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Benjamin, I feel it too. My sows lay by the fence of the boar pens. Big beautiful producers but they aren’t going in with the boys. They are extra affectionate when I get in with them at feeding time hoping I notice , I do but the thing is broken and it dwindles one trailer full at a time now. Raising vegetables is hard on the knees but easy on the soul, raising stock is easier on the body but way hard on your head when the end gets closer. I feel bad for the old girls , you learn a little about devotion hanging with the sows through years of litters till it is a granddaughter of the original you now send out in the trailer. I tried and there are pigs on farms in Canada, Mexico, and five or six states that have genetics that moved through my farm . I kept them healthy , well fed and happy with nice wallows.

But it is sad times ten watching the last of the herd. I could tell you about the price of barley, or the thousands of road miles to get them legally processed, or the small butchers going under, or fuel, or electricity and that anything below my bottom line is my Social security check. But I will try somehow to go down gracefully.

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Thank you Bruce, I appreciate hearing your thoughts and knowing I'm not out of touch with other growers. Here's to different ways forward, if we can figure out what they are.

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