Iowa Farmer Today

Rod Seipold raises feeder pigs for Niman Ranch and maintains a cow-calf herd on his Mills County farm. Seipold helped form the group, United for Agriculture Southwest Iowa, which has a goal of increasing livestock production in his area.
IFT photo by Jeff DeYoung

HASTINGS -- Rod Seipold looks around at the rolling hills near his Mills County home, and says he has wondered for several years why some of those hills weren’t covered with cow herds and hog facilities.

“We used to have a lot of hogs in this county, but we don’t even have a county pork producers organization anymore,” he says.

“We have some urban growth around Glenwood, but that’s more than 15 miles away from here. I just never understood why we lost our livestock.”

Seipold runs a cow-calf operation on his diversified farm near here and also supplies feeder pigs for Niman Ranch producers.

The Southwest Iowa farmer decided to do something about the lack of producers and helped create United for Agriculture Southwest Iowa.

The group is affiliated with Farm Bureau and includes livestock producers from four other Southwest Iowa counties: Page, Fremont, Montgomery and Pottawattamie.

Their goal is to bring a thriving livestock industry back to Southwest Iowa.

“We have the smallest number of livestock per farm operation in the state, and Mills County is one of the smallest,” Seipold says.

“That’s kind of what motivated us to start this group, to make sure that agriculture in general is a viable industry in Southwest Iowa.”

Southwest Iowa is just one of many areas in the state with the potential to grow its livestock industry, says Mark Imerman, an ag economist at Iowa State University.

With the growth of the ethanol industry, he says livestock production should increase because of the readily available feedstuffs.

“With ethanol and cattle in particular, the feed source is here,” Imerman says.

“It’s better for those plants to produce the feed closer to the cattle because it’s less costly to have to truck it or dry it for the plants. They won’t site a plant in an area that doesn’t want the livestock industry.”

Imerman concedes the growth of the ethanol industry could be tough for livestock that need to eat a larger percentage of corn, such as hogs and poultry.

He says parts of Iowa may be more conducive than others for this growth. For example, Imerman says the more lightly populated counties of Southwest Iowa may be suitable for livestock growth.

“You have more land that is suitable for pastures rather than crop production, so certainly that encourages cow-calf production,” he says. “There are fewer people, and that also helps with expansion because it would probably be less contentious.

“But, we have seen the hog industry grow in North Central Iowa in recent years because more feed is produced in that area. I really think there are opportunities no matter where you live.”

Imerman believes the potential for growth is there for all of Iowa, as does Aaron Putze, executive director of the Coalition to Support Iowa’s Farmers in Des Moines.

“We are focused on helping areas of the state move forward with pro-livestock initiatives,” he says.

“We want to make sure we are growing our livestock industry responsibly and sensibly, and to make areas of Iowa a destination for livestock farms and related businesses that go along with it.”

Putze says it’s important livestock producers are responsible neighbors and stewards of the land.

They need to be available to their neighbors and be open about any expansion plans they may have.

“Both parties need to be mindful of the concerns and expectations of the other,” he notes.

While there are always challenges to growing any industry, Putze believes the time is right to increase livestock production in Iowa, especially with the ever-growing supply of co-products coming out of ethanol plants.

“We received more calls for assistance and information from dairy and cattle operations in the period from November 2006 to February 2007 than we did in the previous 2½ years,” Putze says.

“That tells me that producers from throughout the state are looking at some of these opportunities, and they are wanted to grow their operation.

“Iowa has always been a welcoming place for livestock production.”

Seipold says the ethanol dynamic certainly has changed the near-term outlook for livestock producers. Feed costs will be higher, especially for hog producers who may not be able to use ethanol co-products, such as cattle and dairy operations, he says.

“Things are going to change a lot in the next couple of years. But, we still believe the opportunity is there to have more livestock in Southwest Iowa.”

Seipold says his group is willing to help anyone interested in starting a livestock operation in his area.

“We are doing things to make sure our economic development and political leaders aware that there are areas in Southwest Iowa that would be ideal for livestock production,” Seipold says.

“If people have questions, I’m more than willing to talk to anyone that would be interested in coming down here.

“We’d really like to see the livestock industry come back to our part of Iowa.”