Nearly 10,000 miles away, Australian pork producer Shaun Blenkiron decided to check off an item on his bucket list: travel to the United States to see how U.S. pig farms operate and attend the World Pork Expo.
As part of the 2025 Australian Pork Limited Pork Leadership Course (PLC), Blenkiron was one of six applicants chosen out of a pool of 30 pork producers representing pig farms across Australia.
“Back in February, the six of us rolled up to our first session. We had never met each other before and were thrown in the deep end with a course designed to build relationships and find everyone’s strengths and weaknesses,” Blenkiron says. “The connection we formed back then is something we’ll never find again – it was pretty special.”
In addition to this, Australian journalist and celebrity Shelly Horton led the group in a media training session where the delegates were “thrown under the bus” and taught how to answer tough questions on camera, he says.
But the best part of the program – the international tour to the U.S. – was an opportunity he will never forget. The group toured through farms in California, Colorado and Iowa.
“It’s been unbelievable,” Blenkiron says. “The agriculture scene here has a great future with the kids coming up in it. That really stood out to me during our tours. There’s a lot of excitement among your younger generation.”
The U.S. Opportunity
From almond farms and buffalo ranches to beef feedlots and catfish farms, the young Australian leaders were exposed to a variety of agricultural pursuits during their tour to the U.S. One of the “wow moments” for Blenkiron was touring Brenneman Farms in Iowa.
“The innovation, technology and the tidiness of the place was unbelievable,” he says. “Their willingness to adapt struck me. They are very nice people working at a big scale in pork production. It blew my mind how it was done so efficiently.”
One of the biggest takeaways from his tour in the U.S. was the impressive litter sizes in the U.S.
“U.S. litter size is unbelievably higher than ours,” Blenkiron says. “I think that goes with being so efficient. The Brennemans’ operation is down to the T, and I know they aren’t the only operation like that.”
He says the other big difference between U.S. and Australian pork production is the difference in margin per pig.
“I noticed your margin per pig is not very high compared to ours,” Blenkiron says. “I guess that’s why the U.S. is in such a large scale. If we were making $10 or $15 a head at home, I’d be broke tomorrow.”
Raising Pigs in South Australia
The Blenkiron family operates a multi-generational farm, Gumshire Pork, in South Australia. It consists of a 300-sow purebred Hampshire, Large White and Landrace farrow-to-finish operation and a boar stud.
“We could expand to 500 sows space-wise, but we are sticking to 300 for now, working on adding value, improving what we actually have, particularly with the Hampshire breed,” he says.
Gumshire Pork operates out of straw-based eco shelters in an open housing system. He says the only time pigs are on slats is when they are in the farrowing rooms.
“In Australia, we’re stall free,” he says. “Our country is also beginning to push for lactating stall free pens as well. Companies at home are innovating things to put in place with the lactating open pens rather than a farrowing crate. I know Europe had pushed it. So that means we have to be on the front foot and ready for it here, too.”
Gumshire Pork markets its own meat label. They supply many butchers in the local area throughout the Barossa Valley, Adelaide Hills and Clare Valley.
“Hampshire pork is going brilliantly,” Blenkiron says. “The demand is massive. We’ve won Champion Pork Product the last two years in a row through the Sydney Fine Foods Awards.”
He says selling private-label pork is a good business now.
“The Australian pork industry is at a high and looking to improve this year,” he adds. “Pork demand is up and consumption in Australia has increased. We’ve got more fresh cuts in our supermarkets compared to the U.S. The selection of fresh cuts seems very limited here in the grocery stores we toured.”
What Health Challenges do Australian Pig Farmers Face?
Although he couldn’t wait to get back to his farm and see his family, Blenkiron’s return took a while as the Australian producers completed a week quarantine off their farms. They bought boots and shoes at Wal-Mart and left them in the U.S. to avoid bringing back any disease, Blenkiron says.
“We don’t have problems with diseases like porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) in Australia,” he says. “The clothes we took to pig farms were all thrown out. We never touched a pig, but we were still in their air space and want to take extra biosecurity precautions.”
One of his country’s biggest health challenges now is Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV), an emerging zoonotic disease transmitted by JEV-infected mosquitos.
“How do you control a mosquito? You can’t control a mosquito and the water birds that move JEV around,” Blenkiron says. “Where we are located is lucky in this case. We’re too dry to get a buildup of mosquitoes, and it gets too cold in the winter.”
African swine fever (ASF) is on the minds of many Australian pork producers who know the virus is “knocking at the door,” but he says that’s the same challenge the U.S. faces, too.
