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22
Better Pork
February 2017
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Hutterite farmer raises pigs – and
future producers
“
W
e’re not just raising
chickens and cows and
pigs; we’re raising the next
generation of producers.” That’s a
philosophy that Mark Wipf and his
fellow Hutterite colony members
really take to heart. In a pretty little
area near Cranford, Alberta, Lakeside
Colony has been dutifully farming
16,000 acres since 1935.
With the combined efforts of 80
colonists and 20 working men, they
deal with 20,000 layer hens, 700 beef
cattle and the chief source of pride for
Mark: a 520 sow farrow-to-finish
operation.
Every Monday, in collaboration
with cousins Jerry and Phillip, he
ships an average of 260 pigs weighing
260 lbs each to the Maple Leaf plant
in Lethbridge 20 minutes away. If it
sounds like he has a great grasp of the
numbers on the colony, there’s a
reason for that: he has been farming
since he was 15.
“I started out as a teenager spend-
ing time with our experienced
members learning the ropes. From
there I jumped in and started running
the combine, cultivator and truck. In
the winter months I worked in the
various barns under the direction of
the farm boss, helping the beef guys
one year and the chicken guys the
next,” Mark says.
When he turned 23, the colony’s
board of directors chose the hog
operation as Mark’s permanent post
and he’s glad they did.
by GEOFF GEDDES
This Lakeside Colony hog manager spent his youth learning from those
around him. Now he is paying it forward and planting the seeds for the
farmers of tomorrow.
MarkWipf