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By Joe Westrate
The Michigan Daily
CASSOPOLIS - For more than 50 years, Cass County
in lower southwest Michigan has been the backbone of
Michigan's hog market. Cass stands as the 19th largest
producer of market hogs in the country, by far the largest in
Michigan. Notably, there are no super-farms or mega-corpo-
rations involved here, just small farms with one goal in mind:
to produce a top-quality hog for the market. These small
farms are family-run operations that, for the most part, have
been passed on through the generations. But as time passes,
they find their way of life threatened.
As a result of drastic drops in wholesale prices during the
fall and advancements in genetic production, hog farmers
have been either forced out of business, or forced to make
tremendous changes in their farming methods. Only the
strong, coupled with a deep pocket book, will survive now.
The entire hog industry is in the midst of a revolution. In tke
late 1960s, farms in Iowa and Illinois began raising their hogs
in indoor confinement facilities, but for the most part produc-
tion continued on open lands using the one-litter system.
Pioneered in Cass County decades ago by farmer Don
McKenzie, the one-litter system is intended to deliver young
hogs to market each fall. Sows (female pigs) are farrowed in
the spring, meaning they give birth to a litter of pigs. Those
pigs are then raised in the fields through the summer, and sold
to the markets and packers in the fall. This is how it has
always been done, though it takes skill, knowledge, and a lot
of hard work to maintain a procedure such as this.
There are many perils. Sows might have farrowing prob-
lems and need to be transferred to another field. Diseases such
as pneumonia and dysentery pose the most serious threats to
production. Outside, the hogs are subject to heat, dirt and dust
in the summer months and the cold and damp weather of the
fall. Breeding problems and disease are the biggest threats to
a farmer's stock, especially in an outside environment.
Those problems greatly diminish when hogs are moved
indoors. Farmers have much more control over the cycle,
which is crucial. Farrowing can be a year-round process and
strict sanitary conditions eliminate much of the disease.
There are other advantages, as well. It takes less labor and
feed to raise a hog indoors. Under the one-litter system, it
might take many hours for a farmer in oudoor production to
inspect his stock spread over many acres, while an indoor
producer can accomplish the same thing in a fraction of the
time. The bottom line is that a farmer can yield a leaner, more
muscular hog indoors - exactly what the consumer wants.
But changing over to indoor farming requires large capi-
tal investments, and farmers, not just in Cass County but
around the country, are feeling the heat. The days of old are
gone. If farmers plan on being able to compete with huge
farms that produce upwards of a million market hogs a year,
they must convert and maybe even consolidate with other
farmers in the area.
Farmers and buyers are not happy about the new trends,
but they have to make a living. Mark Hari (bottom left),
manages Michigan Livestock Exchange, the largest daily
hog market in the United States. Last year alone the exchange
purchased and shipped more than 400,000 hogs to packers
such as Thorn Apple Valley Farms in Detroit. Hari states that
it is going to be tough doing business with farmers in the area.

"We are able to sell the outside hogs now but within a few
years, if the consumer keeps the trend of wanting more
leanness, we will be forced to raise all hogs in inside facilities.
Producers who raise outside will have a more difficult time
finding buyers for their type of hog."
Only time will tell how the shift indoors will affect hog-
farming communities such as Cass County. I remember a
time when you could drive past and see a field filled with
hundreds of hogs. Now it is difficult to find just one out on the
open land. Times sure have changed.

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Clockwise from bottom:
Hog confinement buildings In Cass County.
Mark Hari examining Market sales from the Michigan
Livestock Exchange.
Mother sow in a confinement block, where she nurses
her young.
Abandoned shelters in a Cass County field, once used
for farrowing,
Farmer Randy Cuthbert looks over his young stock,
Two babies, just days old, ween on their mother.