Both Sides of the Fork

          “This will take only 10 minutes, I promise”, I reassure the head of farrowing as he takes a rare break from his work. A familiar, bashful smile appears while we make our way to the office space of the building. “You’re the first employee we’re doing a feature on, so you should definitely feel special about this one.” He laughs and we begin.           This is Jon Phelps, the recently promoted head of farrowing here at VG Farms. For the past six years he has spent his time helping nearly a quarter of a million piglets into the world. It all started when he decided he wanted to return to hog farming since leaving an operation in Alexandria, South Dakota. “I saw the opening online and had previous experience in farrowing that I really enjoyed”, he explains, “I filled out the application and here I am.” Jon has come along quite a ways since first beginning with the VG Farms family; from doing chores at one building, to adding another, all the way to running the entire farr

          Nothing ever quite says summer like 4-H projects, jumbo corn dogs, and a Tuesday night hog show. Well, at least that’s the case for the Van Gilst family. Every year the Southern Iowa County Fair rolls around with much anticipation and excitement. This year is like many of the ones that have preceded it: hot, busy, and fun.           The journey for this year’s fair began back in March when the pigs were weighed in. On a chilly Saturday morning, the swine superintendents (all volunteers) took the weight and registered all the pigs that were raised by local 4-H and FFA members. A few months (and 200+ pounds) later, the same pigs have returned to the fair to be shown and judged. This fair is a little different for us, for the first in a very long time, only one Van Gilst kid showed in last night’s hog show. With Trent on a camping trip in South Dakota, Ryan was alone in his second to last year of showing. Meanwhile, his two older siblings worked the ring alongside their

         As the month of July progresses in earnest, so does the heat. This week alone is turning out to be one of the hottest this year with heat indexes residing in the triple-digit range. Add in the unrestrained humidity and you’re left with the outdoors resembling the inside of an oven. With the lack of rain, the dust rolls over the fields and never seems to settle; furrowing the brow of every farmer who understands the dire need for precipitation to land on their crops. It is something that is typical for this time of year in southeast Iowa.           For the crew here at VG Farms, the heat and acute rainfall raise even larger concerns than crop health. While the fields are important, care for our swine herd takes an even higher precedence during these hot weeks. Here is a fun fact for you: pigs don’t sweat. That means their bodies don’t possess the ability to cool themselves off. Which means it’s all hands on deck to make sure every pig is cool and comfortable.   

         Greetings! Welcome to VG Farm’s first official blog post. Before you roll your eyes and mutter under your breath about the myriad of blogs pervading the Internet, just read a little farther. In our opinion, it is of grave importance that you read this blog. If you have any interest in where your food comes from and about the people that live on the farm-side of the fork, this stuff is for you. With such a seemingly large topic at hand, perhaps it would be best to give a brief introduction. VG Farms is a s farm located in southeast Iowa just outside of Oskaloosa. The VG stands for Van Gilst, our family name; we’ve been farming the Iowa soil for six generations since our ancestors arrived on a boat from the Netherlands. In 1973, we incorporated; making the final transition to becoming a fully operational swine farm. Since then we have grown, changed, and adapted to the farming landscape around us. Today we farm roughly 1,400 acres of cropland to provide feed for our 30