OBITUAR ▶▶▶Y
John Gadd: Pig expert and avid storyteller
In August 2020, long-standing contributor and columnist John Gadd passed away at the age of 90. Up until his last month he continued to write for this title in a monthly column. In this article we look back to a remarkable character, whose contributions reflected his many passions.
BY VINCENT TER BEEK, EDITOR, PIG PROGRESS O
A bookcase full of the diaries of John Gadd at his home.
nly once did I have the privilege of meeting John Gadd in person. It was on a beautifully sunny day in April 2007. Just months before I had started in my position as editor for Pig Progress. At the time I
thought it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to get to know all the expert contributors in the international pig industry person- ally. After all, John had been writing for the title Pig Progress
for many years already, so in terms of content I could definite- ly consider him to be one of the founding fathers of the title. At his request we met in the historic Half Moon pub off the A350 in Shaftesbury, Dorset, England. Together with his wife Barbara he lived in a cottage in the nearby village Fontmell Magna; for him, it was an easy drive. I happened to be on a short holiday to Wales and England, so that was an easy place to meet. Of the lunch meeting itself I don’t remember too much – just that I was quite nervous. He was one of the world’s well- known pig experts, and I really had just entered the scene. John must have been 77 years old at the time. I remember him being very knowledgeable and kind; I was relieved that he had an open mind and did not dismiss me for not knowing much about pigs. We chatted for almost two hours.
Over 300 columns for Pig Progress I’m grateful that Pig Progress was able to count on that open mind for another 13 years, as he became one of my trusted colleagues-at-a-distance. According to his own calculations, John started writing columns for Pig Progress ear- ly in 1990. With at least 10 columns a year, he achieved over 300 col- umns for the title, a contribution of monumental size. No doubt his specialty was pig management issues. In his long career he had seen countless swine farms in the 33 coun- tries he had visited profes- sionally. He kept a close re- cord of everything he saw on farms, of what he ad- vised and what he learnt.
One of the four pig handbooks
written by John Gadd. PHOTO: HARM PUTMAN
With that, he could write about dos and don’ts, about things that can go wrong and things that should be improved, in an easy- to-read style, combining a joke
with hands-on advice. How to find the best age for weaning, how to optimise ventilation in farms, how to do appraisals – every time a pig-related question included “how”, John surely
12 ▶ PIG PROGRESS | Volume 37, No. 1, 2021
PHOTO: ADAM GRAY |
SWNS.COM
PHOTO: ADAM GRAY |
SWNS.COM
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