Nebraska hog farmers face difficult reality

UNADILLA, NE — Pigs fill the barns of the Bartling Brothers Farms facilities across Nebraska.  Many of the pigs are ready to head to packing plants for processing but with plants dropping capacity across the state, there’s nowhere for many of these pigs to go.

“It’s a no win situation," Jim Bartling said. "It’s unfathomable right now at this point to even think about.”

The situation Jim Bartling is referencing is another devastating chain reaction caused by the new coronavirus.  COVID-19 has decimated the workforce of packing plants, forcing them to shut down or slow down. Now plants, like the Tyson facility in Madison, aren’t taking as many pigs from farmers.  Bartling says he typically sends 9-12 semi loads of pigs to packing plants each week. This week he’s sent four.

“I can’t get rid of these pigs, I have babies being born every week," Bartling said. "So they’re coming into the pipeline, which is full, and every building is full, where do those pigs go?  So that’s when you get to choose whether they come out of the bottom and those are going to have to be euthanized.”

That is the option every hog farmer dreads.

“Ever since I was young, everything I do is to absolutely save every pig we can, make them as healthy as we can," Bartling said.

The financial chain reaction doesn’t stop at packers and the farmer either. Bartling says workers from 40 different families work on his family’s farms.

But he says the worst effect of the chain reaction would be a food shortage.

“Everybody needs to eat every day, and if we don’t do something ASAP… it can really get ugly,” Bartling said.

Bartling says they haven’t had to euthanize at any of his farms yet, but unless things change and if they pack barns to the maximum capacity, that reality is about a month away.