 8:30 PM CST "Making Niche Pork Work for You at Any Scale"

  Non-GMO2If you are interested in farming or the world of food in general you have probably heard something about Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs). It is a topic of debate for many in the food and farming industries, and it is even something that crosses my mind from time to time. In fact, it is a topic that I have been thinking a lot about lately. To be completely honest I have actually been thinking about whether or not it would be a good thing for our farm to make the transition to Non-GMO feeds for our farm. I can't explain exactly why this is a direction that I began thinking about, because honestly I haven't paid much attention to the debate. Maybe it is just my contrarian attitude or maybe it is because my "gut" is just telling me to think about it. Either way I wanted to take some time on today's show to talk a little bit about my thoughts on the possible move from GMO hog/chicken feed to a ration using Non-GMO grains. In fact I didn't just want to stumble my way through 20 minutes of talking about something I knew very little about so I decided to do some research. The fruits of my reading research are in the links below, but to be completely honest I don't know if any one article convinced me completely of anything ... except for maybe one ...

Ethan's Amazing Research on the Topic of GMO vs. Non-GMO Feed From the First Three Pages of the Google Search Results

Here is the article that made the most sense to me ... at least when it came to my unscientific mind.

  • "The Post-GMO Economy" :: From "Modern Farmer" this article talks about a farmer in my general neck of the woods who has made the switch from GMO crops to Non-GMO crops ... mostly from a financial point of view.
As you can tell from reading the articles you can find all sorts of evidence to prove either side of the argument, which is why I've come to the conclusion that sometimes you just need to go with your gut and the experience of those that you trust ... or at least that is what I lean on sometimes. Finally, here is the link to the blog post from farmer/listener Chris who took the time to e-mail me this week. 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 ...

Direct download: TBF_050.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:44am EDT

photoHave you ever had one of those moments where you wanted to communicate the thoughts rolling through your head, but you couldn't seem to get them from your brain to your words in a coherent manner? Well, today's episode of "The Beginning Farmer Show" was one of those moments for me! After attending a Niman Ranch Regional Producers Meeting (which was awesome), and remembering a couple events that have happened along the way in my farming journey, my mind was churning with thoughts about the perceived competition between pasture-based (or organic, or antibiotic free, or non-GMO, or ... you get the idea) farms and conventional farms. I've come to the point where I'm less concerned with the differences and more concerned about producing great meats in a sustainable (emotionally, physically, financially) way. If you make it through this rambling episode of the show I would love to hear your thoughts on the subject! One feedlot owner/manager that I quoted on the episode said that if Americans demanded grassfed beef than they would produce it. Do you believe with that?

 

Practical_Farmers_of_Iowa_horizontal_logoDon't forget about the upcoming Practical Farmers of Iowa Farminar featuring "The Beginning Farmer," Ethan Book.

Tuesday, February 18th 7:00 - 8:30 PM CST "Making Niche Pork Work for You at Any Scale"

  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 ...

Direct download: TBF_049.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 2:18am EDT

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