The “wow” factor pops up around every turn during a tour of the Holt Colony’s newly rebuilt and refitted hog barn. 
All that remains of the 27-year-old building are the concrete walls sheltering equipment and facilities carefully designed to eliminate problems from the past and create a healthier environment for breeding and raising pigs. 
From breeding and birth through growing, finishing and that last walk to the livestock trailer, Holt Colony’s pigs are set up for a level of care that will ensure the best results possible while meeting the highest standards in animal welfare. 
“I’ve been dreaming of this for 10 years,” said hog manager David Tschetter during an open house at the site on April 5. He anticipates that the new system will produce more meat, even though the sow capacity was reduced slightly to 380 animals. 
Tschetter said that, once the project started, he would often wake up in the middle of the night, thinking about the things that needed to happen and how to approach them. 
“I’ve woken up at 3 a.m. many times and started planning, never leaving the bedroom.” 
He and his team worked on their plans for two years, with the last pigs shipped out and demolition started at the end of March in 2021. The work took a year from start to finish. The first gilts arrived on May 2, organized by age into groups in which they will remain for life. 

From genetics to hardware, everything within the old walls is brand new. Tschetter said he switched genetics because he believes he has found a line that will perform better in the updated system, which is based on loose housing for sows in gestation. 
Each gilt will remain with the same group throughout her career on the farm. Farrowing stalls are designed so nursing pigs can start mingling as they approach weaning age. Those pigs will also stay together for the balance of their lives, including their road trip to Olymel. 
Electronic feeding systems ensure that each sow gets the correct ration throughout her cycle. Computer printouts run every morning and will report any sow that has not fed, alerting barn staff to check her condition and respond appropriately. 
Each of the group housing units has a sick pen, enabling staff to remove a sick or lame sow from the group while allowing her to maintain social contact with her roommates. 
Tschetter divides his growers and finishers into three categories: About 20 out of 200 will be poor growers, and half of the rest will be average. Higher quality feed will go to the pigs that need it, while the top performers will thrive on cheaper feed, he said. 
The weigh scale sorts individual pigs for appropriate feeding, sending them to one of three feeding stations. Cooler temperatures are maintained at the feeding stations, which encourages pigs to return to the pen after they have eaten. 
Hogs that have reached market weight trigger the automatic tattoo machine, which slaps on a number as the scale kicks them out to the shipping pen.

Farmers visiting the barn marveled at the tattoo machine, which uses dyed grease applied with a brush, slapping the number on as the hog waits for the gate to open. Human error is eliminated, and the only work involved is keeping the brush clean and the ink pot filled. 
Tschetter said that, in the past, he would normally take a guess on which hogs were ready to ship and which ones would need more time on feed. The computerized scale and tattoo machine takes out the guess work, saving money through appropriate feeding and correct assessment of market readiness. 
Other modifications from the original barn include a change in the loading dock that knocks back the time and trouble involved in getting market hogs into the trailer. 
The original loading dock faced east, so that through the summer months, the staff were in constant battle with pigs that did not want to run into the light. Even more of a problem, the ventilation system had been set up so that, throughout the year, cold air always blasted in from the trailer. 
Those issues were corrected by changing the direction of the loading dock and correcting the ventilation so that air flows toward the trailer, encouraging the pigs to run in without hesitation. Additionally, the trailer is kept in a warm shop to help further improve comfort for the pigs. 
“At 40 below, you can still chase pigs into the trailer,” says Tschetter. 

Included with the upgraded design is reserve space sufficient to hold hogs for up to 10 days in the event that they cannot be shipped – a measure demonstrated to have good value when the Olymel plant at Red Deer was temporarily closed to battle a COVID-19 outbreak. 
Throughout his tour of the colony’s new facilities, Tschetter expressed deep appreciation for the people and crews who supported the project. 
“Everybody pitched in. Lots of people came and helped,” he said. 
“The biggest thing here is the teamwork. The carpenter had a crew, the electrician had a crew, my nephew (Christopher Tschetter) was kind of a ramrodder. He made sure everybody had work. He likes equipment. He drives a combine and he’s a carpenter. He learned a whole bunch about pigs this year. He’d love to work in here.” 
Cleaning out the farrowing and nursing area was the worst of the many jobs to be done during the project, said Tschetter. A vacuum truck was hired to do the work, which was the appropriate measure, but it was still nasty, he said. 
Wrapping up his tour during the April 5th Open House, Tschetter said he is seeing a dream come true.  He has straightforward words of advice for anyone who hopes to embark on a similar project: “Trust God, keep moving. • — By Brenda Kossowan