<body><div><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=3kpws0_1GtvTTpK00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=3kpws0_1GtvTTpK00" width="1200" height="630" >As one year ends and new one looms, hog producers are looking for the light at the end of the tunnel.Is that light a flicker of hope or the headlamp of a 200-ton locomotive barreling down on you?While profits appear to be attainable in the near term, that may not be the case as we look deeper into 2027.The calendar year is mostly meaningless in hog production as harvest is throughout the year, unlike crop producers. Regardless, the end of the year is a good time to assess your operation. Maybe you’ve got everything as you want it and can ride out what the market and external forces throw your way. Or you know you have to do something — anything — to be able to hold on.If “business as usual” just isn’t cutting it anymore, there is no shame in looking for something else, and that doesn’t mean getting out of hog production. It may just mean taking a broader look at your operation. What can we do differently to add value to the pork side?A good spot to start looking is below your barns. Gone are the days of looking at swine manure as a liability, when producers couldn’t give it away. Now, manure has garnered its own column on the asset side of the ledger. But are you getting enough for the liquid nutrients you are selling?Especially in light of the current fertilizer financial picture, negotiations should be taking place for the upcoming year to help crop producers replace their commercial synthetic fertilizer with your commercial natural fertilizer. But make sure that you are getting adequate value for your liquid gold.This scenario actually led a Nebraska couple to add swine production to their row crop operation. Walt and Shelli Traudt started contract-growing pork in 2015 near Clay Center, Neb. Since then, they have replaced commercial fertilizer in their row crop operation with hog manure, improving soil health of irrigated land and dryland pivot corners.Another avenue for hog producers to think outside the box — or outside the pit — is considering what the dairy industry has experienced for decades. A year ago, I attended an open house at a Lake Benton dairy to explore the methane digester technology on the farm. Manure produced by that 2,100-head Holstein cow herd is converted into renewable natural gas via a methane digester.If it works for dairy, why not pigs?Well, that question is being answered near Ellendale, Minn., in Swinergy’s first commercial project on the Matt and Erin Holland farm. The system is designed to improve the conversion of livestock manure and other organic materials into biogas that can be processed and used as renewable natural gas, while also supporting improved manure management and environmental performance.Why not improve your revenue stream by using something that’s already flowing under your barns? It’s definitely worth exploring.</div></body>

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As one year ends and new one looms, hog producers are looking for the light at the end of the tunnel. Is that light a flicker of hope or the headlamp of a 200-ton locomotive barreling down on you?. While profits appear to be attainable in the near term, that...

Turn pig waste into wealth before it’s too late

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As one year ends and new one looms, hog producers are looking for the light at the end of the tunnel. Is that light a flicker of hope or the headlamp of a 

Turn pig waste into wealth before it’s too late

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