By Mark Parker
It’s the people who matter
With 4,000 sows and 700 cows, Bob North is heavily
into the livestock business. Despite those animal
numbers, though, the Lebanon farmer would tell you
it’s still all about people.
“You don’t do this without a lot of people helping
you,” he says. “The people on staff here at the farm, the
Cargill people, the folks at FCS Financial — they are all
highly valued.”
North started the pork side of the business in
1992 with a 500-sow farrow-to-feeder-pig operation
as a contract producer for Cargill. That enterprise has
expanded steadily over the years in terms of pigs, people
and facilities.
And FCS Financial has been part of it every step
of the way.
“I think they understood what we wanted to do,”
says North, who is a past chairman of the Missouri Pork
Association. “They could see the same future we hoped
to see.
“We have been able to use several different
financial products to fit our situation and the competitive
rates and patronage have been a pretty good blend.
And, of course, there are the people. Gary Tompkins
(vice president in the Jefferson City office) and Shanda
Nichols (senior credit analyst) have helped us a bunch
Bob North
— they’re great on support.”
North’s swine enterprise gets a lot of pork headed toward America’s dinner tables. His 4,000 sows produce an average of 28
pigs per year and that, he says, is due in large degree to good facilities and good managers to run them.
“A quality confinement facility is not only good from the standpoint of production efficiency — which is good for the
consumer — it’s also beneficial to the animals themselves,” North says. “We can control the environment for their comfort and
well-being and we can provide individual care for the sows and pigs in terms of health and nutrition.
“I’ve had pigs outside and I now have them inside. In all respects, inside is superior.”
The beef enterprise complements the pork enterprise, North says. The 2,700 acres of pasture and 300 acres of hay and silage
provide more than just forage for the cowherd. It’s also a place to utilize the manure from the swine facilities to turn the Ozark
hills lush with grass and legumes.
Bob North’s appreciation for quality people is hard-earned. In 2013, he lost Missy, his wife of 38 years, whom he regarded as
his best friend, business partner and integral part of the operation.
But once again, it was people who made a difference.
“I was in a fog for about six months. I was lost,” he recalls. “The folks who had been with me here the longest had to carry
me. Friends, family, the people you work with, believe me, that’s what really counts.”