Optimism Drives Nancy and Jeff Lucas
February 04, 2010
“You do what you’ve got to do.” That’s how Pipestone System shareholder Jeff Lucas accounts for the positive approach he and Nancy employed in 2009, despite high feed costs.
Nancy explains their outlook this way: “We’ve never been negative people—our bankers tell us they notice that. It’s going to be a long life if you’re a pessimist.”
Jeff and Nancy list industry milestones since they started their hog operation right out of college in 1981—high interest rates, cripplingly low hog prices in 1998, record high prices in 2008, followed by crushing corn costs last year. Then Nancy returns to their theme, “Through it all we’ve maintained that there is a bright future for the hog industry.”
And through it all they evolved. After taking the reins at Jeff’s parents’ farm, the young couple converted the operation from dairy cows to swine. Today, Jeff and Nancy nursery and feed pigs in three buildings.
“We operate our nursery and one finisher here at home,” Jeff says. “We also deliver 800 head to our other finisher a mile and half from home. We receive 1,500 pigs from Silvertop (a Pipestone System sow farm) every eight weeks and move them through our operation in three groups.”
How Pipestone System fills their labor gap
Today these two positive thinkers see signs of a turnaround. On their way to that better future, Jeff and Nancy of Luxemburg, IA learned to rely on their own resources and to adapt when circumstances require. Their willingness to take a new and positive path led them to Pipestone System.
“We became shareholders in the Silvertop sow farm as soon as the ball started rolling in 2005,” says Jeff. “Becoming shareholders, at that point, was a perfect fit for us because we were watching our helpers leave for college.”
Jeff and Nancy confess they’re “not much for hired help.” Fortunately, their two children were able to shoulder responsibility even at ages 12 and 10. Back in 1998, when hog prices tumbled to 8¢ a pound, Jeff and Nancy both took jobs in town to supplement their income on a 250-acre, 350-sow farm.
Young Dustin and Jenna Lucas learned to climb off the bus and into chore clothes. Jenna developed a skill for processing baby pigs and they both became power-washing experts. But once Dustin began packing for the move to Loras College, Jeff and Nancy understood that exiting their own farrowing operation to become System shareholders “was a perfect fit” at just the right time.
Healthy pigs make success
Jeff continues, “It’s a great management company and pig health has been excellent even when PRRS has been a challenge. I’d say the health of the pigs we get (from Silvertop) is the most important thing. I can’t say enough good things about (Dr.) Cameron Schmitt.”
Nancy adds compliments for Steve Kruse, Dan Rodas, and Dr. Bryan Myers of the Silvertop sow farm management team. As a Silvertop shareholder, and in her position as Silvertop secretary, she spends plenty of time working with the barn’s production and efficiency numbers. She creates financial reports for shareholder meetings and Jeff appreciates her ability to offer “a hands-on view.”
“The way I look at it,” Jeff explains, “everybody has to work together to make the circle turn.”
In the ever-turning circle that is Silvertop in Pipestone System, it’s clear what role Jeff and Nancy play. They supply the optimism.
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