The best of both worlds

Kalab Evans has been around the pork industry for his entire life, having grown up south of Lenox on a 700-head farrow to finish hog operation.

After a college baseball career in Arizona, Evans came home to Iowa and is an adult who still makes his living in the pork industry everyday.

Evans, who lives near Orient, has trasitioned away from that traditional mom-and-pop model slightly while still carrying his roots with him.

“My family’s one of the last independent farrow to finish farms. There aren’t very many left. An advantage [to the mom-and-pops] is that you’re raising your own hogs so you’re not buying any. You’re breeding your sows and raising them so your profit margins are a little better there,” Evans said. “A benefit to the integrator side is it doesn’t matter the price of the hog. All they want is the manure value for the fertilizer in their fields. They could care less what the price of the hog is. They get paid to take care of the hogs and want the manure value. On the mom and pop side, there’s a big risk, but a bigger reward, so price does matter.”

Evans, 36, owns two swine-related businesses: a show pig operation called Evans Show Stock and a custom manure applicating company called Evans Appication.

“I came home, was working [with my family] and found a need for custom manure hauling,” Evans said. “I custom haul manure out of all of these finishers you see around the countryside. I pump it out of the barn and then take it into the fields and spread it.”

The custom applicating business is a “gigantic value” to area crops, Evans said.

“Guys replace it with commercial nitrogen and it’s huge benefits. There are so many benefits and there are so many micronutrients that you won’t get commercially. It increases your yield greatly,” Evans said. “I grew up on the farm and my dad had done it for years around the area. I kept getting calls of guys telling me they were putting up these barns for integrators asking me to help. Eventually I said I’d start my own business. Now there’s so much need for it, it’s crazy.”

Evans breeds sows that birth pigs he sells as part of his show stock business. He also coaches youngsters in 4-H and FFA who purchase his hogs so they can not only take care of quality animals but also grow into being well-rounded, responsible young men and women.

“With me doing the manure hauling, for disease purposes, I had to split myself off from the farm, but I wanted to get back into the hogs,” Evans said. “I have a passion for the pork industry and kids, so I started raising show sows. Where I see that being crucial with pork production is it’s teaching these kids I have to get up in the morning, feed my animal and take care of it. I think it’s getting them ready for the real world or what’s to come.”

Despite pressures from diseases and other factors, Evans said the pork industry is very strong right now.

“The pork industry is sustainable and we’ll be fine for some time to come. The issues we face and deal with every year are the disease pressures. They’re constantly trying because there are so many viruses,” Evans said. “With cattle so high right now, people have to find another source of meat. You can’t go to the store and buy beef anymore because it’s so expensive. This is an awesome alternative. A lot of studies show there’s some protein value in pork that you can’t get from plants or other meats.”

Evans and his wife Jenna, a physician’s assistant at Adair County Health System, have two wons, Leo and Emmett.

Evans’ father Nick and brother Seth are still involved in the family farm south of Lenox. Another brother, Zeb, buys hogs for Tyson Fresh Meats.