The farming roots run deep in the Hays family. Even though Scott Hays knew he wanted to return to the family farm in Monroe City, Mo., after high school, it was a known fact there were no jobs on the farm for those who didn’t go out and try something else first.
Although he sees the wisdom in that philosophy now, he remembers it was frustrating at the time.
“College wasn’t the best option for me,” Hays says. “There wasn’t money for college, even though some of my siblings made it work. So, I chose the military instead.”
It was an eye-opening experience for a young farm kid who didn’t get out of Missouri often. He admits he hadn’t been around a lot of people until he joined the Army in the 1980s.
“I realized there are good people everywhere, all over the world,” Hays says. “I ended up in Germany, when they were still East and West and Reagan and Gorbachev were having discussions over the wall. It was a little bit contentious, but I was fortunate to serve during peace time.”
Courage to Get Off the Farm
Perhaps the biggest lesson he learned back then that he still uses today is how to be courageous.
“It took courage to get off the farm, get out of Missouri, go different places, do different things,” Hays points out. “I’ve been fortunate to travel a lot of places around the world. I’m always ready to meet new people and see new things, no matter where it’s at. And if I hadn’t joined the army, I don’t know that I ever would have made that leap.”
Hays’ youngest son considered joining the military. With the roles reversed, Hays understands now why his mother wasn’t so happy with him when he chose to join the Army.
“I didn’t understand this until one of my sons considered it,” he says. “It’s a hard thing to let go of as a parent. But the Army was a very positive experience. You will find self-discipline you may have thought you had, but didn’t really have to that level. They’ll teach you to do things you never thought possible, which will serve you well for a long time.”
Through Good Times and Bad
However, the real education he received was about people. He discovered the importance of meeting people from different walks of life and trying to better understand the different cultures and ethnicities that make this country great.
He compares the connections he made in the military to the connections he shares with people in the pork industry today.
“My grandpa, who was a World War II veteran, told me something very important when I left home,” Hays says. “He said, ‘You’ll make better friends in the next eight weeks than you’ve made in the last 12 years.’ To a certain extent, he was right.”
However, he has also experienced that same level of friendship with people he works with in the pork industry.
“You know where their heart is at,” he says. “Once you trust somebody at that level, it’s a bond you don’t forget.”
Although he can’t speak to how people in other livestock industries get along, he does think the pork industry appears to get along better as a whole.
“We are willing to share with one another and work together,” Hays says. “We don’t see each other as competitors. We see each other as colleagues, and we want each other to do well. We’ve been through the tough times together. I am fortunate I can call those friends and talk it through. It helps to know somebody else understands it and can help you find that bright spot in those dark times.”
Of course, he points out, his friends in the pork industry know how to enjoy the good times, too.
Put the Pigs First
As the executive director of the Missouri Pork Association and a fifth-generation pig farmer who has been raising pigs full time for 35 years, Hays can’t imagine a more rewarding and fulfilling career.
“I owe a lot to the pig industry,” he says. “Part of the reason I got into pig farming is because I enjoy numbers. Don’t get me wrong – I enjoy working with the animals. But every week I get to start over. I get to pick a new group of sows and see if we can do better than we did last week. I tell my brother who crop farms that he’s going to get to do that 40 times in his life. That doesn’t keep me excited enough. I get to make those big decisions 52 times a year, not 40 times in my lifetime.”
For generations, the Hays family has passed down a simple principle when it comes to taking care of pigs: If the pigs do well, we’ll do well.
“For most of my career, nearly all of my income was from pigs, even going back to the home farm,” Hays says. “If we took care of the pigs, the better they did and the more income there was for the family. The pigs always took priority. It didn’t matter what day of the week it was, or what time of the day it was, if the pigs needed something, they got our attention. That’s still the way it is today.”
He won’t deny there’s a reward at the end of that, but Hays says it is so much more than that. It’s a passion and desire to take good care of the animals they’ve been entrusted with on their farm.
A Foxhole Friend
Although Hays would rather spend time talking about pigs and people than himself, it’s easy to see why his friends and family say he is as genuine as it gets.
“There’s no fake around Scott,” explains his wife Riss.
His authenticity is one of his best traits, adds Jen Sorenson, former National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) president and a friend who served with Hays on the NPPC Board of Directors.
“Scott is the type of person you want to be in a foxhole with,” Sorenson says. “He’s the type of person who puts others first, and most importantly, he puts doing what is right first.”
As the red creeps up his neck a bit, Hays leans in and says he learned it from his dad.
“If my dad was in a crowded room, he would look around for the person nobody was talking to, the person sitting by themselves,” Hays says. “And that’s where he would go sit. He always said, ‘Everybody’s got a story, and most of them are pretty darn good.’”
Growing up with an example like that begged Hays to be more aware of others.
“We took very few vacations, but if we did, dad always wanted to stop at the local coffee shop,” Hays says. “We’d all be sitting at a table, and Dad would be over at the coffee drinkers’ table, or the table with someone sitting by themselves, just talking, laughing and finding out their story.”
The older Hays gets, the more he enjoys doing the same thing.
“Dad was right. Everybody has a story, and most of them are pretty good,” he laughs. “Once in a while, you may run across one you regret striking up a conversation with, but that’s all right, too. You’d miss out on all the good ones if you never tried.”
Learn more about Hays and mistakes that taught him important lessons, how he is planning for the next generation on their family farm and what drives him in his role as executive director of the Missouri Pork Association in his conversation with host Jennifer Shike on The PORK Podcast. You can watch it here on YouTube or listen anywhere podcasts are found.
