16 The Business of Canadian Hog Farming Better Pork | February 2024 SLOW THIS FARMER DOWN? GOOD LUCK! When the tough get going, they still can’t keep up. By Geoff Geddes If Marg Rempel comes back as an animal one day, it will surely be the “Energizer Bunny.” How else do you describe a 70-year-old working six 12-hour-days a week? “When someone asked me what retirement would look like, my answer was simple: A 40-hour week,” says Marg. The setting for her labour of love is Rempelco Acres, a 450-sow, farrow-to-finish operation near Steinbach, Man. Alongside her son Jason Rempel, she raises Berkshire crosses on contract to help fill a niche market. And in her “spare time,” she helps crop 2,200 acres as well. Jason and his wife have three young children who caught the farming bug early on. They run a pick-your-own (“u-pick”) sweet corn operation where the children get first-hand experience with managing a family business. What is your role on the farm? I do a little bit of everything around here, including record-keeping for both the hog and crop operations, payroll, insurance and managing our farm manure plan. I also organize all the information for the Canadian Pork Excellence (CPE) program, prepare the rations for the sows and perform yard maintenance. How many people do you employ? We have four full-time employees, with three working in the hog barn and one responsible for equipment maintenance and helping with field work. Describe your office or workshop. There are two offices. One is attached to the farm mill and houses two computers; one for our feeding system and another for hog record-keeping, etc. The main farm office has two computer work stations, lots of file and shelf space, a kitchenette and a meeting area with a table. It also contains a whiteboard where we record all cropping activities and dates. Even with the digital age in full swing, we like that old-school approach where we can see everything at a glance. What items are always on your desk? A big travel mug of green tea and a notepad. I use the latter to scribble to-do lists for myself so I can track what I accomplished that day and what can be put off to tomorrow. Is your office messy or neat? I prefer neat, but sometimes it looks a bit messy if I’m in the middle of a big project. UP CLOSE Rempel Family photo Rempelco Acres is run by Marg Rempel and her son Jason.
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