Although Rob and Char Brenneman approach driving differently, their team is quick to point out they are both good drivers.
“Rob is the gas pedal and Char is the brakes,” says Erin Brenneman, their daughter-in-law and education and event coordinator at Brenneman Pork. “Nobody is slamming on either pedal unnecessarily and there is always a check and balance in play.”
That check-and-balance approach has helped the couple turn Rob’s childhood hog project into a thriving pork business today. They survived the farm crisis of the 1980s, overcame industry challenges and quit their day jobs in the late 1980s to focus on building their hog operation in Washington, Iowa.
“We committed to raising pigs,” Rob says. “When feeder pigs turned around and we had all the debt paid off, it felt like it would work. We thought we knew how to raise pigs better than anybody, so we said, ‘we’re going to continue to do this.’”
It Was Always Plan A
Every year since 1988, they put up a building to expand their business. They eventually formed a corporation. Together, they worked to grow their dream. Char credits that Rob’s passion kept her going, but Rob says it was Char that kept him going.
“Without her, it would have not worked at all,” he says.
He also credits his FFA teacher Duane Sprouse for giving him one of the best pieces of advice when Rob was a freshman in high school.
“I asked Mr. Sprouse how a person farms and gets big like other guys,” Rob says. “He told me, ‘Where there’s a will, there’s a way.’ I’ve never forgotten that. He inspired a desire in me to never give up.”
Lindsay Greiner, Rob’s best friend, recently reminded Rob that he never had a plan B – that it was only going to work as a plan A.
“He was right – plan B was not an option. Failure was not an option,” Rob says. “We were going to make it work, whether it took all night, all day, or whatever. And that’s what we did, that’s what built our business.”
Humbling Moments
In the midst of expanding Brenneman Pork, Rob says he learned a valuable lesson taking a job with UPS.
“I learned how to organize,” he explains. “When you left that center, your truck was organized. You knew exactly where you were going. When I got to Washington, if I didn’t get there by 9:15 a.m., the Pepsi truck was in the alleyway, and you were toast for two hours. You had to make sure nothing was going to stop you from being to this point by 9:14 because you did not want to get behind the Pepsi truck.”
He says that helped him build his pig business more efficiently and profitably. The rules were strict, and the lines were drawn. Rob was known for keeping the pressure on his employees.
One morning he vividly recalls when he was working in weaning with some of his team and things just weren’t going right.
“I kind of went ballistic,” Rob admits. “We had five employees, and all five of them walked out the door. I came back to the kitchen to see Char. She was getting breakfast ready, and I looked at her, and I said, ‘Honey, what are we going to do?’”
Char says her response was pretty pointed that day.
“I said, ‘No, what are you going to do?’” she recalls.
Rob realized at that point that something had to change.
“I learned I had to maintain the heat to get things done, but I had to do it in a better way,” he says. “Char coached me through that. I got a few employees to come back and then we started picking up a few employees here and there. It took a lot of coaching from Char.”
Performance Reviews and Buzzers
Establishing a positive culture at Brenneman Pork has been critical to the farm’s growth.
“It’s a work in progress,” Char says. “It’s all about getting the right people in the right spot, and that’s often trial and error. However, a lot of that is treating people right and showing them your expectations. If they know your expectations (and you can communicate and they can communicate back), it’ll get there.”
People want to be successful, Rob points out. That’s why he studies the performance of his employees to figure out how they can be better.
“I don’t expect anybody to do anything that I haven’t or won’t do,” he says. “Every time I pass off a job, I want to see how we can improve. Because if we make it better, it’s better for the pig and it’s better for the employee.”
There are many examples of how Rob pushed the gas on expanding Brenneman Pork, while Char hit the brakes.
“Every time I’d have an idea, I’d say, ‘We need to add gestation crates, honey.’ And she would say, ‘How soon do we have to add farrowing crates?’” Rob shares. “Then I’d say, ‘Oh, we’ll be all right.’ Six months later, I’d say, “We need to have some farrowing crates.’ That went on for 15 years.”
He quickly realized if he could sell Char on an idea, he could sell the bank on it. If he couldn’t sell Char on it, it wasn’t going to happen. She says it’s important to be able to be up front and talk about everything in the business.
“Not a lot of husband and wives can work side by side for years,” she says.
And through those years, they’ve learned how to make it work, even when Rob made poor decisions to “buzz her in the rear end with the buzzer” while loading pigs.
“That was a problem,” she laughs. “I taught him he could load pigs himself when that happened!”
Bigger Than Family
The family legacy the Brennemans have created is special. Rob says he prays every day and night that his kids and grandkids can have the opportunity to be involved in the family operation.
“The pork business is great,” he says. “We get a lot of bad raps, but I think as we continue to do what we do, we will be more appreciated as time goes on.”
Char hopes their pork operation is an opportunity for young people in their community, too.
“We want them to be in agriculture,” Char says. “There are so many different avenues that you can go. It’s not just taking care of a pig. You can be an accountant, a mechanic, an electrician, and all of it can be right here at Brenneman Pork.”
Find out how Rob and Char built their business, discover Rob’s thoughts about leading the National Pork Producers Council in 2026 and find out how Brenneman Pork has benefited from TN visa labor in the 26th episode of The PORK Podcast. Watch this episode on YouTube or listen anywhere podcasts are found.
