Where are the Pigs?

I graduated in a class of 83 students from a small Iowa farm town. In between graduation and my first semester at college, I had privilege of working on a farm. My boss had an excavation business on the side, but primarily the farm consisted of 1600 acres of crop land, about 25 cows, and a modest hog operation.

My job was working with the pigs. I would grind feed each morning before beginning my rounds at the farrowing house. After checking on the sows and their offspring, I would check in on the nursery where the latest batch of piglets were being weened. Next was the "grow pad" which was a concrete pad with some shelter where the newly weened pigs stayed until they were big enough to move to the finishing lots. Finally, I would fill the feeders, clean out the feed shoots at the bottom and generally ensure that the pigs in the finishing lots were OK.

With daily chores complete, I would do whatever miscellaneous tasks that the boss had for me that day.

It was not uncommon to take a break from work around 10:00 and get breakfast at a local diner. During one of these breaks, the boss explained something about the operation to me. He informed me that pigs have a gestation cycle of 3 months, 3 weeks and 3 days. Consequently, he took pigs to market every 3 months and 3 weeks (give or take a few days) regardless of what the market was doing.

The crop land was in a low area between two rivers (which is why the boss had the excavation equipment in the first place), so any income from crops assumed that he crops could survive the near inevitable flooding that would occur year-to-year or that the ground would be solid enough to harvest the crop before it went bad.

Apparently, cows are notoriously susceptible to various illnesses and the vet bills and other costs associated with keeping them healthy all the way to market kept the margin so tight that profit was not assured.

So, the boss man told me in no uncertain terms, "The pigs pay the bills."

I have found that this same scenario is true in most businesses. Most companies have a core product or service that provides stable income at a stable margin and accounts for a large percentage of the company's income each year. Most companies also have products or services that are interesting or trendy but also unpredictable and often unprofitable. Some companies are perpetually looking for the next product or service to add to the stable.

Whenever I am getting to know a new company, my first question is simply, "Where are the Pigs?" What product(s) or service(s) pay the bills month-over-month year-over-year with predictable consistency?

I love looking for pivot opportunities. I love exploring new options and possibilities. I get bored with business-as-usual. But I've learned that innovation and expansion and all the other cool and sexy things we enjoy pursuing in business is only possible if we continue taking the pigs to market every 3 months and 3 weeks (give or take a few days). If your company doesn't have a consistent and predictable way to pay the bills, your time and energy should be focused on finding the pigs. The cows and crops can wait.