On Sunday the group made the trek to the Southwest corner of Iowa to visit my distant relatives, the Liljedahls and their farm operation. After three hours in the van we had arrived and were greeted with a warm Swedish welcome and discussion about any and everything farming and hog related. Mr. Liljedahl was mild mannered and did not take any extreme stances, and in line with many of the farmers we had talked to, he was not a fan of the trade war and wished the government did not have to supplement the income lost as commodity prices fall, but he was happy to accept it. However, he believed that this would most definitely have an impact on the upcoming election, but the scale is not quite clear. My friend in Shenandoah believed the opposite, stating that there would be minimal impact if any in the 2020 election.

At the Liljedahl farm, the group was treated to a tour of his hog operation. We toured the gestation room where some were off-put by the hogs confined. However, I did not have a serious problem with this as the sows have a history of killing their own and this reduces the likelihood of them laying on them or eating their piglets. We then went to the farrowing room where the hogs were again confined, but this prevents them from fighting and killing each other. Finally, we went to the finishing room where the pigs were in confined areas, but had room to move around and interact with other pigs. They are then sold every week, about 16 at a time.

It was very neat to see the ins-and-outs of a hog operation and to be able to see what other groups have described. Mr. Liljedahl’s mindset of showing people how the operation works and letting them come up with their own opinion is the right idea, and prevents people from just listing to what people want you to believe about them.