Courtney Case is inspired every day to do her small part to feed the world and make sure it’s done the right way on the sow farm she manages. Her first priority is caring for the sows, but building a positive culture for her team is a close second.
As people become further removed from the farm, they may struggle to understand modern livestock production practices. But Courtney Case says it’s simple. Every day she tries to make life better inside of the barn for the sows and pigs in her care. Her biggest frustration is hearing people use the words “factory farm” as it completely misrepresents what she does every day. For Case, raising pigs is all about individual care for each pig every day.
“A big part of my job is making observations on what’s working well and what can we improve on,” says Case, who manages Smiling Porker Sow Farm, a 5,000-sow farm in Morris, Pa. “Every day our team makes sure that every pig is getting feed and water, that the air quality is excellent and vaccines are up to date. We make sure they get everything they need at every stage of their life.”
It’s not about checking a box, Case says.
“I come to work to do my small part to feed the world,” she explains. “I work with animal protein. They will feed us, and I am going to ensure they have the best life possible.”
Her commitment to care for every pig and for every person on her team makes Case a barn hero who sets a high bar that others strive to reach each day.
City Girl Goes Country
Case didn’t grow up on a farm, but her parents found a way for her to be involved in the local 4-H program. Along the way, she learned how to care for animals and showed dairy cattle and pigs.
“One of my 4-H leaders went to Delaware Valley University and got a degree in animal science,” Case says. “I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do, but I loved working with animals. I thought I wanted to be a vet or a nutritionist, so I decided to pursue an animal science degree at Delaware Valley University.”
While she was in college, she interned with Country View Family Farms (CVFF) the summer before her senior year. That internship changed her life, she says. The 20-year-old at the time realized she could make a living doing something she loved – caring for animals.
“The funny thing is, I had never been on a commercial-sized pig farm before that internship,” Case says. “But I knew I liked pigs. When I showed up to the 1,400-sow farm, which is now small to me, I remember looking into the gestation barn and thinking, ‘Oh my goodness, what am I signing up for?’”
What she believed would be overwhelming didn’t feel that way for long. Case’s experience helped her realize opportunities she never dreamed were possible. CVFF offered her a job when she graduated early that December. On Jan. 4, 2011, she went to work as a technician on a farm in southern Pennsylvania and over time, moved up the chain of leadership until she landed in her current role as sow manager.
At Smiling Porker Sow Farm, she oversees the daily care of 5,000 sows on a “plus farm” that is California Prop 12 compliant. She also manages 20 team members, including one assistant manager, a breeding department lead and a farrowing department lead.
“A big part of my role is supporting my team in their roles and overseeing anything they might need, engaging them and getting the most out of our team,” she says. “It’s also about ensuring the safety of the team and the biosecurity of the sow farm.”
A Shifting Landscape
In the past 15 years, Case has experienced many changes in the pork industry. Perhaps the biggest change is the workforce.
“When I started, it was all local employees,” she says. “We all spoke the same language and were all from this area. That’s totally changed. I’m the minority in my farm now and most of my team members are international and speak Spanish.”
Case is not bilingual, though she can understand a little Spanish. She says building a team despite having a language barrier requires her to be resourceful and relentless in creating connection. She considers herself very fortunate to work with one of their company’s first international hires – Roberto Galindo – who now serves as the farrowing lead at Smiling Porker. He started working at the company through a visa program that hires employees from Mexico to work in the U.S.
“Roberto helps me if I need to communicate something beyond what I can do with Google Translate (which is a fantastic tool),” she says. “There could be a lot of stuff that doesn’t get said that needs to be said when you speak different languages. Even though it may be inconvenient or hard, you need to make the effort.”
Galindo says her efforts to bridge that gap are appreciated more than she knows.
“Courtney has spent years surrounded by Spanish-speaking coworkers, which has allowed her to understand the language quite well, even though she is not yet able to speak it,” Galindo says. “It would not surprise me if, in a few years, she becomes bilingual.”
Progressive Approach to Production
Case is proud to work for a company that is progressive, always on the cutting edge of things, trying to think ahead to what the industry and customers want.
“I consider myself very blessed to experience this type of an environment,” she says. “It can be a challenge in the moment, but it’s an awesome experience to have some of the things in place that we do today like antibiotic-free production, Prop 12 compliance and maternity crates. It’s a blessing in hindsight to have that experience in all of these different ways to manage sows.”
If she’s honest, most of these new management approaches didn’t come with an instruction book.
“A lot of it was trial and error,” Case says. “You have no idea what’s going to work or not going to work in real life. I mean, conceptually, it can be great. But we have to apply it and then figure out how we can make it work to fit what our customers want.”
Of all the changes she has helped implement in her role, she’s most proud of their new training program.
“We are getting more engagement and success because of it,” Case says. “You can have a training program, but it may not be getting you the same results that an excellent training program can.”
True Buy-In
Training isn’t a one and done experience. She says she still learns something new every day. In fact, that’s why her favorite part of her job is the role of technician. She works alongside her team doing the tasks they do. Not only does it get her buy-in, but the shared experiences open the door for meaningful and important conversations, especially if they are questioning a process.
“Courtney is always willing to help with whatever you need and consistently leads from the front,” Galindo says. “She is a very responsible person who clearly loves her job and conveys the same passion to the team. She shows respect to the entire team by guiding, teaching and supporting us. I believe the respect is mutual.”
That servant leadership sets Case apart, says Eric Rider, sow production manager in the northern tier of Pennsylvania for CVFF. He’s known Case since they attended college together at Delaware Valley.
“She works side by side with her team as a farm manager, developing and pushing them to be the best,” Rider says. “She doesn’t ask her team to do anything that she wouldn’t do. She demands a lot from them, which is why I think she gets that respect. Her expectations are high, which has helped develop more leaders under her guidance.”
But Case would never sugarcoat managing people. She says it’s the hardest part of her job, and that surprised her.
“As a lead in the nursery, I had two team members. I thought that for sure, the 20,000 pigs I oversaw were going to be harder than two team members,” she says. “Surprise – they were not. It’s increasingly more challenging as you move up from two to 10 to 20 team members. It’s also what brings me back every day — the challenge of keeping my team engaged and getting the best out of my team members.”
Sow Farm Excellence
Case excels at getting the best out of her team and continues to raise the bar in sow farm performance, Rider says. CVFF has a benchmark system that compares all of the sow farms in all of their regions, including Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Indiana.
“Success, to me, looks like being at the top of that list consistently,” she says. “That means I’ve got my team and production practices firing on all cylinders. It means meeting customer expectations as far as wean pig quality and hitting those targets with an engaged team.”
Every week her team waits to see where they are on the list. And she loves it.
“During our weekly meeting, we’ll review the standings,” Case says. “They can’t wait to see the customer response form from the nursery when we ship our wean pigs. They want to know who they beat that week and if someone beat them, how did they do it? That fuels their fire to perform that much better.”
A Winning Combination
To be a successful sow farm manager, it takes grit, determination and dedication, Case says. But even more importantly, it requires some sacrifice.
“What I get from this career is worth the sacrifices that I’ve made,” she adds. “When it comes to my leadership skills, I’m a much different person then I was 10 years ago. I connect with people. I’ve learned all of these life skills through my career that have also allowed me to provide really well for my family in a rural area.”
Being on call 24/7, 365 days a year isn’t easy. She says it’s hard to unplug because somebody might need you or the pigs might need you in the middle of the night.
“For me, that is the hardest part of my job,” Case admits. “I want so badly to make sure everything’s done right. I would be here all day and all night, but I’ve had to learn that balance over the years. You can’t do that or you will burn yourself out.”
Her focus on developing her team has built trust. She’s learned to delegate more and this has helped relieve the tension of carrying it all on her shoulders. It’s also helped her team develop into stronger leaders, too.
Rider says it’s easy to see why Case has excelled in her career. She is a true barn hero, exemplifying ethics, integrity and stewardship both inside and outside of work.
“She is relentless about improvement, bringing ideas to the table, pushing her leadership team and quickly implementing changes,” Rider says. “She creates a safe environment for her team – her team finished the fiscal year with zero accidents. She doesn’t just develop her own team, but she drives success in the region by pushing our other sow farm managers to bring their best every day.”
It’s a win-win. Case says she feels privileged to do something she is extremely passionate about, putting her college degree to use while providing for her family.
“I get to do what I love every single day,” she says. “What could be better than that?”
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Courtney Case says she’s grateful for her supportive family consisting of husband, Kyle Rouse, and daughters Whitney, 9, and Lainey, 6. She says Kyle is a huge part of her success and support.
One of the most important things Courtney Case looks for in a caregiver are observation skills. Being in tune with the pigs is critical. She says this is not easy to learn – you’ve got that ability to see what’s wrong or you don’t. She believes it is something that is understood innately. Empathy, patience and teamwork closely follow, she adds.
Roberto Galindo, farrowing team lead at Smiler Porker Sow Farm, says Courtney is the type of leader who lifts her team, provides guidance and shares knowledge freely. She always gives her best and constantly seeks to improve in everything she does.
Courtney is a champion for promoting agriculture, her teammates say. She is devoted to her family beef and chicken farm, Blair Creek Farm LLC, and raising her kids to be next-generation farmers.
