The Rural Voice, 1991-06, Page 32JOHN AND WILMA HESSELS: LEARNING
TO BALANCE PRODUCTION PRIORITIES
THESE PRIZE WINNING PORK PRODUCERS PROVE YOU CAN
WORK OFF THE FARM AND STILL RUN A FIRST CLASS OPERATION.
by Sandra Orr
John and Wilma Hessels have risen
to the challenge facing many farmers
during tough times: can you manage a
successful operation and still work off
the farm? While working full-time at
another job John and Wilma produce
prize winning hogs and earn a modest
profit as well.
The couple raise purebred Land -
race gilts and boars near Goderich,
Ontario, with their good gilts sold for
breeding stock, and the remainder sold
commercially.
John says they chose the Landrace
breed because they produce large
litters and the pigs grow the best. He
acquired his interest in breeding pigs
in 1972 when he worked for
VandenHeuvel's hog operation of
about 500 sows across the road from
his present location.
They built their own barns in 1980
and have been gradually improving
and expanding the operation since
Because the Hessels' farm is only
six acres, they must,purchase all feed
ingredients, such as corn and soy, and
custom grind it themselves. The
barns, which measure about 24 by 115
feet, are set up with a feed station
between the dry sow barn and the
farrowing area.
Even though they have invested
almost $100,000 in the operation in
the past ten years, the Hessels have
been able to pay off the debt with
profits from the hogs. But John, who
also sells vitamin -mineral pre -mix,
admits that his main source of income
comes from his off -farm job. "I have
always had another job to put food on
the table," says Hessels. It means he
has to be in the barns by 6:30 in the
morning and out by 7:30. The breed-
ing and the cleaning are done in the
morning. After John goes to work,
Wilma takes over in the barn, cleaning
pens and making feed. In the after-
noon, Wilma starts the chores at about
four and is done by the time he gets
home.
"Sometimes I would like to farm
full-time," says John, "but it would
mean handling another 30 sows with
at least another 5100,000 investment
and I would have to borrow it all."
They aim for top quality. A high
point for them was a first place gilt at
the Ontario Pork Congress in 1984,
which sold for $1,900.
In 1990, a bred gilt Areta was
supreme champion at the Pork Con-
gress in Stratford.
They were winners at the 1988 and
1989 barrow show of the Ontario
Landrace Club. Pigs are weighed in
April, again in July, and are given a
live or visual score for performance
testing. Over 455 of Hessels' hogs,
the average index was 104.8.
John says it's the leanness of Can-
adian pork which makes it so des-
irable for export. As a result, the gilts
and boars are bred with a tendency to
leanness and fast gains to market
weight. Testing of 300 of their gilts,
showed average backfat of 15.7, and
they took 163 days to get to 100 kg.
live weight.
Most of their gilts are sold to
farmers with herd sizes ranging from
John and Wilma Hessels have been successful hog breeders and award winners by
puttting together a partnership that allows John to work off the farm.
28 THE RURAL VOICE