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Van Meter IA | We're on the prok works program right now and have been for about 4 years. We have about 6000 head in 4 barns. The program work alright but as with anything, they make it pretty onesided. The 45# in weight will vary from 20# - 80# which makes it hard when you are marketing because your "window" to market is 6 weeks long. You can and need to deduct up to or a little over a percent to kind of protect yourself on the back end. The return they are talking is right but you have to watch their matrix numbers cause they are normally low, i.e. interest and trucking. The death loss is a big variable depending on the hogs you get. CVPs are really hardy pigs and you don't really see a lot of the health problems. P2's and APS P2s on the other hand seem to have very poor health. I had cvp the last group in the barn I take care of and had <3% death loss. My brother had P2s and had >6.5% loss. Tables are turned now and he has cvp's and is marketing right now with right at 2% death loss and I have APS P2's and have a little under 3% with 6 weeks to go. The pigs are vaccinated when they come in but it seems like they are vaccinated different each time. Normally you have about 3-5 days after marketing to wash and get new pigs in if the supply is there. They normally are really close to that. We set our own dock times since we haul our own so I don't know how it works if you hire it done. I personnaly would hedge every group. Yea you will lose sometimes like right now since we locked our corn in for this group in July and you know what it has done since then, but it could go the other way on you just as fast. And it is a 20 week cycle. Are you by chance dealing with Marty Chapman? | |
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Cargill "Pork Works" program
