Schyler Bardole did his homework before joining the family farming operation in Greene County.

“I looked at expanding into everything from crickets to buffalo when I came back,” Schyler said on June 6 at the open house for his family’s new hog finishing barn near Rippey. “Ultimately, hogs made the most sense.”

The Bardoles erected two finishing barns which, when filled, will house almost 5,000 head of hogs. The family contracted with Seaboard Foods to build and stock the facility.

Schyler represents the sixth generation of Bardoles to farm in Greene County. The barns are located on land that has been in the Bardole name since 1901.

Schyler works closely with his dad, Tim, uncle Pete and grandfather Roy raising corn and soybeans.

The finishing barns are the culmination of efforts by Schyler to find additional revenue for the operation following his return to farming in 2017.

“We’re a family farm for sure,” Schyler said. “We’re always looking toward the future, always trying to make things better.”

“This facility… creates an opportunity for Schyler to come back here,” said Karey Claghorn, Iowa Soybean Association chief operating officer. “It’s a real opportunity to bring young people back to the farm, to grow your family farm and to contribute to the community.”

Pete, who is a Greene County supervisor in addition to a farmer, said their barns ranked very high in the county’s siting process.

The Bardoles worked closely with the Coalition to Support Iowa’s Farmers (CSIF) to site the facility. CSIF also encouraged the family to use odor management techniques such as tree planting around the barns, and worked with the family to build support for the project with the county government and their neighbors.

CSIF also co-hosted the open house at the facility which brought family, friends and neighbors together to see the buildings before they are filled and locked down for biosecurity reasons.

This theme of doing things the right way has been championed by Roy, the patriarch of the family.

“As I grew up on the farm, dad always tried to impress on me that you want to do it better,” he said.