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COMPUTERIZED
HOG
BARN
W
hen Adam Schlegel left
home to study computer
science at the University
of Waterloo he didn’t know exactly
when he’d come back to work at
Schlegelhome Farms.
He eventually returned after
school and five more years at an
Ottawa software start-up company.
Now 36, Adam farms with his
parents, Clare and Catherine, in a
multi-site operation that includes
corn and soybeans. His return coin-
cided with crucial capital decisions
about the future of Schlegelhome
Farms.
The process led ultimately to new
farrowing facilities, partial adop-
tion of open housing in a renovated
sow barn, and installation of the
first commercial-scale version of
Canadian-made SowChoice feeders.
These electronic sow feeders (ESFs)
are designed and built by Canarm
AgSystems of Brockville and Arthur,
Ont., and are one of two Canadian
systems available.
“I’ve always been interested in
technology in agriculture,” Adam
said during a recent morning tour
of the family’s renovated 2,600-sow
and farrowing facilities just north of
Shakespeare, Ont.
“Growing up, I saw the gap
between what was available in the
market and the state of the art, and
back then – even today – I would say
it was 10 years,” he said. “That’s a big
gap; there’s an opportunity there.”
He also stressed the strong benefits
COMPUTERIZED
Pork producers are slowly but
surely embracing electronic sow
feeders and other
computerized technologies to
improve the management and
enhance the profitability of their
farms.
by JIM ALGIE
6
Better Pork
December 2016
The