Tri-States Grain Conditioning

In 1930, the families at Elm Springs Colony moved to Alberta for six years. These were challenging years during the depths of the Great Depression in both Canada and the U.S. In 1936, several families consisting of about 50 people moved back to the land along the James River. This was during a time when South Dakota was experiencing lower tax revenue and state government welcomed the Hutterite families back to the land they originally homesteaded. “Those were not easy times and our people were not wealthy at all. Our people worked very hard for many years to build up the colony,” explained Levi. Ninety years and several generations later, New Elm Springs Colony is what it is today. There are about 100 people living there and the colony’s fiscal house is in good order. The colony has been delivering the majority of their hogs to the John Morrell/Smithfield plant in Sioux Falls for many years since returning from Canada. Levi is a board member of the South Dakota Pork Producers Council and an active participant in the We Care program which is an initiative put forth by the National Pork Board and the National Pork Producers Council. The checkoff-funded We Care is a program that focuses on the modern approach to pig farming centered around principles of animal wellbeing, environment, food safety, people, community and public health. “We practice the We Care principles every day because we have so much riding on this. Safety, caring for the environment and animal well-being are crucial to everything we do,” says Levi. All the pigs and turkeys receive fresh, quality water which runs through a reverse osmosis purification system on the property as the colony goes through over 40,000 gallons per day for both livestock operations. New Elm Springs also has been using a product that ties up the ammonia in the pits which drastically reduces the smell on the property. New Elm Springs does have a butcher and processing facility on site and they sell a wide variety of pork and turkey products. Levi’s father, Mike, oversees the butcher shop and they sell products to commercial and retail customers. Many of the butcher shop's products can be purchased at Dimock Dairy as well.

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Two views of the facilities of at the New Elm Springs Hog Farm