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Monitoring growth diets and spreading out marketing periods helped deal with the challenges.

Kevin Schulz, Editor

February 23, 2021

2 Min Read
Bart and Shana Beattie and their four children Mattison, Mekenzie, Preston and Bart Jr.,
FARM FAMILY INVOLVED: Bart and Shana Beattie are the fifth generation on the family farm near Sumner, Neb., and their four children, Mattison (left), Mekenzie, Preston and Bart Jr., represent the sixth generation to work Beattie Family Farms. Courtesy of HG Images Photography

Editor’s note: This is the second article in a two-part series of interviews with Shana Beattie, Beattie Family Farms, Sumner, Neb., who is the new NPPA president.

Farmers are resourceful at solving their own problems, and Beattie Family Farms, Sumner, Neb., went into action when COVID-19 forced the shutdown and slowdowns of pork processing plants last year.

With the plant disruptions, many producers were forced to euthanize perfectly healthy hogs with no place for them to go. Beattie Family Farms slowed down the growth of their market hogs in the family’s wean-to-finish operation, and fortunately, they were not forced to put down hogs with no market.

Slowing down growth

“We did slow down the diets, and we had to extend our marketing over a longer period of time,” Shana Beattie, new president of the Nebraska Pork Producers Association, recalls. “Then that brought the challenge of pig weight. I think we are learning to manage this now by monitoring the weights closer, because you never know when marketing may be delayed in today’s climate,” she says.

“In the past, we’ve been on a schedule, and we would send the trucks of market-ready pigs to harvest. This schedule was put in place when the pigs entered the barn as weaners. We know how many days it takes to get hogs to market weight, and it goes by the calendar and daily gain,” she explains. “Market disruptions last year forced us to pay more attention to where these pigs are market weight-wise and leave ourselves a little flexibility.”

Related:New NPPA president anxious to get back to promoting pork

Recognizing that another COVID-19 flare-up, or some other event, could force processing plants to shut down again, Beattie says, “We need to think ahead and be prepared in the event that it happens. We are very blessed in the fact that our team here at Beattie Family Farms is very committed, and we really just didn’t miss a beat as far as business as usual, keeping things going, other than the fact that we had to slow down our marketing.”

Just another bump in the road

As producers learned with COVID-19, they need to be prepared for whatever may get thrown their way. Beattie Family Farms experienced that along with every other producer, but it also suffered another curveball when one of the farm’s sow barns broke with porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome during the pandemic.

“So that was another little added bump in the road that you can’t plan for,” Beattie says. “That affected our numbers and our production, so maybe that was a blessing in disguise.”

Learn more about Beattie and NPPA online at nepork.org.

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About the Author(s)

Kevin Schulz

Editor, The Farmer

Kevin Schulz joined The Farmer as editor in January of 2023, after spending two years as senior staff writer for Dakota Farmer and Nebraska Farmer magazines. Prior to joining these two magazines, he spent six years in a similar capacity with National Hog Farmer. Prior to joining National Hog Farmer, Schulz spent a long career as the editor of The Land magazine, an agricultural-rural life publication based in Mankato, Minn.

During his tenure at The Land, the publication grew from covering 55 Minnesota counties to encompassing the entire state, as well as 30 counties in northern Iowa. Covering all facets of Minnesota and Iowa agriculture, Schulz was able to stay close to his roots as a southern Minnesota farm boy raised on a corn, soybean and hog finishing farm.

One particular area where he stayed close to his roots is working with the FFA organization.

Covering the FFA programs stayed near and dear to his heart, and he has been recognized for such coverage over the years. He has received the Minnesota FFA Communicator of the Year award, was honored with the Minnesota Honorary FFA Degree in 2014 and inducted into the Minnesota FFA Hall of Fame in 2018.

Schulz attended South Dakota State University, majoring in agricultural journalism. He was also a member of Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity and now belongs to its alumni organization.

His family continues to live on a southern Minnesota farm near where he grew up. He and his wife, Carol, have raised two daughters: Kristi, a 2014 University of Minnesota graduate who is married to Eric Van Otterloo and teaches at Mankato (Minn.) East High School, and Haley, a 2018 graduate of University of Wisconsin-River Falls. She is married to John Peake and teaches in Hayward, Wis. 

When not covering the agriculture industry on behalf of The Farmer's readers, Schulz enjoys spending time traveling with family, making it a quest to reach all 50 states — 47 so far — and three countries. He also enjoys reading, music, photography, playing basketball, and enjoying nature and campfires with friends and family.

[email protected]

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