From obsolete site TO STRONG ASSET FOR FUTURE

Seth Ricketts stands in his new, 2,580-head, wean-to-finish facility that complements his agricultural retail business.

Like many agricultural retailers, Ricketts Farm Service sells feed, seed, fertilizer and crop protection products and performs custom application services. In addition to agronomy services, the north central Missouri company also maintains a contract swine enterprise.

“It’s pretty unique for an ag business to have a hog unit” acknowledges Seth Ricketts.

Ricketts’ dad, Kim, built the hog facilities near the company’s Salisbury, MO, retail outlet in 1976 as a custom feeding “condominium” for area hog producers. When herd health practices moved away from co-mingling pigs, the operation shifted to all-in, all-out contract feeding. Since 2007, Ricketts has performed production services for Harrison Creek Farms, Auxvasse, MO.

The hog enterprise has been a good fit with the feed business, according to Ricketts. “We’ve got 4,400 pig spaces two miles away from us that we control, so we’ve got steady milling revenue and steady tonnage. That’s important to our business,” he says.

Update or wind down

Last year, two of the Ricketts four buildings were, “basically becoming obsolete,” says Ricketts. “We were at a fork in the road where we needed to make the site viable for the next 30 years or wind it down.”

Ricketts ultimately decided to invest in the future with a new, 2,580-head wean-to-finish barn completed this past December. He installed Farmweld Jumbo Feeders, cup waterers and gating for 200-head pens.

As pigs grow, an 8’ (2.44 m) wide temporary alleyway converts to expand the pen size from 62’ (18.90 m) to 70’ (21.34 m) x 20’ ((6.10 m). At market time, the alleyway is converted into a series of holding pens for easy sorting and load-out.

Ricketts says he selected Farmweld equipment because, “Kevin (Schnarre) took a consultant approach, and we had a lot of confidence in Farmweld’s experience,” he says.

Ricketts’ older facilities use a lagoon for manure storage, whereas effluent will be pumped directly from the new facilities’ pits and injected as fertilizer on adjacent cropland.

“We are feeding the pigs corn and soybean meal and using the manure as fertilizer to produce more corn and soybeans, while producing pork and all the associated beneficial products,” explains Ricketts. “It is a perfect solution environmentally.”

Ricketts says he is convinced his decision to replace the worn-out facilities will pay dividends for years to come. “Now that I’ve got a new, modern building, I’m in a better competitive position to keep it filled.” he says.