Is Jim Van Der Pol of Western Minnesota. Jim and his family have been raising hogs since 1977. The reason I respect him is that he is open minded an an innovator. Thinks and does farming experiments like a fresh out of college youngster.
An example of his methods is his pasture farrowing system. A large group of bred Gilts and sows move through a rotational grazing system of lush forages. Then every seven or eight days he sorts off the very close up ones by diverting them into their own new paddock. These Gilts and sows will then farrow and rear their young in the same area - the key being that all piglets in group are born within one week - so same size, and all females are at same stage of process. It works because no new sows are introduced to the group, so there are no upset sows leading to dead piglets.
The new sows getting ready to farrow get their own paddock each week, and so on.
Jim writes regular colummns sharing his experiences with hogs for the GRAZE publication. He does tell when things don't work, and why, as well.
His family raises and direct markets pork, chicken, and beef. They are currently using Berkshire and Duroc, then mixing them in breeding rotation with Chester White or Yorkshire.
I Always enjoy his articles
...Mark
