Specializing key to Fishers' hog operation
MINNESOTA - Instead of diversifying their farming operation to increase profits and reduce risk, the Fisher brothers chose to specialize.David and Jim Fisher found themselves dividing their time between a hog operation and crops. “There were times when we were out in the fields when we should have been in taking care of the hogs,” David says. “And, then sometimes we should have been out planting , but we were in with the hogs.”
It's a dilemma many producers face: where to invest time and energy to see the greatest monetary returns. “You only have so much capital to go around,” Jim says. “Between the hogs and the crops, it is hard to do a good job at both.”
So, the brothers decided to increase their hog operation and get out of crop production. What started as a family 400-sow farrow-to-finish hog operation along with 1,200 acres of row-crop production in Pike County is now strictly a farrow-to-wean operation.
Source: Livestock Roundup