Day 15

Today was a slower day. We visited a few farms sites and saw some wean to finish pigs along with some gilts. These walk throughs were very similar to what is performed in the states. I also spent some time sitting in on several meetings, which is interesting as the business is performed differently here than I am accustomed to in the States. I saw a John Deere dealer here today. It is nothing like one in the states. They have a few combines with the largest having a four row corn head and the others having a two row. The majority of the tractors I have seen here are actually two cylinders, and yes, they sound like the ones from the 50’s. This fits the layout of the land though as it is all very small plots of ground, which is usually, planted with several different crops. I have never seen so much variation of crop maturities in my life. They will often have corn that is about a foot tall next to corn that is already tasseled out. I found out why pig production is increasing in China at such a large rate today. The pig price is over 1800 rmb for a 95-kilo pig. This figures out to be roughly $300 per head for a much lighter pig than we are marketing in the states. It is interesting how much the market varies internationally even though U.S pigs are marketed globally.