News Outstanding Young Farm Family – Pork

Outstanding Young Farm Family – Pork

Outstanding Young Farm Family – Pork
July 11, 2001 |

Tim Donaldson’s first job on his family’s Cullman County farm would have turned some boys against hog farming for life. But for the Alabama Farmers Federation’s 2001 Outstanding Young Farmer in the pork division, it was the spark that ignited a life-long interest in animal agriculture.The year was 1974, and Tim’s family was just getting settled on their 80-acre spread near Holly Pond, Ala. Two years earlier, Tim’s father–a Birmingham restaurant owner–had opened a pizzeria in Cullman and moved his family to the country. The Donaldsons had a few cows, some yard chickens and a few acres of vegetables, but Tim’s job was to take care of the hogs.Each morning before he went to school, the six-year-old was responsible for washing out the hog pens and feeding. Looking back, Tim said he wouldn’t take anything for growing up on the farm.”I always liked the fact that we were feeding people,” said Tim, 32. “It made me feel like they were part of our family.”Tim said he particularly liked raising hogs. So when he heard that Tyson Foods was selling its 3,000-sow hog farm in Calhoun County, he jumped at the opportunity to diversify his farm operation.Over the years, Tim, along with his father, Ronny, and brother, Stephen, had expanded the farm to include 440 acres of land, more than 100,000 commercial laying hens, a feed mill and a crossbred cow herd. But by 1999, environmental pressures and competition from vertically integrated companies were forcing the Donaldsons to choose between doubling the capacity of the poultry operation and shutting it down.About that time, the Donaldsons began talking to one of their feed mill customers, J.C. Howard Farms of North Carolina, which also was interested in the Tyson facility. A deal was struck, and in August, Tim and Stephen began raising replacement gilts for J.C. Howard’s farrowing operations.The gilts are shipped from North Carolina to another Alabama farm where they are vaccinated and held for eight weeks before being moved to the Donaldsons’ operation in Ohatchee. Once there, the gilts are artificially inseminated and fed for 90-100 days before being shipped back to J.C. Howard’s farrowing barns. So far, the Donaldsons have filled one order for 2,400 sows and are working on another 1,600-sow order. By the time they finish their commitment to J.C. Howard, they will have replaced 10,000 sows.After that, Tim said they have several options including signing a contract to raise pigs for J.C. Howard or buying their own breeding stock and selling pigs to other finishing operations.Tim said the 467-acre farm has the potential to produce 50,000-60,000 pigs a year. And while the 30 buildings at the facility are 10 years old, he said the farm is in excellent condition.”One reason we bought the farm was that it already was established and certified, and all the irrigation line was buried,” Tim said.Since purchasing the operation, Tim and Stephen have added additional fans and cool cell pads, and they’ve converted the gestation barns to tunnel ventilation. They also have reworked the lagoon to improve the farm’s nutrient management system.Even with these changes, Tim said environmental issues remain his biggest concern.”When it comes to environmental issues, we used to have to deal with people who weren’t necessarily in the mainstream. But the problem we’re seeing now is that everybody seems to be critical of animal agriculture,” Tim said. “I don’t think they are against farmers or farming. They are just misinformed because the media focuses primarily on the negative. Most folks don’t know what a real swine farm is and what we go through to prevent environmental problems.”Besides running the swine operation, the Donaldsons still produce about 600 tons of feed a week–including feed for several dairies and their own hog farm. They also own and operate the North Alabama Bull Test Evaluation Center, which has performance tested about 80 bulls a year since 1991. Their beef herd includes about 115 Angus-crossed cows, and the Donaldsons raise about 100,000 pullets each year for independent egg producers.Tim, who has a bachelor’s degree in animal science from Auburn University, jokingly describes himself as the farm’s “land resource manager.” His primarily responsibilities are the hogs and the bull test. Stephen manages the feed mill, and employee Mark Pennington manages the day-to-day operations in Ohatchee.For much of 1994, however, Stephen kept the farm running by himself when Tim fell ill with spinal meningitis and encephalitis. Diagnosed in the spring of that year, Tim was hospitalized for two weeks and spent the next several months learning to walk again. That fall, Ronny Donaldson, who was a former president of the Alabama Cattleman’s Association and respected agricultural leader, died following a long illness.Remarkably, Tim’s wife, Missy, 35, said those trials only made the family stronger.”It really makes you appreciate your family and what you have,” she said.Today, Missy and Tim are passing on to their children the same love of agriculture Tim’s father instilled in his sons. The couple’s children Hannah, 8, and Lane, 5, help out on the farm and at the bull test, and both are competitive in Cullman County’s youth lamb shows. Hannah, in fact, had the grand champion lamb for two of the past three years, and this year she plans to try her hand at steer showing.”As a mother, I think there is no better environment for children to grow up in,” said Missy, who teaches third grade at Holly Pond School. “On the farm, their hands can touch anything God has created. It’s a peaceful and wholesome way of life, and you don’t have to worry as much. I hope they’ll always want to stay here.”

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