The Journey Begins

This week I was able to help Belstra Milling host a group of pork producers from the United Kingdom at the Pig Adventure. This launched us into the beginning of our "soft tours".

This tour, arranged by genetics company PIC, was a real eye opener for me! I learned about many of the systems of production that are used in the U.K. and what some of the anti-ag groups there are saying about pork production.

The tour began with a lot of hesitation from them about whether it was a good idea to expose a large farm such as Legacy to the public eye and many on the tour said they were positive it would never work in their country.

As it was the first actual tour that I got to lend my expertise with, it was great to see their eyes open up when I discussed some of the technology and style of program we use. There were some areas that they weren't familiar with and it was exciting to me to be able to explain it to them. I expect that as the tours grow and the audience becomes more diverse, their will be less people who understand the technology and will be equally as amazed to see it in use.

At the end of the PIC tour I was very pleased with my performance in answering their questions as well as my ability to convert from standard to metric. While I had to rely on my calculator, I persevered and got all the answers in a form that made logical sense to them!

I sensed a lot of emotion and excitement for the Pig Adventure at the end of the tour. I could tell that the  ideas had began to shift in the minds of our guests that day. Some of the men I met with even told me that they don't see how this could fail! What inspiring comments to hear! We sure hope he was right!!!!

This upcoming week we continue the next step of our adventure with some training of additional employees who will be working as guides at the Pig Adventure. My boss expressed to us interns that she wants us to step up and be the leaders of the training sense we have the experience with the pigs. This leadership opportunity is the whole reason I chose this internship! My passion for the pork industry is about to flow through me and I hope that God gives me the ability to speak clearly to the others.

I am very excited for the next week and I cannot wait to tell my story both throughout the week and abut my experiences here on my blog!