For four Indiana pig farmers, raising pigs is about creating and leaving behind a legacy for the next generation of loving what you do, sustainably caring for land and livestock and doing the right thing.
How do we keep the farm going and keep people content? That’s a question that weighs on Adam Salsbery, a pig farmer from Kokomo. He works on his family farm with his dad, two brothers and two cousins.
“People think that’s unique,” Salsbery said during a panel at the Midwest Pork Conference led by Indiana Pork’s Jeanette Merritt. “We want to keep it together for those who may want to join our farm in the future. Legacy farms like ours (that span multiple generations) are going away as people age out and don’t replace themselves.”
He believes raising crops and pigs together is an efficient, sustainable model that works well with the owners showing up every day to take care of the pigs and land.
Jeb Stevens, on the other hand, is a first-generation pig farmer from Osgood, Ind. He’s owned his farm for eight years now.
“It’s not my dad’s, grandpa’s or uncle’s farm, it’s my farm. I’m very proud of our farm,” Stevens said. “For me, legacy is about the people – the guys who took a chance on me and stayed with me over time.”
That’s why investing in his team has become such an important focus in his role leading Gilead Farms. There’s nothing he enjoys more than watching them achieve milestones in life from marriage proposals to coaching a winning basketball team.
“We love raising pigs. We love our farm. But most of all we love the people,” Stevens said.
Tony Howard, a pig farmer from Logansport, Ind., got involved in his family’s pig farm later in life because the opportunity to come back to the home farm wasn’t there when he first started out. He said it means more to him because he had to wait a little longer to come home and expand the operation.
“It’s a family business and everyone plays a role,” Howard said. “Everyone steps up and it’s a true team effort.”
For first-generation pig farmer Keith Schoettmer of Tipton, Ind., legacy isn’t something that needs to be defined as you go through it.
“Most of our legacies are going to be somewhat different than what we might initially think. For example, I’m not only the first generation, but I’m also the last generation on this farm. My four kids have gone on to do other things. I have grandkids who are talking about it, but that’s yet to be seen,” he said.
He hopes his legacy goes beyond his pig farm to the people he has been able to impact along the way.
“Because at the end of the year, I don’t think anyone cares if you raised 24 or 28 pigs per sow per year. They care about how the impact you’ve had on them and other people. I hope I can leave a legacy of trying to do the right thing,” Schoettmer said.
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