Ramsey Sullivan
news@greenepublishing.com
Kaylie Rogers, a 20-year-old Madison native and daughter of local dentist, Clint Rogers, has decided to take her love for pigs to the next level by owning her own hog farm and business.
Rogers grew up working with her dad on their family farm, raising cattle to be turned into beef. Throughout those years, she realized her love for pigs and farming, even though she knows they are being raised for slaughter.
"Pigs are my favorite farm animal; they're the cutest things on earth," said Rogers." However, I understand that there is no food without a farm. I know that I am producing something that people need, people like and people want. While I have them, they are spoiled, loved and treated well.
Rogers has been raising hogs for about five years, but just opened her business, Kaylie's Kountry Sausage, in the last year and she prides herself on the fact that her hogs are raised without any extra vaccines. Although raising all-natural, pasture-raised pigs is the expensive way to go, she wants to make sure that people know exactly what is going into their pork.
"Most pork found at a store is raised on concrete and has never touched the dirt. The only things my pigs get are dewormer and the mandatory vaccines; there's nothing extra added to them. They're raised on dirt their whole life in the pasture," said Rogers.
The COVID-19 pandemic has not harmed her business, but rather helped it. There is a very high demand for meat during this time, because many plants and butchers are temporarily shut down. Fortunately, Rogers' butcher is still open, so to help other farmers, she has been purchasing pigs from those who are having to kill and waste their pigs.
"I want to help people that don't care about the quality of their meat, but just really need meat right now. I want to make sure we have enough in our area so that we don't run out," said Rogers.
She has had more sales of the pigs that are not pasture-raised because people are looking for meat as soon as possible. However, she does not sell the pigs she buys at the same rate she sells the all natural, pasture-raised pigs. Rogers sells her pigs for $2.75 a pound, dressed, but the prices vary for the pigs she purchases, depending on how much she buys them for.
"I'm not going to sell you something that was raised mostly on concrete for the same price that I would sell something that was raised all natural. I just make sure people know exactly what they're getting before it's sold," said Rogers.
Rogers plans to continue her business for as long as possible, despite attending the University of Florida in the fall. She is currently pursuing a degree in Animal Science, specifically Animal Biology, but plans to follow in her father's footsteps and attend dental school after graduating with her bachelor's degree.
"I know that I'm not going to stop farming when I'm a dentist. I'm still going to have cows, horses and pigs, and I want to be able to raise them, take care of them efficiently and be knowledgeable about it in all aspects," Rogers added.
Although she will be primarily living in Gainesville, Rogers will still be coming home on the weekends to handle her business personally. As for her every day feeding and handling of the pigs, Rogers will rely heavily on her dad and will be looking to hire someone to help her very soon.