Ted Miller is greeted by some of the Jersey and Holstein-Jersey cross cows on his grass-based seasonal dairy.

Growing up in rural Juniata County, Pennsylvania, gave Ted a taste of farming. "I was really into 4-H pigs, and we had a couple of sows," he says. Every summer he worked on dairy farms and cleaned broiler houses.

In the spring of 1995, after a year studying animal science at Delaware Valley College in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, Ted decided he wanted hands-on experience. So he looked for a summer internship.

White Oak Mills, a hog production company, instead offered Ted a full-time job at $18,000 a year plus benefits. "I thought, 'Gee, I just spent that much last year on school and this is what they're offering a 19-year-old,' " he says.

That's when Ted's real education began. Within a year he was managing a 1,200-sow farrowing unit; three years later he had 2,400 sows. After that he became a service manager working with farmers who were contract growers for Pleasant Valley Foods run by Hostetter Management Company (businesses that took over White Oak Mills' hog production).

"That employment opportunity just provided a wealth of experience and contacts," he says.

He learned about building ventilation, heat checking sows, and using artificial insemination. "Pretty much everything was new compared to the way I used to do things," he recalls.

Later, as he visited finishing farms, he could compare costs. He learned the importance of feed efficiency, pig survival rates, and electricity costs.

"That was a real eye-opener," he says. "When you start looking at having a facility of your own, you know what to expect."