Oetting Hog Farms, Concordia, MO

Partnering with nature is a way of life on this Missouri farrow-to-finish farm.

When Steve and Sharon Oetting want to capture the attention of visitors to their hog farm, they head to a 2.8-acre freshwater lake that shares a dam with the lagoons for their hog operation. The Oettings toss a 5-gallon bucket of fish food into the water and then step back to behold the frenzy. The lake, stocked with bluegill, catfish and bass, boils with action as the fish clean up the pellets in only a few minutes.

“We use the fish to prove we are doing an environmentally sound job of raising hogs and managing our effluent,” Steve says. “We have a dock there, and we feed the fish every night or two. It's a way for us to relax without having to leave home.”

Oetting Hog Farms, Inc., is truly a family farm. Steve's great-great grandfather homesteaded the 40 acres where the hog buildings are located back in 1839. Steve and Sharon's oldest son, Sean, came back to the farm in 2002. His twin sons, Lukas and Logan, were born 162 years to the day after Christian Oetting homesteaded the place. They now represent the seventh generation on the land.

Located in the rolling hills of central Missouri, the farm sits only a couple of miles from the town of Concordia, and only about a mile from traffic-laden Interstate 70. So keeping a good environmental profile is a high priority for the Oettings, but it's not their only priority. Farming is their only source of income, so the economic success of their modest 125-sow, farrow-to-finish operation is critical.

The family operates about 700 acres of cropland in addition to managing the two farrowing units, a 480-head nursery and two curtain-sided finishers that hold 480 head each. Their annual production of 2,400 market hogs is marketed through an MFA, Inc. (formerly Missouri Farmers Association) network marketing group.

Going to the dogwoods

The Oettings have worked with a number of state and federal agencies to help conserve soil and boost wildlife habitat on the farm. Working with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) on an experimental project in 1999, the family planted a row of dogwoods — the Missouri state tree — as part of a windbreak around the finisher site. That windbreak also includes about 300 oak, ash and cedar trees.

“The dogwoods turn into a solid row of vegetation,” Steve says. “They're about 8 ft. tall and very dense. Wildlife like the dogwoods.”

NRCS personnel also helped the Oettings plan Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) tracts that help reduce erosion in problem areas. In 1999, the family planted 9,675 trees in riparian buffer strips. Filter strips are used along streams in other areas. And there's also an emphasis on getting field edges approved for USDA's CP-33 practice, designed to improve habitat for upland birds.

It's no coincidence that bird hunting just happens to be one of Steve's passions. “My hobby is putting out bird habitat and following my four English Setter bird dogs in the fall,” he says. “Raising hogs and improving bird habitat are two passions that can complement each other.”

Capturing nutrients

After enrolling in the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), the Oettings began to use a precision agricultural program through their local MFA cooperative. They grid-sample crop ground to which lagoon effluent is applied, and monitor nutrient levels and determine crop needs. All pumping of effluent through the traveling-gun irrigation system is documented through the GPS capabilities of the yield monitor system to map those hose pulls.

Lagoons are pumped from one of three cells based on the nutrient needs of the crop and the lagoon levels. Lagoon samples are taken prior to and during application to determine the nutrient content and quantity of lagoon water to be applied. Any commercial fertilizer needed is custom-applied using variable-rate application equipment.

The savings from the combination of 2.5-acre grid sampling, lagoon sampling and matching those nutrients to crop needs is showing some significant payback. “With today's fertilizer prices escalating, an inch of applied effluent has significant value on plots that need the nutrients,” Steve says. “It's not hard to see a $100-$125/acre benefit.”

EQIP opportunities for 2008 include installation of a new manure-transfer line, completion of the Oetting's Comprehensive Nutrient Management Plan (CNMP), and the purchase of a hose reel with an additional 2,640 ft. of soft rubber pipe. This new setup will bring effluent to an additional 95 acres, 80 of which were purchased two years ago. Recent soil tests have shown this new ground to be low in phosphate levels, so hog effluent should be a perfect tool to help build that farm's soils.