No rock is being left unturned to move pigs right now, says Illinois pig farmer Thomas Titus. With packing plants closing and slowing down temporarily, pig farmers are faced with unprecedented decisions.
“To be honest, it’s very hard to develop much of a game plan,” Titus says. He and his wife, Breann, are partners with her family in Tri Pork Inc. “It seems like things change every 12 hours on what we’re doing. Our business model has changed drastically in the last two weeks on how we market pigs.”
Despite the 700 pigs he has ready to go to market, he estimates only one load will go this week.
Whether it’s selling feeder pigs or marketing roaster pigs to Florida, Titus says their 600-sow herd size offers him a little more flexibility than other larger producers during this time. He even delivered 5 feeder pigs to a family in a suburban community raising chickens and pigs in their backyard.
“We’ve stopped selling feeder pigs because we’ve sold so many and feel like we’ve created a big enough hole in the nursery and growers to get by for six weeks,” he explains. “The market-ready pigs remain the challenge for us like everyone else. We’ve found some more outlets for them, but even for us and our size, it isn’t enough.”
He says they even sent a load to a plant in Ohio. “We basically gave them away, but we don’t have them anymore,” Titus says.
They have entered the freezer pork market as much as they can, he adds. He’s working with local processors to fill their supply needs and donating as much pork as he can. But at the end of the day, a huge gap remains.
Read more Agricultural news
