Good Working Relationships Key at Bible Pork

			Matt Bible (L) and Kevin Van Dyke

Matt Bible credits good teamwork as a key reason for the success of Bible Pork. The team consists of two main elements – the management and employees at his 7,000 plus sow operation and the folks at Maschhoff Pork, the family-owned company that Bible Pork solely produces pigs for on a contract basis.

Pigs first entered the picture at Bible Pork in 1992 when Matt and his wife, Jan, and his parents, Jerry and Carolyn, purchased a farm that happened to include a small farrow-to-feeder pig operation. Up to that point, the Bibles were exclusively grain farmers. Matt, who was then 24, says livestock hadn’t been something he was interested in before that time. Nor, he admits, did he know the first thing about raising pigs. Enter Kevin Van Dyke. Kevin was a high school classmate of Matt’s who grew up on a hog farm and had been working in swine management at another farm after earning a bachelor’s degree in animal science. Matt offered Kevin the job of running the farrow-to-feeder pig operation.

The swine enterprise flourished under Kevin’s animal husbandry skills and Matt’s business sense. Kevin is in charge of managing animal care and supervising employees. Matt handles finances and planning, oversees facility construction and upkeep and works closely with his contract partner. Matt emphasizes that employees are critical to the operation’s success. "I really appreciate all of their hard work and dedication," he says.

As the operation grew, the business focused more and more on farrowing and connected with Maschhoff in 1997, a move that Matt says has been a good one. "It’s a family business like mine and I have a good working relationship with the people there," Matt says. "If I need to talk to Ken or Dave Maschhoff, I can reach them," says Matt. "And they always ask me what I think about things." Matt says he is also impressed with the quality of animals and feed that he has to work with. "If you don’t have good genetics, good nutrition and durable equipment, you’ll have a hard time achieving the production it takes to make your business a success," he says.