The Whole Truth

I was recently questioned why I post some of our negative experiences on our blog.  It sort of caught me off guard.  Was it being implied that I am a whiner?  Because that certainly hasn't been my intention.  Was it out of concern that it may not be good for business?...something I hadn't considered.  Was the blog perceived as being negative?  All of these questions danced around in my head.

The reason I post some of our negative experiences is because I want to be honest.  I want people to have a well rounded idea of our farm life.  Of course we enjoy sharing our positive stories and at the same time we aren't afraid to share our negative experiences.  Raising animals is something our family enjoys.  But animals are living creatures and susceptible to predators, weather, sickness, their own mischief etc... To present ourselves as a perfect farm where nothing goes wrong would be far from the truth.  We want our customers to have a real sense of where their food comes from.  To use the trendy term, we want to be transparent.  Our hope is that we offer the opportunity for people to connect to their food and even us as the farmer, if that is their desire. 

Some of our failures have been from our lack of experience.  We enjoy acquiring our experience.  We were not born into this lifestyle.  Well, Hollie grew up raising apples.  But I think most would agree that is different from raising pigs! : )  There are times I wish I did grow up on a farm.  It would likely mean that I would have inherited the farm or at least have access to it.  That really would have made things easier.  Think about it, little or no mortgage to pay, plenty of equipment, many more years of experience, good sources and contacts, good established farm ground, and family familiar with our operations that could lend a hand when needed.  But at the same time, I know I wouldn't appreciate what we have like I do now.  I also would likely do things the same way my dad had done things which is the way his dad did things.  This is good and bad because I would likely have continued to make the same progress as well as the same mistakes that had been done for generations.  Instead we have tried (or rather been forced) to take a fresh approach.

Some of our success stems from our non agricultural experience.  For example, Hollie has a degree in Business and has worked for several years as an office manager.  This is critical in keeping track of our growing list of customers and our accounting needs.  I have been employed as a business manager for 10 years.  This has given me lots of experience in marketing, customer interaction, dealing with vendors and so forth.

Other failures we have experienced are just part of life.  Even the most experienced professionals encounter new obstacles or are subject to the ever active and evolving world of biology.  Our little farm has its own unique ecosystem that we learn more about every day.  We prepare the best we can and make every effort to learn from past experiences.  It is a journey.  We hope to have more success than failure.  And hopefully sharing this journey with others will contribute to our success as well as the success of others.

As we share bits and pieces of our farm life, keep in mind that what we share is the truth.  How would we be any different from the large factory farms if all we did was portray this mythical nirvana of a farm?  We would be trying to pretend that we were something other than what we are.  We will continue to share our farm experiences both positive and negative.  We will present our farm exactly as it is.  No rose colored glasses, no fluff, and no sugar coating.  Who wants to connect to that?  From us you can expect the whole truth and nothing less.      

Sustainable Agriculture

If you are wondering why I haven’t updated my blog for a while, this picture will give you a clue. Between working full time and running the farm, it gets difficult to squeeze in time to write. When I do find the time, the kids will inevitably find me and make sure that they get their daily wrestling session out of me. Sometimes as in this picture, I will ask them to give me a minute so that I can finish my post. They patiently wait on my shoulders, lap, head, or any other somewhat horizontal part of me until I am done. Needless to say, I finish rather quickly. I can’t complain though. I cherish the fact that the boys want to be a part of whatever it is that I am doing.

I recently purchased the movie “Fresh”. It is a documentary type film that tactfully raises awareness about the negative aspects of our country’s current food system and industrialized agriculture including concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs). Unlike other “bean-spilling-movies” I have seen, Fresh clearly highlights the problems but doesn’t really linger over them. It offers solutions and provides facts that support clean, healthy, local, sustainable food. Click here for a link to a preview of the film.

A few of the points raised include the polarized problem that the grain farmers and feedlots experience. In the Midwest, farmers grow the same crop year after year. Because they are constantly taking from the ground, the soil becomes depleted of nutrients. And since the same crop is grown year after year, pests get out of control. To combat these problems, farmers use fertilizers and pesticides to boost production. Unfortunately the chemicals and fertilizers kill the pests and provide one form of nutrition but also kill the beneficial, microbial organisms, worms etc…which provide another form of nutrition. This means the next year more chemical is required to get the same result since there is less contribution from the beneficial organisms. In addition, some pests exhibit tolerance to the chemicals used. As these pests multiply they pass this trait on (natural selection). resulting in a need to apply more pesticide. This increases the cost for farmers which in turn increases their dependence on government subsidies. It chemically sterilizes the soil of beneficial organisms, and is known to pollute water sources. On top of that, we end up eating the chemical drenched food which chemicals required gas masks and hazard suits to be applied!

The grain is then harvested and shipped halfway across the country to a CAFO where it is fed to cows. Because the cows are confined, stressed, living in their manure, being fed processed leftovers from the slaughtering process (IE cow parts), chicken manure, and now chemical coated grain, they require a huge amount of antibiotics to keep them alive. These antibiotics cost the feedlot money which is paid by the consumer. The cows also build immunity to the antibiotics such that it takes more antibiotics and new types of antibiotics to keep the cows alive. Some of the antibiotics pass through their system and end up in the massive amounts of manure that is produced. This huge amount of manure produced in such a small area becomes a toxic waste that contaminates the ground water, rivers, and lakes. Plus it can stink up the place for miles. Once again it costs the feedlots money to get rid of all that manure. Since the big feedlots are located in just a few states, the beef needs to shipped all over the country. The grain farms have to buy synthetic fertilizers and the feedlots have to get rid of nature’s fertilizer. I would ask what’s wrong with this picture but instead will ask how many things are wrong with this picture? The solution is simple, we mimic nature.

This is where the movie gets really good and is actually a very uplifting and inspiring film. It proposes that farmers grow pasture to feed their cows with. It highlights the benefits of rotating the cows through small paddocks so that the soil gets fertilized naturally and eliminates the need for synthetic fertilizers. Since there are fewer input costs, farmers can be more profitable and not dependent upon government subsidies. Since the animals are not stressed and are eating fresh greens, they stay healthy and don’t need all the pharmaceuticals. If farmers can sell their food locally, they don’t have to pay for huge transportation costs. Their customers can enjoy clean, fresh, wholesome, humanely raised, and sustainable food. As a bonus, the waters stay clean and farm ground will be fertile and sustainable for generations to come.

When I started going to school to get my degree in Agricultural Science, I began to learn about the amount of nutrients it takes to grow a plant. Since I was being taught traditional, industrialized farming techniques, we learned everything in terms of how much synthetic fertilizer and pesticide it took to produce crops. I loved learning about growing food. At the time I didn’t realize how unsustainable some of these methods were.

While in school, our family took a trip to Yellowstone. I saw where the “devastating” fires had been. I laughed when I recalled how all of the news stations and “experts” were reporting that Yellowstone would never be the same again. I was amazed at how fast the forests had come back. It looked as if someone had “hydroseeded” a lawn with tree seeds. My eyes literally beheld a huge lawn of pine trees so dense that it would be difficult if not impossible to move through them. At the time I naively pondered, how the trees could grow so fast without fertilizers. Of course now I recognize that thousands of critters inhabit each acre and all contribute to the growth cycle. The large animals deposit manure, and the worms and microbial organisms help break the dead plants and trees down into rich compost. Mother nature keeps herself balanced by using multiple species of plants and animals. This helps prevent infestations of harmful pests. I have learned a wealth of knowledge from my degree. The principles of fertilizer and pest prevention are true. We just don’t need to artificially produce them. In fact, by observing nature, you will find that our Creator is the ultimate farmer. By following the principles observed in nature we too can grow nutritious, clean, sustainable, and yummy food.
We would like to see more farms in Utah raising food that is healthy to the land it is grown on and healthy to the consumer. Let your friends, family, neighbors etc. know that you buy local, healthy food. Recommend the farms that you are buying from. This will help encourage growth among local farms while boosting the local economy. It is not government or corporations who have allowed our food system to get to its current state. It is the consumer. If we don’t object to the unsustainable, irresponsible, unhealthy, unfresh way our food is grown nothing will change. Writing your congressman does very little in my experience. We live in a world controlled by money. Voting with your wallet/purse speaks volumes.

CAFOs and the Inhumane Treatment of Animals

We advertise that we treat our animals humanely. Some people find this odd and will ask something to the effect of, “Aren’t all animals just raised on a farm and then slaughtered?” Or, “What kind of inhumane treatment exists at other farms?” This type of response is saddening to some degree. It shows that there are people who have little, if any, idea where their food comes from. I can’t say I blame the individual for this, I think it is more of a social issue. Our culture has been blessed to be able to go to the store whenever we want and be able to instantly buy anything we need. For some products, it may not be a big deal. I can’t say I know how the sprinkles found on a donut are made. However, when it comes to food from animals like meat, dairy, and eggs, I feel that we have a certain obligation to learn about the life that went into our food.

I recognize that everybody is unique and that just because you can’t bear to watch the slaughtering process doesn’t mean you shouldn’t consume meat. Rather, we should understand that meat isn’t created in some machine but from an animal.

The acronym CAFO stands for Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation. The majority of the meat in the US is raised in CAFOs. When it comes to pork, large buildings house thousands and tens of thousands of pigs under one roof. It is here that I feel a great deal of animal cruelty takes place.



A sow (mommy pig) is bred and often confined in a gestation crate. These crates are so confined that the sow cannot turn around or even take more than one step forward or backward. The reason they are kept this way is that when you cram this many animals under one roof, they get stressed. The stress causes the animals to start chewing on each others’ ears and tails etc… So sows are locked up “for their own safety and benefit”. Once they farrow (have a litter of piglets) they are allowed to nurse in farrowing crates for about 10-14 days at which point the piglets are taken away and the sow is bred again. As you can imagine this is very hard on the sow and they usually only live 2-3 years. Farrowing crates are like gestation crates except a section is added onto the side where the piglets stay. You see the focus of breeding has been for production and when mothering abilities started to deteriorate, pork producers began protecting the piglets from their mother stepping, crushing, or eating them with farrowing crates. When the piglets are born, they get their teeth clipped off, and tails docked. The runts are often killed the minute they are born and thrown in the compost pile since they are “inefficient”.


Feeder pigs are given 6-8 square feet of floor space for their entire life all of which is indoors. See this link from Pork Magazine where an agricultural economist is proposing going from 7.2 to 8.7 square feet of floor space per pig. Wow, how generous of them. (2 feet by 4 feet of floor space is all these pigs get.) Most pigs have never been exposed to sunlight until they are loaded onto the livestock truck and taken to the slaughter house.
In some CAFOs, workers are required to wear respirators since the ammonia levels from the pigs’ urine are so high that it is harmful to their health. Pigs in most CAFOs are constantly fed antibiotics and pesticides in their feed to help keep disease and sickness down.

Smaller operations are often no better. I always go out of my way to meet local pig farmers as Utah is not exactly known for pork production. It has been wonderful to meet new people, exchange ideas and contacts, and compare notes. It has also been eye opening to see how some farms treat their pigs. While there have been a few places that really care for their pigs like Utah Showpigs. There are many that keep their pigs in small pens and feed their pigs junk. Pigs have a unique attribute where they don’t break down all of their food. A pig’s metabolism takes some of the fat from the food it eats and deposits it directly into its own fat. This is how some farms can control the flavor of their pork by finishing pigs on apples, acorns, corn, or even milk. You can literally detect a hint of flavor from these foods. This also one of the reasons that our pasture raised pork is so delicious. The flip side is also observed when farmers feed their pigs donuts, breads, restaurant leftovers, and other processed foods as the pigs also deposit some of these foods directly into their fat. As some have experienced, this can lead to awful tasting pork that has an excess of fat. Farmers do this because it is cheap and in some cases free. Feed by the way, is the number one cost in raising pigs. I have even talked to some farmers who brag about how they feed their pigs Twinkies with wrappers still on them. One guy bragged that he only lost one or two pigs a year from the pigs choking on the plastic.

Many of the pigs at smaller operations I have visited stand 4-8” deep in their own waste. In fact the general attitude of the farmers of these operations is that as long as the pig isn’t dead and gaining weight, things are good. The animals, lack enough room to exercise, lack fresh vitamins, eat moldy processed foods, and suffer from high stress levels. There seems to be very little concern for the welfare of the animal.
Both large and small operations that treat their animals this way, most likely do it to keep costs down which benefit the customer. Many have grown immune or been desensitized to the inhumane treatment of the animals. I have found that treating your animals humanely, feeding them fresh and wholesome foods, letting them run around, and handling them gently has an abundance of rewards. It really doesn’t cost that much more although I admit it would more difficult on a large scale.



My pigs are happy, healthy, and stress free. They are also are free of antibiotics, pesticides, and artificial hormones. The ability to run tones the muscle and creates a better texture to the meat. The fresh feed, sunlight, dirt, and fresh air keep my pigs strong and healthy. Because Berkshire pigs have not been used for mass production, they are considered a heritage breed and offer some wonderful traits that have not been bred out of them. For example, my sows can farrow in deep straw beds and nurture their little piglets without intervention. Their meat is literally the highest quality meat available and taste is out of this world. I believe that our Creator has given mankind stewardship over animals and that it is our responsibility to raise these animals as humanely as possible. I believe we should do what we can to support humanely raised animals, dairy, and eggs and avoid inhumanely raised products. This is the strongest action we can take on an individual level to encourage change in the food industry.