Partnerships strengthen family farm.

Partnerships strengthen family farm

FILLMORE, Ind. — Hog farmer Mark Legan and his family understand that to remain a successful farming operation, there is need for steady growth and improvement.
That is just what Legan and his wife, Phyllis, and their daughter and son-in-law, Beth and Nick Tharp, have been doing.
“As a farm, we continue to grow so we can compete and stay in business,” Legan said. “We try to be as efficient as possible and want others to know that what we’re doing is environmentally safe.”
The family operates a livestock and grain farm in Putnam County.
They farm 1,000 acres and raise 3,000 sows and have continued to expand over the years. A large portion of their time is spent taking care of the mother sows and their baby pigs. About 1,500 pigs are weaned each week and then moved to finishers.
A majority of the pigs are finished in partnership with two families in Shelby and Boone counties. Partnerships such as this have helped the family grow.

Getting A Start

Neither Legan nor his wife came from production agriculture. In fact, when Legan graduated college, he served as an Extension agent for seven years, until he got the opportunity to start a farming venture with a family in Putnam County.
In 1989, they joined the 180-sow farrow-to-finish operation. In 1994, the family purchased the farm and added another 250 sows.
The farm has since continued to grow. In 1997, they were up to 600 sows and began the process of modernizing and brought the sows inside to take better care of them.
“We saw a two-sow per litter increase by doing that,” Legan said. “We’ve had to reinvent ourselves every four to five years to stay competitive.”
They continued to grow with 1,600 sows in 2006 and then 2,400 sows in 2010, when their daughter and her husband joined the farm after graduating from Purdue.
“They helped us quadruple our management capacity and explore the partnerships with the families who have finishing facilities,” Legan said. “It has allows us to do what we do best.”
Today, there are 3,000 sows and 14 employees, including the family, helping out on the farm.
It’s easy to see why relationships and continuous growth are two of the family’s core values.
“Basically, everything we’ve been able to accomplish over the years has been because of the opportunities and relationships we’ve had with other people,” Legan said.

Putting It Together

Each family member has a different role on the farm. Legan’s primary responsibility is crops, manure management and working with finishing partners.
Nick Tharp manages the sow herd and the employees who help with that on a day-to-day basis. Phyllis Legan is in charge of human resources.
“We’re only as good as the people who help us,” Phyllis said. “Relationships are huge to us not only in our farming partnerships, but also here at the farm and in the barn.”
Beth Tharp focuses on the finances of entities including the grain and sows, the two partnerships and another entity on the farm. She also works on sales and marketing.
Although they all have separate roles, they also work together. The family is proud to be doing what they’re doing and do what they can to include the community.
Beth Tharp recently posted a 21-day series on the farm’s Facebook page of the life of a baby pig. The family prints a semiannual newsletter so that neighbors can see what they’re doing on the farm.
“We work hard at being good neighbors, and we carry on dialogue year round with them,” Legan said. “If they have questions or want to have a better understanding of how we do things, we want them to let us know.”

Above And Beyond

This is all part of what the family is doing to show consumers that they care about the well being of the animal, food safety and more.
Consumer perception can be challenging, which is why another core value is integrity or doing what’s right when no one is looking, Beth Tharp said.
“We feel like we have a moral obligation to take the best care of our animals,” she said. “Yes, we have to be able to sell our product, but we care about our animals and we want consumers to understand where we’re coming from.”
Phyllis Legan agreed and said she wishes that consumers would have an open mind about pig farming.
“I wish consumers would listen and not just at the wow-factor headlines that scare them into believing something without being educated,” she said.” We do all of these things in an effort to show we’re doing everything we can.”

Caring For Animals, Land

The family members are passionate about pigs, but they also are passionate about stewardship, which is their fourth core value.
“In addition to taking care of animals and making sure their needs are met, we have to take care of the land we’ve been entrusted with,” Legan said.
The family improves the health of the soil by using manure as a natural fertilizer and using conservation practices such as no-till. They have also been using cover crops for the past six years. The practices cut down on erosion, improve soil biology and help reduce the amount of fuel needed to produce grain crops.
For more information, visit www.leganlivestock.com or search for Legan Livestock and Grain on Facebook.

Amie Sites can be reached at 317-726-5391, ext. 3, or asites@agrinews-pubs.com. Follow her on Twitter at: @AgNews_Sites.