I miss the good old days of selling market hogs.  There were a handful of country buying stations within 20 miles and three packing plants within an hour's drive.  I could sell as many pigs as I wanted anytime I wanted to, at a moments notice.  The buyers usually had a rough idea of what I would have a week in advance, but slipping in an extra 30 head at the last minute or an extra load the day before was not a problem.

There seemed to be more of a "fudge factor" built into everything back then.  There were many players in the game.  If you wanted to get ahead of the average Joe, there was a lot more room to work a little harder and run a little tighter ship.  It's my impression most of those left in the business these days are running a tight ship.  The same holds for the packing plant.  They want to know exactly what is coming in the door well in advance.

Now, very few in the area raise hogs.  The local buying stations and many of the packing plants are gone.  The semi loads have to be scheduled a week or more in advance.  I miss being able to simply sell the hogs when they were ready and as my schedule allowed rather than having to estimate what they are going to weigh two or three weeks from now and hoping nothing else serious comes up on the day we are scheduled to sell.

All of my semi loads of corn are scheduled to deliver far in advance these days as well, but it's soooo much easier to manage as long as it is not going out of condition.  Pigs are only in condition to sell for a brief time.

To some degree, physical work has not gone out of style as far as I'm concerned.  A strong back (not that mine is anything special) is a tool to be used like any other.  If it is better-faster-cheaper and effective, I still use it.  Physical work can still replace capital and outside labor to some degree.

sorry for rambling on.  time to get my hands dirty again.:)