For Perth County Pork producer Kevin Brown, farming isn’t just a job it’s his passion.
“I love it,” said Kevin. “Knowing that each day you did the best you can to care for the pigs.”
Kevin is a contract finishing pork producer. Which means he owns his dual- vent barn, but the pigs that he looks after are owned by someone else.
“I’m basically, caring for someone else’s inventory and investment, but I try and care for them like they are my own.”
As a new load of animals arrive at his farm, Kevin keeps a watchful eye on each of the nursey pigs that come down the chute.
“The stage of the pigs coming in today are about 70 lbs, we’ll take them up to 285-290 before they leave to go to market.”
Each new batch delivered to Kevin’s barn is between 1800 to 2000 pigs and he’ll raise them for approximately 105 days. His main responsibilities are making sure his water and feeding systems are working correctly, watching the condition of the pigs to ensure they are eating and drinking, and maintaining a consistent temperature in the barn.
“It can be cyclical, where your heavy workload is shipping, then washing and cleaning the barn, but once you’re refilled and they are growing it’s a little lighter duty.”
Kevin enjoys farming so much, he says it’s easy to wake up each day and go to work.
What really makes Kevin’s dedication to farming remarkable, is that each day in the barn, he’s only able to use one arm. This, after surviving a near death incident in 2009.
“In December 2009 I was a junior hockey linesman in Woodstock. I was waiting to break up a fight and in the process of one player throwing the other to the ice, the one guy cartwheeled, and his skate came up and punctured my carotid artery.”
Click here to see more...