If you're not breaking anything you're not doing anything

If you’re not breaking anything you’re not doing anything. This is something my grandfather would say when someone had broken a piece of equipment. Breakdowns are just simply a part of farming. We sometimes find ourselves saying why does this always happen to us. Then you talk with other farmers and you find out they have probably had a similar experience.

Harvest had been going pretty smoothly until the beginning of this week.

The belt you see in the picture drives the feeder house and the head on the combine. When it breaks the head and feeder house stop immediately.

We were glad that Jacob could bring us a new belt to get us going again.

While breakdowns are common we do what we can to keep them to a minimum. I was glad Trent volunteered to grease the turbo-till.

There are a lot of bearings to grease and it is easier for him crawl into the tight spaces. We use the turbo-till to incorporate our rye seed for cover crop. It will keep the soil in place while there is no crop growing and will improve soil health.

Last night we had just over 1.6 inches of rain. Probably the largest one time rain we have had since April. It may slow down harvest but it is still very welcomed after such a dry summer. Enjoy the rest of your week.

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Backing Away from Basics

How many times have you said to yourself or to others that there is a need to get back to basics? A return to the basics can help us realign with the fundamental principles of the task at hand. It’s generally very helpful. When I was struggling in a sport, I often backtracked to the fundamentals to discovered my point of error. Other’s use it in work, family life, and in cooking. Unfortunately, I believe that we have remained a bit too basic in our approach to pork. Go to a retail store and you will see the same cuts that have been available for the past 30 years. You will see chops, shoulder and loin roasts, tenderloins, ham steaks, etc. Now there is nothing wrong with those cuts as they present a myriad of cooking opportunities. But the wonderful pig produces so much more! Take for example some of the dishes we served this week at a pork education event. We made street tacos out of pork steaks (it’s the Spinalis muscle if you want to get technical). We made Chulet

Can you power wash?

Can you power wash? It may seem odd, but this is often one of the first questions I ask someone interviewing for a job with us. There are generally two reasons for asking this question. The first is practical in nature. Pigs can kind of be like your kids sometimes, leaving a mess where ever they go. This makes power washing a frequent event especially in the farrowing house. Grant does a good job of making sure the next mom has a clean place to have her babies. The second reason is it may give you an idea of the persons work ethic. If they hesitate or try to appear that they are “over qualified” to power wash that may be a red flag. All jobs here are important, whether you are in charge of the books or cleaning farrowing pens, what you are doing is vital to the success of the farm. Last week I talked about getting projects done. We took advantage of the Labor day weekend to get one of those projects done. The white stripes went

Merry Christmas!

Christmas has finally arrived here at VG Farms. It is finally white and actually looks like Christmas. Before I go on, let me issue an apology for the lack of blog posts these past few weeks. Between my end-of-semester finals and my father’s busy work-load, it has been difficult to find the time to write. So consider this special Christmas edition a gift from us to you. As any family does, the Van Gilst’s hold several Christmas traditions. Some are small and informal – like watching National Lampoons Christmas Vacation at least a half dozen times. Others are a bit more significant – such as gathering with each side of the family (Van Gilst and Branderhorst) to celebrate the holidays alongside grandparents, aunts and uncles, and an endless supply of cousins. We watch the Iowa Hawkeyes play in their bowl game (fingers crossed for a victory in a few days) and occasionally us boys will head off to Iowa City to catch some hoops. Whatever it may be, there is never a dull moment ov

Both Sides of the Fork

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