The world is a small place. For Michael Williford, serving in the U.S. Army taught him that everything is connected in one way or another. He deployed to Iraq three times. He served in Afghanistan, Korea, Belgium, Germany and Kosovo, among others.
While he was serving as a military police officer all over the world, one thing always remained consistent: his wife Andrea was where he called home.
“While I was in my first Iraq deployment, Andrea bought a house in Texas,” Williford says. “It’s kind of funny. Everybody was teasing me when we were coming home. They were like, ‘Is your wife going to pick you up?’ I said, ‘Well, I hope so, because I don’t know where I live.’”
During these years, Andrea had to make the majority of the decisions for their family. So, when Williford was nearing retirement after 20 years of service, he decided to go wherever she wanted to go.
Answering the Call Home
Andrea’s parents asked the couple to return home to run their family farm in Clinton, Ky. At this point, Williford was far removed from agriculture and admittedly didn’t know anything about farming.
“There was no succession plan in place for the family farm,” Williford says. “They assured me that it was OK that I didn’t know anything about farming and that they would help me learn. And they’d keep the farm growing while I finished up my service.”
To add value and create a “spot” for himself in the operation, he and his wife, Andrea, decided on contract hog production. While he was on a deployment to Afghanistan, Andrea went to the bank, completed archaeological surveys and went to work on how she wanted to create opportunities to grow and diversify their family farm. She called him to tell him the news while he was stationed in South Carolina.
“I told her, ‘You’ve followed me for the last 17 years. I’ll do whatever you want me to do,’” he says. “Andrea said, ‘I’m building the hog barns, and you’re going to take care of them.’”
The bank was also in favor of the contract hog production opportunity.
“In our area, there’s quite a few chicken farms and Tosh Farms was up and coming in Kentucky at the time,” Williford explains. “The contract differences were pretty tremendous. Your paycheck is locked in stone. Your contract terms are a lot better. I had a 10-year contract when we started out, so as long as I did what they told me to do, then we should be in good shape.”
A Soldier’s Eye for Detail
Returning to the family farm required taking some time to stand back and watch, listen and learn, he says.
“I had to figure out where I fit in and what would work best for the farm,” Williford says. “I asked a lot of questions of myself. What can I improve? What can I make better? What do I need to leave alone and not touch on the family farm? There are some things you probably need to let alone for a while.”
But when it came to the hog operation, he had the opportunity to make it his own and bring some of his military skill set into the mix.
“As a contract grower, the long-term commitment and structure was appealing,” he says. “Tell me what to do, and I’ll make sure it happens. I’ll execute.”
The repetitive nature of the job is perfect for a retired soldier.
“I enjoy walking through the barns, making sure everything is the way it should be,” Williford says. “If something’s out of place, it stands out. That’s where the military training really helped me the most. If one feeder isn’t as full as the one next to it, I notice. Then, I figure out why.”
Managing the Big Picture
Being a contract grower allows him to work with a talented group of experts in swine health, nutrition, production and more. He enjoys being able to focus entirely on animal husbandry and management without the stress of market volatility or feed costs.
His one piece of advice for people considering contract hog production is to be prepared for the management component. From taking care of buildings and equipment to having a plan for the manure, management is a key part of his day.
“You’ve just got to look at it with eyes wide open to see the big picture of everything going on and have a plan,” Williford says. “You still have to manage it all. When it comes right down to it, every piece of gravel in the parking lot belongs to me. Every two-by-four in the building belongs to me. You have to make it work in order to pay for it.”
The 20-Bushel Benefit
There’s no question the benefits go beyond the paychecks. For the last 40 years, Andrea’s family has always tried to use as much animal manure as possible to fertilize their farm ground. Everyone was happy to get an extra 200 acres of fertilizer every year from our pigs, he points out.
“We can definitely see a huge difference in soil health overall,” Williford says. “I’m not a scientist or anything, but around here, there’s a difference between white dirt and black dirt. We have white dirt here and we have black dirt here. Some of our dirt that was brown is now actually turning black after a few years. We used to forecast that we were going to make 170-bushel corn, and we’ve since upped that to about 190 because of our pig manure.”
At the end of the day, Williford says his passion for farming connects closely to his passion for serving his country.
“The military is really big on traditions – remembering the past and preserving the heritage and culture of those who came before us in the military,” he says. “Farming is not that much different. People have great pride in being a multigenerational farmer.”
Preserving a farm in the same location for centuries is an incredible feat. It’s important to the Williford family to do the same.
“Long after I’m gone, I hope there’s some descendant of mine who says this is a 300-year farm,” he says.
Discover more about Williford’s experience in the military, his passion for agricultural advocacy, his thoughts on being a dad and his insights on the pork business by watching “The PORK Podcast” on YouTube or by listening to it anywhere podcasts are found.
