Manure Becomes Asset in Farm Budgets

Less than two years later, Segner is thankful for a 350,000-gallon slurry tanks and the money it’s saving him on the high cost of commercial fertilizer.He says it's helping keep his pig business a float.

“Right now that’s what’s keeping the shed profitable,” he reports in an article for the Sioux City Journal.

Counting hog waste as your budgeting friend says something about how expensive it has become to get the hogs themselves to market weight. And the news is not much better from the cattle-feeding venture Segner and his father teamed up on through the winter.

“You’re feeding all winter in the snow and mud, and you still owe the bank when you’re done. It makes it pretty disheartening,” said Mr Segner.

Hefty financial losses for producers of red meat — typically as much as $60 for a market hog and $200 or more for each steer leaving the feedlot — stand in stark contrast to the profit potential for grain producers as planting season approaches.

ThePigSite News Desk

Sign up for our
regular news updates

Latest Pig Industry News

•   Pork Futures: Hogs Settle Mostly Firm
•   Regulatory Change to Ease Consumer Confusion
•   Market Preview: Pork’s Part in the Farm Bill
•   Weekly Review: Pork Product Prices Go Up
•   Contributing to Global Warming?
•   Government Helps China Feed Itself
•   EU/Russia Meat Row Erupts
•   Web Resources for Pork Producers Announced
•   Farm Bill Blueprint Begins to Materialise
•   NFU Start Countdown to Pig and Poultry Fair