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Focus Point
It’s All About People
by Darrell D. Anderson
Profit, profit, profit! If there is anything we should have learned from the 9/11 experience last year, it’s that it isn’t all about profit, profit, profit. We should have come away from the events of last year with a renewed commitment to the reality that “it’s not how long you live, but rather how you live” that really counts. When it’s all said and done – it’s all about people! It’s all about relationships and making a difference in someone’s life.
As I write this column, the pork industry is facing many serious challenges. Among these is the ruling from the judge in Michigan regarding the check-off, very depressed market prices, higher feed costs, and continued pressure created by environmental and social issues. In addition to these obstacles, the Florida constitutional amendment regarding the banning of gestation crates passed and who knows what kind of doors that will open up for our enemies. This is how the Humane Society of the United States reported it on their recent e-mail newsletter: “FLORIDA: Amendment 10 - the first measure ever to be adopted in the United States to ban the confinement of animals on factory farms, Amendment 10 bans the caging of pigs in gestation crates— tiny, two-foot by seven-foot cages in which pregnant pigs are housed for almost all of their dismal existence. The crates are so small that confined pigs can’t even turn around. Years of this tortured life leads to a spate of physical and psychological ailments.”
Once again, the real issue isn’t the “psychological ailments” created in our sows by gestation crates, but rather the perception of some people who really don’t understand our industry. They have their own mission, and while we don’t fit into their world, rather than try to understand us and build a relationship with us, it is much easier to simply get rid of us.
The same scenario still exists with many of you regarding your genetic suppliers. You’ve been told that you have to adapt your system to fit the “cookie cutter” genetic mold that is being mass produced by your corporate supplier. Don’t question the high mortality, soundness issues, and slow growth rate – they are all simply a result of the pressure to reduce backfat and create uniformity. By the way, the easiest way to create uniformity is to reduce appetite – haven’t you ever noticed that there is a tremendous similarity between lean, slow growing animals? The unfortunate reality is that some of those have created premiums with your packers, so he has tried to reinforce the need for that type of animal. In the big picture, those are costing you tremendously, but your supplier doesn’t have the time or stockman skills, to recognize the lost potential. Oh, and they don’t have the people to build the relationship to really understand your needs.
The “people” represented in this special reference issue have spent their whole life building relationships with their customers. They have survived the ups and downs in this business, and supplying superior, predictable genetics has become a way of life, not a job! They enjoy what they are doing because they have been successful, and they are impacting the world in a very positive manner through these relationships they have nurtured. They view their customers as “extended family”, and are genuinely concerned when you are encountering problems. They have researched and helped find solutions to industry problems such as pork quality, sow productivity, reproductive efficiency, and in many cases, did so long before the industry was prepared to reward them economically for their efforts. But they did it anyway, because they believed in the industry and the people that they knew were depending on them – cause after all – “it’s all about people!
