|
| I raise for Niman ranch, farrow to finish, but I feel their premium should be higher than it is for the work you put into it. Not only that, but they say you get so much "premium", but they remove some of that with the trucking charge. It's hilarious, they give you a reimbursement for trucking on the same sheet that they charge you for trucking, it ends up costing you approx. $13/head. Which about eats up the premium they give you for being farrow to finish. Add into that the hogs at the collection points must "always have access to water", but then only some of the pens have a working waterer, and some farmers bring their hogs in 14-16 hours before the truck is scheduled to be there, then it's a few hours to the plant. Why they want to go through the work of raising them, only to deprive their own fat hog water for 20 hours is beyond me. And you're fully liable for any hog that doesn't get off the truckers truck at the plant (50% loss), or that dies on it (100%). Don't even get me started on the truckers that bypass going through Niman to contact you, and want you to bring the hogs 12 hours before the shipping manager has them scheduled to load, because they want to load in the evening vs. early morning, and it's going to be -12 windchill. It's as though no one gives a flying f**k about the hogs, pisses me off. Are there better alternative markets out there that actually pay you something for your work, and that actually care about the animals? | |
|
Niman Pork vs. Alternative Markets
