—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, October 20,1979 36 Penn National results (Continued from Page 30) Amateur Owner Jumpers, Fault And Out, Time Limit 1. K E M Farm, Westport, CT; 2. River Ridge, 'Harrisburg, PA; 3. John Holmes, Lagrangeville, NY. Open Flve-Galted Saddle Hone 1. Jack Pepe, Canfield, Ohio; 2. Judd Stables, Gibsonia; 3. Symbol Acres Farm. Hackney Pony Open 1. Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Wheeler; 2. R F Hough; 3. Susan Saltonstall, Dover, Ma. |SM.M Championship Junior Walking Horse Champion Bob Parks Realty; Reserve Champion Muriel Lee. Flve-Galted Three-year-old Classic 1. Mr. and Mrs. Alan Rob son; 2. Lakeview Farms; 3. Mrs. Judy Kingsford, Lambertville, N.J. Open Three-Gaited Saddle Horses Mr. and Mrs. Alan Robson; 2. Lakeview Farm; 3. Jim Robertson, Lexington, Ky. Harness Pony Open 1. Mr. and Mrs. Alan Rob son; 2. Leonard Cheshire, Arlington, Va.; 3. Edgar Spencer, Hartford, Ct. Open Fine Harness 1. Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Wheeler; 2. Symbol Acre Farm; 3. Mrs. William Goldberg, Piscataway, N. J. Green Conformation Hunter 1. Betty F. McGuire, Mid dleburg, Va.; 2. John Danza, Manhasset, N.Y. 3. Alison Wallace. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 18 Amateur Owner Working Hunters 1. Mrs. Sylvester Johnson; 2. Susan Sawyer, Mt Pocono, Pa.;3.KEMFarm. First Year Green Working Hunter BREAKING MUX RECORDS! Lancaster Farming Carries 7 DHIA Reports Each Month! 1. Mrs. Roger Young; 2. Jane Clark; 3. All Seasons Farm, Cincinatti, Ohio. Green Working Hunter Grand Championship Champion Lisa Pemba ur, Cincinatti, Ohio; Reserve Champion Edwin Andrews, Darien, Ct. Regular Open Working Hunters 1. Mr. August Busch, Jr., St Louis, Mo.; 2. W Taylor Cook, Sparks, Md.; 3. Jennifer A. Bergh, Plam ville, Ma. Amateur Owner Working Hunter 1. Pamela Brewster, Stonington, Ct.; 2. Julie Evans, Warrenton, Va.; 3, Judy Lee, Keswick, Va. Ladies’ Three-Gaited Saddle Horses 1. Symbol Acre Farm; 2. Misty Hills, Loudon vdle, N.Y.; 3. Paul Deblois, Verona, N. J. Walking Horses Mares 1. Munel Lee; 3. Harold J. Rose. ESHBA American Sad dlebred Three-Gaited Horse Pleasure 1. Mrs. Alan Robson; 2. Debby Huber, Columbia, Pa. 3. Dr. and Mrs. Robert Hummer, Jamesville, N.Y. Three-year-old Walking Horse 1. Helen George, Holidaysburg, Pa.; 2. Mr. and Mrs. Artie Myer, Winfield, Pa.; 3. Bob Parks Realty. Single Pony Roadster Amateur ICG Sweigert; 2. Carl Swedburr, North Swedel, Pa; 3. Dr. and Mrs. Robert Hummer. Walking Horse Stallions or Geldings 1. Ida Valley Stables; 2. Howard Hubbard, Elk Ridge Md. 3. Robert Pumphrey. By JERRY WEBB NEWARK, Del. - Hog farming has changed dramatically since the good old days when every farmer had an old sow and a few pigs wallowing belly-deep in mud behind the bam. How much it has changed is exemplified by Don Tyson, of Springdale, Arkansas. He heads up an operation called Tyson Foods, Inc., that deals in 25,000 sows and a half a million pigs every year. He’s the nation’s largest hog fanner and he’s making a pattern that may go in dustrywide before too many years go by. A story in a recent issue of Successful Farming details the Tyson operation and how this man has whipped some of the management problems that has tended to keep hog farmers from going really big tune. The Tyson company, whose primary business is poultry production, is handling its hog business much the way the nation’s big broiler companies handle their chickens. Tyson owns the pigs and the feed and parcels them out to farmers who provide the day-to-day management and the facilities. It’s the integrated broiler business re-mvented. Tyson started m the hog business in thedate 1960’s with a few hundred sows used primarily to dean up leftover feed from its poultry business. By 1970, it was up to 350 sows and in 1975 to 4000. The current 25,000 sow operation is by no means the ultimate goal. Relying heavily on what they already knew about the integrated broiler business, Hog farming undergoes dramatic change the Tyson management experts set up a program based on 500 sow production units. These produce the feeder pigs that at seven weeks of age are distributed to farmers for finishing. The sow farrowing and breeding units are owned by the parent company but are scattered around Arkansas and Missouri. While skeptics continue to say that hogs won’t go the way of broilers, Tyson Foods, Inc., is moving ahead rapidly with its plans. It seems to have hcked the one management problem that has been a source of trouble to many large producers the question that has long been asked, “Who will set up with the corporate sow’” seems to have been an swered. Well paid animal science majors are recruited from ag colleges around the country. These young men and women, who get good starting salaries, bonuses, and other fringe benefits, seem more than willing to provide top management to company-owned farrowing units. And the farmers who work under a contract provide the care and at tention needed for the fat tening hogs. Expert observers think the hog business is too cyclical for vertical integration that the price and cost swings are too great and too long for survival. Granted, Tyson Foods got m on the upswing in the hog business and hasn’t faced the really hard tunes that are just around the comer. And with good management and control over many of the inputs of hog production, perhaps their losses will be no greater per sow than any other farmer-owned operation. If the company survives, think what impact it will have on the next up swing. Marketing economists see a lot of similarities m the way the broiler business gradually converted to a few large companies controlling the industry and what seems to be happening m the hog business. Today, no more than 20 companies produce more than half of the nation’s broilers while hog production still rests squarely in the hands of commercial farmers. But those farmer operations are getting larger and they note that agribusiness firms already account for about ten percent of the large volume hog units and the trend seems to be growing. In 1964 operations marketing a thousand or more hogs a year accounted for just seven percent of total sales. But by 1977 they held a third of the market and the Department of Agriculture thinks that farms selling a thousand head or more will account for 40 percent of all sale* this year. Like it or not integrated hog production may not be far away, with a few major compames owning the pigs, blending the feed, and providing both to contract growers. Finished hogs would then be returned to company packing houses where they would be slaughtered and packaged in brand name containers for distribution through major retail outlets. It’s an old formula, one that sounds very familiar to Delmarva broiler growers. Some of them can remember when they had a few chickens scratching around in the front yard and one was occasionally caught and its head chopped off to be served for Sunday dinner. And the old sow and a few pigs out back in the mudhole provided meat for the wmter and lard for cooking. Those kmds of small farm operations still exist but they don’t have much impact on agriculture. But don’t be too surprised if large hog operations patterned after Tyson Foods, Inc., become more prevalent in the years ahead. And if they do, you can expect contract hog production just like the broiler production we already know about.
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