Mount Ayr Record-News
Mount Ayr, Ringgold County, Iowa
Thursday, October 09, 2008

Expanding hog facilities is part of the plan to bring another generation onto the farm for the Alan and Shelly BENTLEY of Diagonal.

With sons Bradley and Michael interested in becoming part of the family farm operation, plans are being made to double the size of the hog facilities on the BENTLEY farm.

The BENTLEYS farm, 720 acres of land west of Diagonal where they raise corn, soybeans and hay, pasture their 30-head of cows and currently have two buildings in which they can wean to finish 2,400 head of hogs at a time.

They are in the premitting stages of moving to the west side of P-27 to add more buildings that will double the size of the hog part of their operation as part of the plans for Bradley and Michael to join the operation. Bradley is a 2005 graduate of Diagonal Community high school and Michael is a Diagonal high school senior, and both would like to be part of the family farming operation.

"I've grown up doing this," said Bradley. "I'm not sure what else I would do."

Alan BENTLEY, who has farmed for 33 years himself, said his sons are good help and take more and more responsibility all the time.

"One of these days I'll want to slow down a bit and it's good to know the boys are interested in keeping the farm going," he said.

The hog part of the BENTLEY'S operation is the two buildings where they grow pigs from 10 pounds to a market weight of 260 pounds for Swine Graphics. The BENTLEYS provide the building and labor while Swing Graphics provides the pigs, the feed and other inputs.

The two buildings the BENTLEYS house hogs in now are 11 years old and the method of contracting with Swine Graphics has worked out well for them, Alan BENTLEY said.

The pigs are brought in after being weaned at 10 pounds and the BENTLEYS feed the pigs out to market weight and take care of their needs.

"It's not like PETA likes to make it out to be in raising hogs," BENTLEY said. "We take good care of the animals because we want them to stay healthy and have as few death losses as possible."

If there are bad operators out there, they are few and far between, BENTLEY says.

The feed is automatically fed from the bins where it is delivered to the hogs in the building and the watering is automatic as well. The BENTLEYS are responsible for vaccinations and other health concerns for the hogs under their care. Ventilation keeps the temperature warm or cool as needed during the six months each group of hogs are being fed out.

Pigs are brought to the building twice a year so some 4,800 hogs a year leave the BENTLEY farm for market. When the new buildings are in place, this will be 9,600 pigs a year.

The buildings are power washed down between the times the new batches of pigs are brought in.

Pits under the buildings catch the manure that is another important part of the hog operation for the BENTLEYS.

The manure is pumped out and spread on the land for crop, hay and pasture fertilizer which is a big savings over what commercial fertilizer for the land would cost, BENTLEY noted.

Taking care of the hogs is a family affair with Shelly BENTLEY helping out when needed as well.

It's Shelly BENTLEY and her mother who keep the flowers at the site planted and growing, BENTLEY pointed out.

The contracting of the feeding porvides a way for the sons to get into the operation without the upfront cost of owning the pigs and paying for the feed, BENTLEY noted.

This has been a different type of year for crops, with a long winter and wet spring delaying planting.

"We had a planting season from April to July," BENTLEY noted. The spell of nice fall weather this September, however, has meant that the crops have had time to develop.

It looks like even the late soybeans will mature before the frosts come, he said.

The BENTLEYS are active in the Ringgold County Pork Producers as another way that pork production plays a part in their lives.

There have been many changes in the pork industry over the years that BENTLEY has been part of it, but contracting with the big producers to grow pigs has been something that has worked out well for the BENTLEYS as they try to pass on the family farm tradition to another generation, he notes.

  Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, July of 2012