You know Greg. He is scientific and analytical in his thinking, always.
He honed these skills while his was in graduate school for chemistry and then somehow (don’t ask me how!) found a way to transfer them over to organic farming. The end result is that he’s not only a really organized and thoughtful farmer, but he’s also remarkably good at inventory management.
I realize when we’re talking about our animals, the words “inventory management” might sound strange or far-removed. We’re certainly not anything like a big grocery store. But, a small farm like ours has a lot of careful planning to do to make sure the coolers are well stocked and never over-flowing or empty (gasp!).
Planning for when pigs go to the butcher, for example, is trickier than you’d think when you realize it’s all done a whole year in advance and before any of the animals are even pregnant. If we miss the mark and mis-judge customer demand even a little, we’re not able to adjust on the fly because we run what’s called a “farrow to finish” pig breeding program (you can click here to read more about that).
So, I attribute it to Greg’s careful decision making. Or maybe it’s a minor miracle. But over the last few years of being in business, we’ve somehow managed to thread the needle. We’ve never been so overflowing with pork that we’ve needed to offer a big sale (this would really hurt our bottom line). And we’ve also never really run out of pork. That is, until last week…
Contrary to what my brain keeps telling me, Greg reminds me that this is a good thing. “Our farm is growing”, he says. “Running out is going to happen from time to time”, he explains. “Our customers will all understand” he says. I know in my heart, that he’s right.
Your Farmers,
Jenney and Greg