The PORK Podcast

Mental Health in the Pork Industry: Redefining Grit with Maddison Caldwell

Fri, 08 May 2026 18:33:05 GMT

In the stock show world, Madison Caldwell was the blueprint of a firstborn overachiever: disciplined, organized and a perfectionist. But while she thrived in the black-and-white rules of life, the “gray areas” nearly cost her everything.

In college, she took a mandatory psychology class and realized she related to many of the topics they talked about. Caldwell sought help from her primary care physician, not knowing at the time that specialists existed for what she was feeling.

After months of increasing dosages, she reached a medical ceiling. When her doctor told her it was the maximum dose and ‘sent her on her way,’ she felt she had run out of options. Within five months, she attempted to end her life twice.

Private Pain to Public Hope

When she shared her personal battle in January 2022 , her story stopped being just hers. It became a shared common ground for others fighting silent battles.

“As soon as the article came out, it was like the floodgates opened,” she says. “All of a sudden, complete strangers – even people who weren’t involved with agriculture – of all ages from across the country reached out.”

Although it wasn’t easy to have the most painful moments of her life become table conversation, she doesn’t regret the decision to share it with others.

“This story came out right around the time I was starting my career,” Caldwell says. “I was reporting to an executive at a large company, and one of his coworkers on the executive team asked him, ‘Have you Googled her?’”

(Provided by Maddison Caldwell
)

She will never forget when he asked her about it and the conversation that followed.

“He was quite a bit older than I am, and from a generation that didn’t talk about these things,” Caldwell adds. “It was a really uncomfortable and really hard conversation.”

But she believes those conversations are more important than ever.

“Doing things like that bring us one step closer,” Caldwell says. “I hope I never lose the drive to keep being uncomfortable in order to help people.”

Redefining Grit in Agriculture

Agriculture is making progress when it comes to talking about mental health and recognizing the importance of conversation.

“I don’t think we are great at sitting in that uncomfortable state,” she says. “We want to fix it and move on, or minimize it, or work harder and stay busy doing anything that allows us to avoid facing the reality of it.”

She believes it’s time to redefine “grit” in agriculture.

“In my opinion, grit means being honest with ourselves,” Caldwell explains. “I think it means coming to the realization that we need to reach out for help sometimes. It’s about the courage to be vulnerable.”

She also challenges the industry to stop equating grit with silence.

“You cannot pour from an empty cup,” she warns.

In an industry that prizes working until the job is done, Caldwell says the ultimate display of grit is the courage to admit when you’re running on empty.

Warning Signs

With one in five U.S. adults facing mental health conditions and one in five high school students considering suicide, Caldwell isn’t shy about offering advice now.

“One of the things I did was bury myself in work, in being productive, in not taking any time to just stop and ‘smell the roses,’” Caldwell says. “If you notice people withdrawing from activities that they would have once loved, pay attention. If they’re exhausted all the time, if they’re not talking as much, if they use the words ‘I’m fine’ all too often, or if they are pouring so much into other people at their own expense, those could be signs.”

Looking back, she admits it’s hard to recognize herself during those years. Her mindset is much different now. She challenges people to stop shying away from asking hard questions.

“People often think if you say the word suicide, it’s going to put that idea in someone’s mind,” Caldwell says. “Let me be clear that this thought was already in my head when I was struggling. I don’t know what would have happened if someone just blankly asked me if I was thinking about suicide, because that’s not something people talk about.”

Healing Is Not a Straight Line

Today, Caldwell lives by a quote she read early in her recovery process: “When we recover loudly, we keep others from dying quietly.”

“I will shout my story to the rooftops if it means that one person feels less alone in how they’re feeling,” she says.

Healing looks different for everyone, and everyone needs different tools, Caldwell explains. She compares it to going to Starbucks to get a cup of coffee and then realizing you don’t like it.

“Does it mean that you’re going to stop going to Starbucks altogether, or, even worse, stop drinking coffee altogether?” she says. “Absolutely not. Sometimes you just need to go to different places or add in a little sugar here and there based on personal preference. I feel like my healing journey is like that.”

Caldwell says the “gray areas” are still terrifying at times. But she’s learned that true bravery is figuring out how to thrive even when a clear plan isn’t visible. Healing hasn’t removed the stressors in her life, but it has increased her capacity to handle them.

The one thing that has changed in the past six years is her willingness to have uncomfortable conversations and ask hard questions. She is grateful for the family, friends and professionals that support her in doing this.

“Transparency looks different now,” she says. “I can text my mom to just say, ‘It’s not a good day today.’ That’s something I never would have done because I didn’t feel comfortable saying that.”

Stay Beyond the Crisis

Her message to farm families is simple: don’t just show up for the crisis; show up for the recovery.

“Stay to see them thrive,” Caldwell says. “Stay to hear people like my mom say that ‘the light has returned’ in their eyes.”

Maddison’s family members have been a key support to her in the healing journey.

(Provided by Maddison Caldwell)

On the sixth anniversary of being alive after her last suicide attempt, Caldwell lit a candle and blew it out surrounded by her inner circle.

“As I looked around at the simplest of things, I was so grateful,” she says. “I was flooded with all the beautiful moments I have had since that time that I would have missed out on.”

Discover more about Caldwell’s journey – the challenges that would have wrecked her before, the most unexpected people who helped her recover and the joy she finds in her career today – by watching “The PORK Podcast” on YouTube or by listening to it anywhere podcasts are found.

No one has to struggle alone. If you or someone you know is struggling, help is available 24/7. Call or text the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988.

Rooted in Resilience: The Non-Traditional Journey of Swine Veterinarian Dr. Anna Forseth

Fri, 24 Apr 2026 20:07:56 GMT

Dr. Anna Forseth didn’t just follow a path; she carved one. While many people associate Montana with Yellowstone and cattle, Forseth grew up with a much different perspective.

The daughter of two successful pork producers, Bruce and Marie Samson, her family operated Samson Family Farm, a 300-sow, farrow-to-finish confinement hog farm in the southwest part of the state. They marketed about 5,500 pigs a year to packing plants in Twin Falls, Idaho, and Modesto, Calif.

She and her five siblings grew up with a deep appreciation for the family farm, 4-H and the great outdoors. So, how did this Montana native find herself serving 60,000 U.S. pork producers as the director of animal health for the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC)?

A Non-Traditional Journey to National Policy

“Nothing about my path is traditional,” Forseth points out.

While attending Montana State University, she interned with the National Pork Board. During that time, she worked with the science and technology team where she was exposed to a unique way of serving the industry as a veterinarian. She then went to Colorado State University for veterinary school.

“My husband Rocky and I got married during my fourth year of vet school, or should I say ‘our’ fourth year of vet school,” Forseth laughs. “That’s not because he is a vet, but because it’s hard to leave vet school at school. I brought a lot of it home and he was right there in the trenches with me. In fact, my parents gave me a beautiful saddle when I graduated from vet school, but they also gave him one because they thought he deserved one, too.”

Anna Forseth met her husband, Rocky, in an undergrad beef management class. He came from a long line of cattlemen and cattlewomen, and she hailed from Gallatin County, drove a Subaru, and much preferred the pig barn at the county fair over the steer barn. “How this worked is still a mystery to some, but it created quite a team,” she says.

(Anna Forseth)

As a new veterinarian, she went to work for the Swine Medicine Education Center at Iowa State University. She also spent some time working with Smithfield before being hired by the Montana State Veterinarian’s Office in 2018.

Heading back west was important to the young couple who wanted to be closer to family. In 2022, the opportunity to work for NPPC allowed her a unique opportunity as the director of animal health for America’s pig farmers.

Although her roles have changed over the years, her focus has remained the same.

“When I thought about visiting a farm, it was about helping the pigs so that I could help the producer,” Forseth says. “What could I do for the producer that they couldn’t do for themselves? I would often, by default, be helping the pigs, but my focus is always on the producer.”

A Voice for the Producer

Although she no longer sees pigs on a daily basis, she talks to farmers often about their pigs. She points out that her role allows her to help farmers in a way that they can’t do for themselves because they are busy caring for their pigs and raising a protein that so many people in the world rely on.

“I am the bridge between policy and the producer,” Forseth says. “I’m not necropsying pigs and submitting samples to the diagnostic lab anymore, but I’m representing the industry domestically and internationally. I’m so proud to be doing that on their behalf.”

When she started in 2022, almost all of her time was spent on preparedness and response planning for African swine fever, post detection of ASF in the Dominican Republic. She continues to spend time on ASF response planning, though the diseases of focus have expanded since she began working for NPPC. Lately, she’s been engaged in foot-and-mouth disease, highly pathogenic avian influenza and New World screwworm planning.

“I think foot-and-mouth disease scares me the most because of its potential impact on multiple species,” she says. “Even if the swine industry were to manage the disease, we would be dependent on other domestic species’ ability to manage it. Remember that particular virus affects cloven-hooved animals, to include wild cervids and feral swine.”

During Forseth’s time at NPPC, annual funding for the National Animal Disease Preparedness and Response Plan (NADPRP) has surged from $18 million to $70 million. She currently serves on the NADPRP advisory board, ensuring these historic resources are strategically deployed to protect producers through enhanced state engagement and emergency readiness.

NPPC has also secured other legislative and funding victories, including the passage of the Beagle Brigade Act and the transition of the US SHIP program to the USDA. Central to these efforts is the “three-legged stool” of animal health—funding the national laboratory network, the vaccine bank, and the veterinary stockpile.

Rooted in Resilience

When she’s not working on behalf of pig farmers, Forseth keeps busy supporting her husband on their registered SimAngus cattle ranch and caring for their two young kids.

“It’s one big, but fun, balancing act,” she says. “I enjoy everything I’m doing, from being a mom to being a rancher’s wife to being a veterinarian for NPPC. I’m thankful for the example I had with my mom, who raised six kids and supported the farm. When work needed to be done and someone needed to step up, that someone was always her. While she was balancing all of our lives, I was watching and learning.”

Forseth is quick to point out that she learned a lot from her dad, too. He passed away in 2023 after a courageous battle with multiple myeloma.

“I will always remember him as a fighter, even before his cancer diagnosis, but certainly after,” Forseth says. “Despite pain and his prognosis, he stayed optimistic and focused on others.”

She vividly remembers the day she found out that he had cancer during a routine morning drive to a histology lab in vet school.

“I cried so hard on my way to school that I gave myself a bloody nose,” she says. “I got myself into class and sat down in front of the microscope. I hadn’t looked at the schedule for the day. To my surprise, we were looking at cancer cells – that was salt in the wound for me that morning. After class, I asked the professor to tell me what she knew about multiple myeloma.”

When she got back to her car, she called her dad and told him she was going to take the rest of the day off because she didn’t feel like sitting in a lecture hall in light of the news he just shared.

“He asked, ‘Why in the world would you do that?’” Forseth says. “He tried to perk me up by telling me about all the great advances. He just kept talking about the science and how cool it was. I loved that so much – it was never about him, even on his hardest days, it was always about somebody else.”

Unique Times Call for Unique Leadership

Forseth gets her passion for putting others first from her dad. It fuels her decisions every day as she strives to represent U.S. pig farmers from coast to coast.

Whether she’s navigating global meetings with the World Organization for Animal Health or tackling feral swine management with her trademark “Montana grit,” Forseth’s unique perspective is an invaluable asset. She is a reminder of how agriculture can be strengthened by those who take non-conventional paths.

“We can’t sustain this industry on a ‘how it has been done’ mentality,” she says. “Today’s consumer is different. The industry structure is different. The workforce is different. The policy pressures are very different. It’s going to take new and unique ideas to address new and sometimes unique challenges.”

Discover more about Forseth’s journey by watching “The PORK Podcast” on YouTube or by listening to it anywhere podcasts are found.

The PORK Podcast: Mark Knauer on Discipline, Sow Longevity, and Research

Fri, 10 Apr 2026 19:11:45 GMT

Mark Knauer is no stranger to the “grind culture.” As a Division I wrestler at Iowa State University during the legendary Cael Sanderson era, Knauer knew making it out onto the mat required a daily discipline that could only be achieved through doing hard, repetitive work until it’s perfect. Whether it was a 6 a.m. workout or a 3 a.m. trip to the North Carolina State University swine research farm, the discipline to be successful remains the same.

Walking On to a Legacy

After a heartbreaking loss in his high school state finals by one point, Knauer says he felt like he wasn’t done wrestling. After attending the University of Wisconsin-Platteville for a year, he transferred to Iowa State University with a goal of walking onto the wrestling team.

“Coach Bobby Douglas allowed me to walk on and probably thought I would keep or cull myself over that first semester,” Knauer says. “I remember one of my first practices was a morning practice at 6 a.m. The Iowa State indoor track was maybe 300 meters or something. I gave that first lap everything I had to come in first, but then the next laps after that, I did not come in first. I was just trying so hard to make an impression on the coach.”

His wrestling season went well from there. He walked onto the team and started three years, winning more matches than he lost. Although he admits wrestling was his main focus during his undergrad years, he developed a passion for his animal science classes which led to a graduate student assistantship with Kenneth Stalder at Iowa State for his master’s and Todd See at North Carolina State University for his Ph.D.

The Danger of “Barn Blindness”

Growing up on a 50-sow purebred, commercial-focused, farrow-to-finish operation in the ‘80s and ‘90s, Knauer grew up with a passion for agriculture, but his experience at Iowa State helped guide him specifically to the swine industry.

Early on in his career, he invented the sow caliper , a tool many people use today in the U.S. and across the world. The caliper has moderate correlations with muscle, fat and sow weight, Knauer explains. It measures the angle of a sow’s back. As a sow gets fatter, her top gets wider and more level, and that’s what the sow caliper measures.

Trusting your eyes to measure backfat visually is challenging, he adds.

“You can get barn blind,” Knauer points out. “It happens to the best of us. That’s the nice thing about the sow caliper – it helps you stay on track and takes the argument out of it.”

Knowing a sow’s body condition is critical for maximizing reproductive performance, ensuring herd longevity and reducing feed costs.

Sow Caliper: The Barn Referee

Like wrestling, producers win or lose based on points and performance.

“In wrestling, some people win the same way every time, and some people win different ways,” Knauer says. “Sometimes you get a reversal and win in a defensive match, or sometimes you get back points.”

Similarly, the sow caliper is a useful tool because there are different ways producers can use it to “win.”

“If somebody has a good livestock background, they may just have the sow caliper on hand to settle any arguments,” Knauer says. “If a consultant comes in and says, ‘Your sows are too fat or too thin,’ a good production manager can pull the caliper out and be like, ‘Well, according to this, they’re in ideal sow body condition.’ If you have young stock people who don’t have a lot of background in stockmanship and evaluation, they can use the sow caliper as a tool to get them dialed in for what an ideal sow looks like.”

Just like there are multiple ways to win a wrestling match, Knauer says there are multiple ways to use that sow caliper when it’s being implemented in the field. Ultimately, it’s about changing how pork producers manage the biology of the animal to ensure longevity and profitability.

Pig Livability: The Stakes are High

Unlike wrestling, working harder to help improve sow longevity isn’t enough these days. It requires working smarter through research into sow livability, piglet survival and the intersection of nutrition and health. Knauer says there are a few management levers that producers can pull to improve sow livability.

“Those gilts that have the best pre-weaning average daily gain, or best weaning weights when they are on the sow, are the gilts that go on to be the best when they grow up,” he says. “They grow up to be the best mothers.”

That’s challenging to identify, he says. It requires finding which gilts are the biggest at a very young age and then determining from a cost standpoint, what percentage you will keep.

“That early growth rate of that gilt in the very first 21 days of her life, really sets her up for her lifetime productivity,” he says. “Another piece of the puzzle that’s somewhat related is recent reports saying early puberty is favorable for longevity. That makes me feel good, because the data we ran 20 years ago said the same thing.”

From a management standpoint, that requires more hard questions.

“If you bring in your gilts, are you going to keep the first 80% that come into heat and ship the late ones because they’re not going to have as good a lifetime performance?” Knauer asks.

He’s starting new work now looking at more of these early predictors. Based on some of the work coming out of South Dakota State University on sow hemoglobin, Knauer is doing some of his own work on the impact of raising a gilt’s hemoglobin level at selection on subsequent lifetime retention.

Regaining No. 1 Status in the U.S.

Improving sow livability is not only a good idea from an economic and animal welfare standpoint, but it’s necessary to help the U.S. regain its status as the world’s lowest-cost producer, he says.

“If we look at cost of production for pork across the world, the U.S. is not ranked No. 1,” Knauer says. “Brazil is. It is in our best interest to close that gap in cost of production between Brazil.”

The U.S. is losing too many pigs along the way to disease and other challenges. He believes there are opportunities, especially as genotypes have advanced, to do better.

“On the sow side, we’ve made a lot of progress just in the last year or two, showing that nutritional interventions can help solve livability,” Knauer says. “Improving our pig livability across our system is going to help close the gap with Brazil, but to do that, we need research dollars behind this nutrition by health interaction piece.”

Researchers must listen to the data, the pigs and the producers to do this, he says.

“You learn when you’re listening,” he says. “That’s why it’s so important to move this industry forward.”

Discover more about Knauer’s experiences from the mats to the slats by watching “The PORK Podcast” on YouTube or by listening to it anywhere podcasts are found.

From the Front Lines to the Finishing Barn

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 21:15:13 GMT

The world is a small place. For Michael Williford, serving in the U.S. Army taught him that everything is connected in one way or another. He deployed to Iraq three times. He served in Afghanistan, Korea, Belgium, Germany and Kosovo, among others.

While he was serving as a military police officer all over the world, one thing always remained consistent: his wife Andrea was where he called home.

“College wasn’t exactly recruiting me at the time, so joining the Army seemed like a good fit,” says Michael Williford, the son of an Army veteran. “I was one of three in my class who went into the armed forces, but the only one who went into the Army.”

(Provided by Michael Williford)

“While I was in my first Iraq deployment, Andrea bought a house in Texas,” Williford says. “It’s kind of funny. Everybody was teasing me when we were coming home. They were like, ‘Is your wife going to pick you up?’ I said, ‘Well, I hope so, because I don’t know where I live.’”

During these years, Andrea had to make the majority of the decisions for their family. So, when Williford was nearing retirement after 20 years of service, he decided to go wherever she wanted to go.

Answering the Call Home

Andrea’s parents asked the couple to return home to run their family farm in Clinton, Ky. At this point, Williford was far removed from agriculture and admittedly didn’t know anything about farming.

“There was no succession plan in place for the family farm,” Williford says. “They assured me that it was OK that I didn’t know anything about farming and that they would help me learn. And they’d keep the farm growing while I finished up my service.”

To add value and create a “spot” for himself in the operation, he and his wife, Andrea, decided on contract hog production. While he was on a deployment to Afghanistan, Andrea went to the bank, completed archaeological surveys and went to work on how she wanted to create opportunities to grow and diversify their family farm. She called him to tell him the news while he was stationed in South Carolina.

“I told her, ‘You’ve followed me for the last 17 years. I’ll do whatever you want me to do,’” he says. “Andrea said, ‘I’m building the hog barns, and you’re going to take care of them.’”

The bank was also in favor of the contract hog production opportunity.

“In our area, there’s quite a few chicken farms and Tosh Farms was up and coming in Kentucky at the time,” Williford explains. “The contract differences were pretty tremendous. Your paycheck is locked in stone. Your contract terms are a lot better. I had a 10-year contract when we started out, so as long as I did what they told me to do, then we should be in good shape.”

A Soldier’s Eye for Detail

Returning to the family farm required taking some time to stand back and watch, listen and learn, he says.

“I had to figure out where I fit in and what would work best for the farm,” Williford says. “I asked a lot of questions of myself. What can I improve? What can I make better? What do I need to leave alone and not touch on the family farm? There are some things you probably need to let alone for a while.”

(Kentucky Pork Producers Association)

But when it came to the hog operation, he had the opportunity to make it his own and bring some of his military skill set into the mix.

“As a contract grower, the long-term commitment and structure was appealing,” he says. “Tell me what to do, and I’ll make sure it happens. I’ll execute.”

The repetitive nature of the job is perfect for a retired soldier.

“I enjoy walking through the barns, making sure everything is the way it should be,” Williford says. “If something’s out of place, it stands out. That’s where the military training really helped me the most. If one feeder isn’t as full as the one next to it, I notice. Then, I figure out why.”

Managing the Big Picture

Being a contract grower allows him to work with a talented group of experts in swine health, nutrition, production and more. He enjoys being able to focus entirely on animal husbandry and management without the stress of market volatility or feed costs.

His one piece of advice for people considering contract hog production is to be prepared for the management component. From taking care of buildings and equipment to having a plan for the manure, management is a key part of his day.

(Kentucky Pork Producers Association)

“You’ve just got to look at it with eyes wide open to see the big picture of everything going on and have a plan,” Williford says. “You still have to manage it all. When it comes right down to it, every piece of gravel in the parking lot belongs to me. Every two-by-four in the building belongs to me. You have to make it work in order to pay for it.”

The 20-Bushel Benefit

There’s no question the benefits go beyond the paychecks. For the last 40 years, Andrea’s family has always tried to use as much animal manure as possible to fertilize their farm ground. Everyone was happy to get an extra 200 acres of fertilizer every year from our pigs, he points out.

“We can definitely see a huge difference in soil health overall,” Williford says. “I’m not a scientist or anything, but around here, there’s a difference between white dirt and black dirt. We have white dirt here and we have black dirt here. Some of our dirt that was brown is now actually turning black after a few years. We used to forecast that we were going to make 170-bushel corn, and we’ve since upped that to about 190 because of our pig manure.”

At the end of the day, Williford says his passion for farming connects closely to his passion for serving his country.

(Provided by Michael Williford)

“The military is really big on traditions – remembering the past and preserving the heritage and culture of those who came before us in the military,” he says. “Farming is not that much different. People have great pride in being a multigenerational farmer.”

Preserving a farm in the same location for centuries is an incredible feat. It’s important to the Williford family to do the same.

“Long after I’m gone, I hope there’s some descendant of mine who says this is a 300-year farm,” he says.

Discover more about Williford’s experience in the military, his passion for agricultural advocacy, his thoughts on being a dad and his insights on the pork business by watching “The PORK Podcast” on YouTube or by listening to it anywhere podcasts are found.

Small Decisions Drive Big Victories for Disease Elimination

Mon, 16 Mar 2026 15:06:24 GMT

In the world of livestock health, the “impossible” is often just a goal that hasn’t been met yet.

Years ago, as a veterinary student at Iowa State University, Dusty Oedekoven spent his days bleeding pigs on sow farms and spinning down samples in the lab. At the time, the industry was locked in a battle with pseudorabies. Many producers believed the virus was too pervasive to ever truly disappear.

But Oedekoven watched as the industry rallied, developed vaccines, and made the thousands of small, disciplined decisions required to win. In 2004, the U.S. was finally declared free of the disease.

This isn’t his only experience with disease elimination. For nearly 20 years, he worked for the South Dakota Animal Industry Board, serving 13 of those years as the state veterinarian. From bovine tuberculosis in cattle to scrapie in sheep, Oedekoven is no stranger to the “impossible.”

Now, as chief veterinarian for the National Pork Board, he is facing a new “impossible” in the swine industry: the elimination of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) and porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV).

The Psychology of Elimination

In March 2025, the National Pork Board (NPB) received an advisement at National Pork Industry Forum asking the industry to facilitate the creation of a producer-led national swine health strategy.

During 47 listening sessions across 36 states, Oedekoven heard a recurring theme from producers. They were “PRRS fatigued.” The disease had made raising pigs “not fun anymore.” It was a heavy, endemic weight that felt permanent.

But Oedekoven saw a parallel to this struggle in a place far from the barn: the wrestling mat.

“This year was my son Alex’s fifth time to wrestle in the state tournament,” he says. “This was his third time in the championship match. He’s lost that championship two other times, and while we were so glad he made it that far, when you get to that point and you lose, it is hard.”

It might have been easy to accept that a title just wasn’t in the cards. Instead, Alex used those losses to fuel a year of disciplined, small decisions—extra practices, better nutrition and mental focus. Last week, Alex finally stood at the top of the podium as the South Dakota State A Champion at 144 lb.

Oedekoven believes the pork industry is at a similar crossroads. He presented an update on the next steps for the National Swine Health Strategy at the National Pork Industry Forum. He says this isn’t just a set of technical goals; it’s a mindset shift. The strategy aims to keep foreign diseases like African swine fever out while aggressively moving to eliminate PRRS and PEDV that drain producer morale.

Moving From Management to Eradication

Just as Alex’s title was won in the extra time and attention to detail in the practice room months before the tournament, Oedekoven argues that the battle against endemic disease is won in the mundane, daily adherence to biosecurity protocols.

Eliminating PRRS won’t be easy, he adds. It’s a significant challenge and there is a long list of reasons why this disease causes so much heartache in the industry.

“We know we can eliminate PRRS from a single farm,” Oedekoven says. “We have several examples of what happens when appropriate resources, knowledge and training are all in place – you can eliminate PRRS. Now, how long can you keep it from being reintroduced? I think there’s a lot of factors to that, but we know it can be done.”

The tools are already in place for elimination, but the real power doesn’t live in a lab, Dusty points out. It lives on the farm. It’s in the hands of the producer who enforces a strict biosecurity protocol one more time, or the system leader who chooses transparency over silence.

“It’s a mindset,” he says. “It’s believing that we can do it, believing that we should do it, and taking actions that align with that belief.”

Bringing everybody together around common goals is at the heart of the National Swine Health Strategy. It will take coordination, communication, collaboration and making difficult choices in some cases, Oedekoven says.

“We have a lot of work to do in understanding how we contain the disease on the farm,” he says. “What are the alternatives to moving pigs from a known positive sow farm to an area that was just getting over an outbreak? How do we share information within the industry to protect confidentiality, protect liability, and yet give producers the information they need to make the best decisions? We know that coordinated effort to reduce the viral load is going to pay dividends for everybody.”

Again, those are things the industry doesn’t have all the answers to, Oedekoven adds. But if we don’t change our actions to align with our beliefs, then we’re going to continue to struggle with these viruses.

The road to eliminating PRRS and PEDV will be long, and there will likely be setbacks. But as Oedekoven looks back on the victory over pseudorabies and his son’s journey to the podium, he remains optimistic. Success isn’t found in one giant leap; it’s found in the hundreds of small, purposeful decisions made every single day.

Check out the National Swine Health Strategy tactics here and engage with your state pork associations.

You can listen to more of Oedekoven’s personal experience with disease elimination and his perspective on PRRS on “The PORK Podcast” on YouTube or follow The PORK Podcast anywhere podcasts are found.

Finding Color Again: A Story of Love, Loss and Healing

Thu, 12 Mar 2026 20:34:48 GMT

It’s true that the pork industry is driven by data and science, but it’s ultimately built on the strength of the people who are in it. Sometimes that strength arises out of the darkest times of our lives. Dan Hamilton, senior director for product performance in the Americas for PIC, experienced a profound tragedy in 2005.

When Hamilton was a student at the University of Illinois, he met Rachel – a dynamic powerhouse who captured his heart quickly. Always the life of the conversation, she made people laugh and brought joy to everyone she was around, he says.

“We couldn’t wait to start our storybook life together,” Hamilton says. “We were young and of the mindset that you set a goal and achieve it. Then, you just keep doing that. We both had successful careers, bought our first house, and decided it was time to have a baby.”

He will never forget the morning when it was time to go to the hospital after nine months of waiting.

“We had the bag packed in the car like you’re supposed to, and the nursery was ready,” he recalls. “We went to the hospital and they took Rachel back. I went with her and they said, ‘You know, her blood pressure is a little bit variable. Why don’t you step out?’”

They told him they were going to get her blood pressure under control before moving on to the next step of the delivery process.

“It wasn’t a few minutes later that a lot of sirens started going off, and they were having some sort of a code event,” Hamilton says. “I wasn’t sure if it was her or what it was, because they had me in the waiting room with no direction. The next thing I know, the doctors were approaching me with a very grim face.”

They sat him down and explained that Rachel died in the delivery room that morning from either an amniotic or pulmonary embolism. A rare, one-in-a-million event, there was nothing the doctors could do to save his wife. In that very same moment, he found out he was the father of a baby girl, Kaitlyn.

Stunned, Hamilton didn’t know what to do next. The doctors were talking about the duress Kaitlyn endured while his heart smashed into pieces.

Black-and-White Memories

Because Kaitlyn experienced a lack of oxygen for a period of time, doctors whisked her off to the neonatal intensive care unit for the first four days of her life to stabilize her respiratory tract.

“I don’t think any dad goes into the hospital thinking he will leave a single father,” Hamilton says. “Not only was I grieving the loss of Rachel, but the stress of how I was going to care for Kaitlyn on my own put me to the limit.”

An outpouring of support from family and friends surrounded him at that moment.

“It’s unfortunate that it takes a traumatic event to realize how many people in the world care,” Hamilton says. “And that continued for years afterward. My parents were really close and they came and spent a lot of time with me. Rachel’s mother had just retired, so she was able to help me with Kaitlyn during the day. She was a godsend for sure. Friends would come on nights or weekends and give me a break when needed.”

When he looks back, he sees that time of his life in black and white.

“Memories are usually in color,” he says. “But that first year was definitely in black and white for me.”

Although watching each step of Kaitlyn’s development was the greatest gift, he says not having Rachel to share it with him was hard. He constantly questioned how he was going to be able to raise a young lady.

“Rachel would have been so good at this,” he says. “I asked a lot of questions. Why did this happen? Why was she taken away from me?”

He learned to stop asking those questions.

“You may never find reason with those,” he says. “Focus on the positive and the good things around you. Be grateful for the people that support you, because that is what God is sending you – the help, support and strength to move forward.”

Be in the Moment

When you’ve gone through a trauma like this, Hamilton says it’s important to take time to heal and reflect.

“My grief for Rachel will always be there,” he says. “I still tear up every time I think about it and it’s been 20-some years. I just want to encourage people walking through grief that someday you can reformulate your life and have positive experiences again. It may not feel like it at first, but there are good things ahead.”

And let people help you, Hamilton adds. People want to help, but don’t always know how to help. He believes letting people in allows both parties to process and that’s a good thing.

“One thing I’ve learned is to be in the moment,” he says.

Don’t let things get out of balance that shouldn’t get out of balance, he adds. For example, your job shouldn’t compromise your relationship with your family. That’s something he takes seriously.

Three years after Rachel’s death, he met his current wife, Carrie, and her daughter. Today they are raising three daughters. Kaitlyn is now a junior at the University of Illinois and doing amazing, he says.

“Looking back at what I went through, there’s always some guilt that I could have spent more time or done this or that,” Hamilton says. “Live your life so you don’t have those regrets as you go forward. You just never know when you’ll get that next chance.”

You can listen to more of Hamilton’s personal story of resilience on “The PORK Podcast” on YouTube or follow The PORK Podcast anywhere podcasts are found.

A Stockman’s Mind in an AI World: Dan Hamilton on the Future of Swine Genetics

Fri, 27 Feb 2026 20:28:47 GMT

Even as technology and artificial intelligence (AI) transform the pork industry, Dan Hamilton, senior director for product performance in the Americas for PIC, argues that a curious human mind is more important than ever.

“As an industry, we must be open-minded, especially toward new technologies and new ways of doing things,” Hamilton says. “To remain competitive, we must have the curiosity and willingness to try things so we can stay on the cutting edge and be right where we want to be.”

At the forefront of significant advancements in swine genetics, Hamilton has witnessed how cameras, sensors, and AI are revolutionizing the barn. While these tools collect and process massive amounts of data at lightning speed, Hamilton warns against blind reliance on the “black box” of technology.

“I always tell people when you create an algorithm, it always gives you an answer,” Hamilton says. “But stay curious. Ask yourself if it’s the right answer and if we should be making a decision based on it.”

Validating the Algorithm

Nothing replaces an inquisitive mind that constantly asks how to make things better. For Hamilton, the power of a company like PIC lies in its access to large, commercially relevant data sets. While PIC has always relied on nucleus farms for precise data, Hamilton notes they have expanded their reach into the commercial sector.

“As we use these new technologies, we’ve got more data points in differing environments,” Hamilton explains. “We must continually validate these technologies to ensure they are bringing value, and we must continue to retool the algorithms to make them more accurate and refined for their specific locations.”

Taking the Subjectivity Out of Selection

Digital phenotyping—the use of automated technologies like cameras and sensors—allows producers to measure behavioral, structural, and production traits objectively and non-invasively. Hamilton has focused specifically on how this technology evaluates the feet and legs of swine.

“Feet and leg quality are vital to a sound breeding program,” he notes. “For generations, good stockmen have selected for better feet and legs, but there has always been a level of subjectivity. What I think is ideal, you might see as slightly different.”

By training AI algorithms using images from expert selectors, researchers can now evaluate structural soundness in real-time.

“This is a huge step forward,” Hamilton says. “We’ve found that algorithms are often more accurate and consistent than humans. Even the best selector doesn’t always score the same animal the same way every time. It could be because it’s Monday morning versus Wednesday afternoon, or they caught the pig at the wrong moment. The cameras, however, are three times more accurate, allowing us to make faster genetic progress.”

The ultimate goal? Predicting longevity.

“We are now using that data to predict which gilts or boars will have the greatest longevity in the sow herd,” he says. “Moving from what we thought were the best feet and legs to actual data based on herd retention is a major shift toward better outcomes.”

Decoding the “Social Network” of Pigs

The modern pig is not the animal your grandparents raised. Today’s pigs are raised in large, indoor pens, meaning selection traits must evolve alongside the environment. While profitability remains a driver, Hamilton says welfare and behavior are becoming equally critical.

“When I was in graduate school, we used to sit pen-side and manually record pig behavior on a tablet,” he recalls. “We could never get large enough data sets to really move the needle. Today, with AI, we can obtain behavior recordings on thousands of pigs simultaneously.”

By measuring “normal” behaviors—time spent eating, lying, sitting, or drinking—PIC is identifying highly heritable traits that can be improved through selection. This has led to the study of “social networking” within the pen.

“Pigs develop behaviors for a reason,” Hamilton says. “Understanding how they live together—which ones are dominant, which are subordinate, and what ‘cliques’ they form—creates opportunities. We want higher-performing, more profitable pigs, but we also want pigs with behaviors that are better for their pen-mates and their caregivers.”

Precision at the Feeder

Beyond health alerts and activity monitoring, Hamilton sees a future where cameras count pigs and predict weights with near-perfect accuracy, ensuring pigs go to market at the optimal size according to their growth curve.

He is particularly excited about the potential for AI to improve sow livability through automated body condition scoring.

“If you can take caliper or body condition readings and have them ‘talk’ to an automatic feeding system, you manage daily intake based on the sow’s specific condition and weight,” Hamilton says. “That brings us to a level of precision we’ve never seen on the farm.”

The Challenge of the System

Despite the high-tech tools, Hamilton reminds producers that they are still managing biological beings within a complex production system. Challenges like health breaks and “flow constraints” remain the industry’s biggest hurdles.

“Producers often have to put X number of pigs into X number of spaces. If they have a few extra pigs, they still go into that same space,” he says. “What is profitable in the short term may not allow for maximum genetic performance.”

Hamilton also applies his “curious mind” philosophy to the ongoing debate over pork quality. He suggests the industry needs to stop looking only at the loin and start looking at the consumer.

“We have great tools to improve pH, color, and marbling in the loin, but the loin is only one part of the carcass,” he says. “If we improve loin quality at the expense of ham quality, are we really winning? We need to understand why the U.S. consumer isn’t paying for higher quality before we can truly decide how fast to move. The technology is here, but the questions, and the curiosity, must come first.”

You can listen to more of Hamilton’s personal story of resilience on “The PORK Podcast” on YouTube or follow The PORK Podcast anywhere podcasts are found.

How the Pork Industry is Winning the Talent War

Fri, 27 Feb 2026 14:37:13 GMT

The competition for the best and brightest minds in agriculture is a competition that the pork industry is devoted to winning. Through a partnership with the National Pork Board (NPB), National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) and state pork associations, the Pork Industry Leadership Development program is devoted to building the next generation of future leaders.

During this three-part rotational program with experiences at NPB, NPPC and a state pork association, participants gain hands-on experience while finding their niche within the pork industry and helping states fill important leadership needs.

“I’ve been very grateful for producer investment in my early career, getting the formative development I was looking for after graduating with my degree in animal science,” says the second participant in the program, Harrison Furlow. Furlow now serves as public policy director for the Iowa Pork Producers Association.

He says one of the best parts of the program is that it truly brings together a “village” of industry leaders to help provide participants with a well-rounded experience.

“I think that’s the best part of the immersion program,” Furlow says. “Not only do you get the benefit of networking with great people, but the relationships that you build by collaborating with these different organizations, sometimes at the same time, are just going to be intrinsically that much stronger.”

For Mykenzie Darg, the third and current participant in the program, the program has allowed her a unique opportunity to tailor her experience to her interests. Growing up in north-central Iowa, Darg started showing pigs and goats when she was in high school.

“I knew then that I wanted to be in agriculture and specifically the swine industry and its people really drew me in,” she says.

While pursuing degrees in agriculture communications and international agriculture at Iowa State University, she also completed a production internship with The Hanor Co. During her senior year, she interned with Iowa Farm Bureau where her interest in policy was sparked. She has completed her experience at NPB and is now working with NPPC before she moves on to her third phase at Oklahoma Pork Council.

Furlow and Darg share some of their insights from the program.

How has the program challenged you?

Furlow: I am not wired to be a “handshaker”people person and I struggle with small talk. It is hard for me to get out of that bubble and out of my comfort zone when we are at conferences or meetings. I’m a problem solver. I’m a doer. I want to talk about the meat and potatoes. Through the immersion program, whether you’re attending regional conferences, National Pork Industry Forum or World Pork Expo, you’re always on, and you’re getting to meet great people. I think for me, as someone who’s naturally introverted, the community that rallies around the immersion program made that so much more manageable for me. I now look forward to going to conferences and events because I’ve gained friends and mentors that I will get to see.

Darg: I’m probably the opposite of Harrison in that area. It’s not that I don’t want to solve problems and all that, but I thrive off people connections. I need that, and it’s how I fill my cup by being out and about around people who are passionate about the same things I am passionate about. It’s almost like a motivator and then I can go back to my desk and do the work.

What makes you want to follow a career path in the pork industry?

Darg: My motivator is always the producers – they fuel my fire. When I think about the investment that they have not only in me, but the people I work with, and the opportunities I’ve been given to go out across the country and learn about pork production across the United States, it’s overwhelming.

Furlow: I think one of the best parts of working on Team Pork is that we have an incredible story to tell on behalf of American pork producers. Whether it’s the product or the way that we leverage the We Care ethical principles, pork producers’ stories are easy to tell.

What are some of the challenges that keep you up at night?

Furlow: We face a pretty broad slate of almost existential challenges, whether it’s changing technology or market disruptions or political turbulence. We’ve seen how that’s affected other sectors, but at the end of the day, it’s programs like the immersion program that speak to this idea of unity. A unified front is always going to be more effective, especially when the challenges you face are so diverse. If we leverage our human capital to truly be a unified team, programs like the immersion program, which bring together our team players in one fell swoop, make me worry less. I think part of my job is to be a worrier, but it’s also to be a problem solver. Yeah, there are challenges for pork, no doubt. But when we’ve got the story that we’ve got and the producer leaders that we can share about and learn from. I am assured our credibility and purpose will win the day.

Darg: I’m here to support them and help make producing pork easier for them. How can I help address the things that are problems for them? How can I be an influential plug in the industry to support those people who are on the ground doing the work every single day to produce pork?

What advice do you have for someone who wants to pursue a similar path?

Darg: I thought I wanted to be a chiropractor. Up until two weeks before freshman year, I was pre-med. I was always passionate about agriculture, but I just didn’t understand the opportunities. It took a day at the county fair for my FFA advisor, who has been a huge influence in my life and still is today, to ask me, ‘Mykenzie, are you sure? Think about all these opportunities.’ I’m grateful for him and the other ag leaders in my life who encouraged me to pursue a path in agriculture and took a chance on me. All it takes is having a conversation and learning about the opportunities and all the places that you can go. So, spend time talking to people and asking questions if you want to learn more about what jobs in the industry might look like.

Furlow: The thing about agriculture and the pork industry is if you’re involved here, you’re never alone. Even if you give just a little, you gain a lot. I think about my start. My parents aren’t pork producers, let alone farmers. Local producers practically adopted me during my teenage years and poured a lot of time and effort into showing somebody who had just a little bit of passion how big the world was. So, whether you’re unsure about your next career step and considering joining Team Pork, or if you’re a pork professional passionate for advocacy and producer engagement, I’d encourage you to consider taking the leap and joining this incredible community of leaders and problem solvers. Once you’re here, you’re never alone, and I think that makes some of these challenges that we face a little bit less intimidating, too.

If you want to apply for the Pork Industry Leadership Development program or know someone who should consider it, encourage them to apply and learn more here .

Applications are open for the next immersion program until March 13.

Watch Harrison Furlow on The PORK Podcast:

Read More:
From the D.C. Metro to Pork Country: Harrison Furlow Brings Policy to the Slat Level

Prioritizing the Person Behind the Pig is Ultimate Key to Success in the Barn

Fri, 13 Feb 2026 15:29:24 GMT

“Where are you from?”

Although it may seem like a simple question at face value, for Melanie Langley , it’s not. With roots in two different continents, Langley says she’s never liked having to answer that one.

Born the daughter of an American father and Spaniard mother in London, Ohio, Langley lived there for a number of years before moving to Washington, D.C., when her father got a job with USDA Foreign Agricultural Service. They eventually moved to Mexico City and then to Brazil before returning to Ohio.

“I feel very connected to the United States – I am half American. But I’m also connected to Spain, and to Mexico and to Brazil,” Langley says. “That experience of constantly having to define what that is has taught me how to come alongside folks who are from those areas very easily, but also with people who aren’t from a country I’m familiar with.”

Experiencing other countries in such an immersive way teaches certain traits that help shape and give you the ability to put yourself in somebody else’s shoes, she adds. She watched her father come alongside farmers internationally to build programs and make sure the exports and imports of the United States were flowing well.

“While I may not have originally intended to end up in agriculture, my childhood gave me a vision and a heart for people who are from other places,” Langley says. “It helped me to learn how to navigate systems that weren’t mine.”

It’s one thing to translate words, but that’s not the same as understanding them.

“I know what it is to be an outsider, and I think that is the main element that helps me in what I do today,” she says. “I know what it is to walk into a culture that’s not your own, to be the one on the outside and not understand what’s going on. There’s an isolation that comes with it. I think that uncertainty gave me empathy for all people.”

It Starts With Trust

This ability to “put on the right glasses” and step back to see what others see is just one of the many reasons why Langley, Fine Swine’s people care director, is making an impact in the industry today. She says it all starts with establishing trust.

“Work on trust,” she says. “Regardless of how challenging it may be, maintain that trust. If I am not keeping my word, if I’m not explaining my decisions, if I’m not showing up when something goes wrong or admitting when I miss it, then I am slowly eroding that bank of trust I have with my people. My understanding of trust is that it is incredibly slow to build, and very quick to lose.”

She shared her ‘Three Ps’ framework—Protection, Purpose and Presence—to illustrate how prioritizing the person behind the pig is the ultimate key to success in the barn.

1. Protection
“If I’m asking somebody to leave their family behind and to come to a new country, to learn a new language, adopt a new culture and try to figure out what we do here in the United States, I do have to offer some sort of protection so that,” Langley says. “What does that protection look like? It looks like compliance. It looks like making sure the inside of our farms are safe, that we have safety protocols in place that work, and that ensure when it’s time to go home, our workers are walking out healthy and ready to go.”

Protection ensures practices are fair across the board, that policies and protocols are clear, and most importantly, that there is consistency. The first step to instilling motivation into a team or bringing culture or engagement is to make sure people feel safe.

2. Purpose
Finding your why is essential to discovering that motivation and being able to show up. Having people understand the why of what they do, whether it’s scraping feeders, colostrum training in day-one rooms or breeding, understanding the bigger purpose and what it contributes to the company is huge, Langley adds.

When a team member feels a sense of purpose, they aren’t just scraping a feeder; they are ensuring a piglet has the best start possible, which directly impacts the farm’s bottom line.

“When people understand that – when people are bought in – performance will rise, people will take pride in what they do, and ultimately, that will result in ownership, which is what we all want,” she says.

3. Presence
Langley says presence is the biggest key to success in her book, and probably the hardest because it requires showing up. Just this week, she noticed something was off with one of her managers.

“I didn’t know what it was, but I just felt like there was this disconnect,” she says. “I happened to walk in while the team was showering out. We stood across the counter from each other and had a conversation that was absolutely mind-blowing.”

That’s why taking time to be present is so valuable, she says.

“You never know what people are walking through,” she says. “Don’t be so confined to a schedule that you’re constantly thinking about the next thing on the checklist. Make sure you listen without rushing. It’s not a waste of time. At the end of the day, if we don’t have our people, we’re not going to have our production.”

A Place to Grow
When people feel seen and valued, they show up to work in a different way. They are more devoted, stay longer and do their job with more ownership and intentionality.

Iain Harris, director of production for Fine Swine, describes Langley as a natural-born people care leader.

“She can put her owner’s hat on and simultaneously wear a people care hat,” Harris says. “I think that’s one of her strengths. Even though her focus is on making sure our people are cared for, that assimilation is successful for them, she can also put on her owner’s hat and hold that line.”

Empathy isn’t “being soft"; it’s building the trust necessary to have hard conversations.

The employees at Fine Swine appreciate this about Langley. One of the farm’s production specialists, Chayo Salgado Ortega, says, “Melanie has taught me how to communicate effectively with people, how to be empathetic with colleagues, and that it’s okay to admit when we’re wrong.”

Offering a safe space where people can make mistakes is important, Langley says.

“I don’t know anybody who has ever walked into a job, rocked it 110% and never made a mistake. Nobody’s perfect, so we need to make sure that we’re creating spaces that are safe for our folks to be able to grow, because nine times out of 10, they’re not going to make that same mistake again.”

By creating a space where people—regardless of where they are from—feel safe to grow, Langley isn’t just managing a workforce; she’s cultivating the future of Fine Swine.

You can listen to more of Langley’s story on “The PORK Podcast” on YouTube or follow The PORK Podcast anywhere podcasts are found.

Read more stories about Melanie Langley here:
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From the D.C. Metro to Pork Country: Harrison Furlow Brings Policy to the Slat Level

Fri, 30 Jan 2026 20:39:07 GMT

It’s not every day you find a policy leader in the heart of the pork industry who got his start in the shadow of the nation’s capital. Harrison Furlow’s journey from the Washington D.C. metro area to the Iowa Pork Producers Association (IPPA) is a testament to what happens when curiosity meets a “Shark Tank” level of determination.

Growing up in an urban sprawl, Furlow’s path to livestock wasn’t traditional. To give their family a taste of rural life, his parents purchased a small acreage with a peculiar catch: the property came with five alpacas they were required to raise.

The alpacas didn’t scare him off. A few years later, he made a “Shark Tank-style” presentation to his parents to secure his first 4-H project animals: dairy goats. From there, he moved to cattle, and finally, to the species that would define his career: pigs.

“I owe my parents a great deal for getting me started and supporting me all the way through my early ag endeavors,” he says. “I attribute most of my stockmanship skills to the early mentoring I got from local farmers, 4-H leaders and producers who would adopt me on the evenings and weekends, taking me to bull sales, livestock shows and judging competitions.”

Growing up in the D.C. metro area, the local consumer asked for niche-marketed or outdoor-raised meat products, Furlow says. In addition to showing pigs, he also gained experience raising niche pork breeds such as mulefoot and guinea hogs.

Washington Roots, Iowa Boots

To truly understand the industry, Furlow knew he had to see it at scale. He moved to Iowa to study animal science at Iowa State University and eventually became the second participant in the Pork Industry Immersion Program. This program provides a three-part rotational program with experiences at the National Pork Board, the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) and a state pork association.

His time with NPPC was particularly formative. Moving to D.C. just days after President Donald Trump’s second term inauguration, Furlow was tasked with tracking the impact of executive orders on the agricultural sector.

“This allowed me to sharpen what I’m passionate about — policy research and advocacy — but it also gave me the space to ‘nerd out’ and examine both the specific micro-level and macro-level broad impacts of President Trump’s use of executive authority and what it meant to producers.”

Just before he was to move on to the third phase of his program with Minnesota Pork Board, Furlow applied for and was named the public policy director at the Iowa Pork Producers Association.

The Most Credible Voice in the Room

Although he was looking forward to going to Minnesota to learn from its leaders, Furlow says this was an opportunity he couldn’t pass up to pursue his passion for impacting policy in the pork industry.

The most powerful tool in his arsenal at the Iowa Pork Producers Association is the producer, he points out.

“Our country’s leaders want to speak with people who have credibility, and there’s no one more credible or passionate than a hog farmer,” he says. “I spend a lot of time calling and meeting with producers to get their expertise on issues, because at the end of the day, it’s not only their voice, but it’s their passion and expertise, that drives the successes we have as an industry.”

If he had one message for decision makers, it would be to ask a simple question: “Have you met a pork producer?”

Furlow believes that for policy to be effective, it must be understood at the “slat level,” where regulation meets the reality of daily farm life.

“People who work in policy should have an understanding of that which they advocate for or defend,” he adds.

Proactive Resilience

In an industry facing market disruptions, changing consumer trends and health challenges, Furlow’s focus is on “proactive resilience.”

“The two questions that keep me up at night are ‘How do we remain a resilient industry?’ and ‘How are we being proactive to sustain and pass on pork operations from one generation to the next?’” he says.

He admits he’s had some turbulence in life and the professional sphere where he’s had to recalibrate.

“Sometimes I’ve had to look at myself in the mirror and just grow up a little bit,” Furlow says. “But at the end of the day, the guiding light from a philosophical perspective that has gotten me through these things has been chasing my passions.”

He encourages others to let go of the stuff in life that brings them down or distracts them from their core interests.

“If you’re able to chase what you’re really passionate about, you’re never going to be alone and you’re never going to miss that North Star,” Furlow adds. “I’m grateful to the pork industry and the great group of people who’ve embraced me and given me the space to grow, develop and transition to this next chapter of my life.”

You can listen to more of Furlow’s story on The PORK Podcast on YouTube or follow The PORK Podcast anywhere podcasts are found.

How An Iowa Pork Producer Is Growing His Operation From the Inside Out

Fri, 16 Jan 2026 18:40:15 GMT

A new idea has been brewing in Chet Mogler’s mind at Pig Hill Farms in northwest Iowa.

“2023 was a really rough year,” Mogler says. “It made us do a gut check. What are we in this business for? Where do we need to trim things up? What can we do to get better?”

He’s quick to point out that bigger wasn’t better in 2023. It just meant bigger losses.

“Growth does not always mean getting bigger – it might mean diversification, it might mean professionalizing or doing things better,” Mogler says.

One of the areas Pig Hill Farm is seeking to improve right now is biosecurity.

“Biosecurity is always top of mind around here,” Mogler says. “Disease can take you out. To not be focused on it is foolish.”

Mogler thinks about biosecurity in three buckets: local disease risk, whatever he’s putting up with on his own farm and foreign animal disease. After participating in a foreign animal disease tabletop exercise last summer, he walked away more scared than ever – but also more motivated than ever to make biosecurity protocols even stronger in their operation.

Don’t Ignore Reality

“What I learned at that tabletop blew my mind,” Mogler says. “If you have a 2,400 head finisher that’s market ready, and you have to euthanize and compost those animals on site, it will take about 30 semi loads of carbon to properly compost that to USDA specs for qualification for indemnity.”

That number stunned Mogler.

“Around here, where we have 2,400s all over the place,” Mogler says. “When they say carbon source, it has to be a good, dense carbon. Tree chips are best.”

Depopulating a hog barn is very different than depopulating a barn of birds. Unlike pig manure, bird litter can be composted with the carcasses.

“What are we going to do with a half a million to a million gallons of contaminated manure?” Mogler asks. “How do we decontaminate the sites afterwards?”

Even though African swine fever (ASF) is not in the U.S. now, the risks are all around. For example, Mogler says a couple growers vacationed in the Dominican Republic - where ASF is actively present - last year.

“I don’t know that everyone truly appreciates the risk at times. I’m sure it didn’t even cross their mind. However, if there’s an option to avoid those risks, let’s do it.,” he says.“Someone vacations in the Dominican, comes back, goes into their barn too soon or to a county fair where there’s pigs, and well that’s it.”

It’s Time to Reward Doing Things Right

Another area of growth happening at Pig Hill Farm is incentivizing good work.

Ten years ago at a national pig industry conference, Mogler heard a producer present on the bell-shaped curve of their contract growers, noting the difference between top 10% and bottom 10% growers.

“It was a $15-per-head difference in cost of production between those growers,” he says. “If you turn that barn three times a year or two and a half times a year, that’s $40 a pig space. That’s about what we pay for rent in the industry. So, you can take your worst guys and pay them zero, and you can take your best guys and you can’t pay them enough yet. Everybody gets paid a couple bucks either side of $40.”

That has bothered Mogler ever since.

“It’s not fair to the people who are doing what they should do and busting their butt and doing what’s right,” he adds. “And it’s not fair to the people who are not. What they do every day, the time investment they put in and the detail and attention they pay as they’re out there every day is what affects the bottom line of our business.”

For 10 years, Mogler has been stewing on this. And recently, he’s developed an incentive-based program for their growers.

“It’s very much in its infancy, but it’s like a pay-for-play. We are incentivizing them and adjusting their compensation – with the goal not to pay people less, but to pay people more for doing better,” he says.

They have set up comprehensive biosecurity assessments and pre-fill assessments that all factor into a score, along with their closeout score and supervisor visits that factor into a score that puts a baseline pay together for them.

“Where the rubber meets the road is growers can look at this matrix and see what happens when they take action to improve biosecurity on their farm,” Mogler explains. “For example, they may see if they put in a shower and a laundry area in their barn, they will get paid $2 a pig space more because $1.50 of it is from just taking the action and the chances of increasing performance because of lower biosecurity risk.”

All of a sudden, growers have very actionable items in front of them to change their compensation rate.

“The challenge to this is you’ve got to do this for every site. There’s a lot of infrastructure between the scoreboarding process and calculating monthly rents or however often you want to adjust it, that there has to be foundational data management in place,” Mogler says.

That’s been the biggest thing to tackle. Everything from what the supervisors do to what the barn operators know will require great transparency.

“It’s fair. It makes sense,” Mogler says. “The level of engagement I’ve had because of it, has been a really big deal. We are excited to roll it out, but recognize we are in the infancy of this program.”

More Than One Path

Through initiatives like these grower incentives, Mogler is committed to finding unique ways to grow his operation other than just in size.

“I believe professionalizing and improving is key to keeping this operation together,” he says.

As he looks to the next generation of pork producers in their own operation and beyond, he encourages them to adopt a growth mindset.

“I’ve learned one of the best ways you can improve your own farm is to learn from others,” Mogler says. “Sit down with other pork producers, get to know them, hear their story. You will learn something from them and they might learn something from you.”

You can listen to more of Mogler’s story on The PORK Podcast on YouTube or follow The PORK Podcast anywhere podcasts are found.

It’s Meeting Season: How to Conquer the Crowded Room

Tue, 06 Jan 2026 19:27:10 GMT

You walk into a crowded room of people you don’t know. Everyone is laughing and talking in their groups. It would be much easier to walk right back out, but you are there to represent a group with the mission of meeting people and making connections. So, you take your next step forward. But now what?

For some people, this is what nightmares are made of. For Jennifer Tirey, executive director of the Illinois Pork Producers Association , this is what she lives to do.

“Jennifer is excellent at building relationships with people,” says Josh Maschhoff, president of the Illinois Pork Producers Association. “She can walk into a room where she might not know anybody and quickly make introductions and connections with those people. And most importantly, she can remember their name, and she can do it with a lot of people.”

Maschhoff admits he often finds himself in a room with a lot of people, and he can’t remember their names.

“Whether it’s fellow producers or members of the legislature, the closer I can put myself to Jennifer Tirey, the better off I will be,” he says. “I know I’ve got a resource that can help pull me along when I’m struggling because she can remember all of those people.”

He says her ability to remember the details about someone’s personal life and truly make a connection with them makes her unique.

Authentic Relationship Building Takes Work

How do you develop a superpower like this? Tirey admits it does take work.

“You just can’t go into a room and know a lot of people’s names without putting a lot of work into it,” she says. “I go back to the very first meeting that I had with Pork Producers. I’d only been on the job for less than a week, and they had already scheduled a regional meeting in Bloomington. I spent the entire car ride — because someone else was driving — memorizing the names of the individuals that were going to be there because I wanted the producers to know that I care and want to know them.”

If you want to truly connect with people and build a relationship, you have to be willing to work at it. Before every event, Tirey devotes time to reading over the list of who will be there and looks up photos to try to memorize faces.

“I’m always learning and trying to sharpen that skill,” she says. “I think that’s a valuable asset to have within agriculture. At the end of the day, agriculture is a really small community, and you cross paths a lot. You need each other to be successful.”

How to Connect and Be Remembered in Any Room

Now, back to the crowded room. Before you enter, adopt a mindset that you are there to learn and support others, not just “work the room.” Here are a few tips to help you connect with the crowd.

1. Scan The Room.
When you enter the room, use soft eye contact as you scan the room. Don’t stare, but instead do a “sweeping gaze.” According to the Science of People , a sweeping gaze is a slow, methodical look around the room. Start the gaze the moment you enter a room by looking to your left then slowly sweeping across the room until you find your opening or where you want to go. Then, make longer eye contact there.

“It’s easier to make connections when you give yourself the outward look that you want to meet people,” Tirey says.

2. Project Confidence.
Remember to smile and stand tall to project confidence as you head toward where you want to go. If you don’t feel confident, don’t worry because you aren’t alone, says Marilyn Sherman, a well-known motivational speaker .

“Even when you don’t feel confident, act confident. It will change your entire mindset,” Sherman says.

3. Make Direct Eye Contact And Have a Firm Handshake.
Tirey says the best advice she has to offer when connecting with people is to start with direct eye contact. Let the person you are talking to know they have your full attention.

“In addition to eye contact, a really firm handshake to a person that you’ve never met gives a good impression,” she adds. “It also keeps you top of mind with them.”

4. Listen.
“Really taking a moment to listen to who they are and what they have to say is key,” Tirey says. “I think doing this gives me a chance to internally set myself and get prepared for meeting somebody new. It allows you to learn about the person you’re trying to get to know without any ulterior motive.”

She believes taking a pause and letting people share what they want to share first is a great way to understand where they are coming from, too.

5. Offer Value.
Tirey says she strives to be a straight shooter and appreciates that when meeting others.

“Life moves fast, and I would much rather cut to the chase.” Tirey says. “I love making connections and catching up with people, but there are things that must be done, too. I appreciate directness and constructive criticism because that makes me a better person.”

If you have a relevant idea or suggestion, be ready to share it succinctly.

“One thing that works like magic is creating a memorable moment,” according to Wave Connect . “Think about ways you can add value right in the moment. Maybe you overhear someone mention a challenge they are facing, and you can recommend a solution or introduce them to someone you know. That kind of value sticks.”

As Maya Angelou said: “People will forget what you said. People will forget what you did. People will never forget how you made them feel.”

Learn more about Tirey in the latest episode of The PORK Podcast.

Illinois Pork Leader Takes On Industry Challenges With “Rocky-like” Spirit

Fri, 02 Jan 2026 16:00:00 GMT

In 1976, not only did the movie, “Rocky,” inspire the country, but a valuable leader in the pork industry also made her debut. Jennifer Tirey , Illinois Pork Producers Association executive director, may not be using her talents in the same way Rocky used his, but she brings positivity and energy to her role in a way that has impacted many.

“I’m a huge Rocky fan,” she says. “I’ve always gravitated toward stories of the underdog and trying to help everyone rise up.”

Look Forward

For Tirey, her life has been full of challenges that have inspired her to look forward and be positive. Perhaps the biggest of those challenges was when she was diagnosed with cancer shortly after she married her husband, Kevin.

“Not even a year into our marriage, I was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma,” Tirey says. “It has really made me appreciate and look at all the positives as much as possible. I am not going to lie. Sometimes I have horrible days, but I really do try to look at the bright side of things and try to find a positive outcome.”

She believes some of her past experiences have allowed her to look at the hard days through a different lens.

“You know, my doctor told me I may not be able to have children after going through chemotherapy, and I have two wonderful kids now,” Tirey says. “My husband and I built a family, not knowing if that was going to be a possibility. I just don’t take anything for granted.”

That’s why she also is a big proponent of living a healthy lifestyle. In her spare time, she teaches yoga and enjoys passing on her enthusiasm for eating right and exercising to others. Her passion for health ties in well with her role advocating for Illinois pork producers and sharing pork’s story with consumers.

“Pork producers put a lot of pressure and abuse on their body,” Tirey says. “When I hear producers talk about loading hogs and the physical stamina that is part of that, I admit I have no point of reference because I don’t do that every day. But we have to take care of ourselves and be around for things other than day-to-day work. Look long term so you have a healthy life as you get older.”

Part of a healthy lifestyle is making wise food choices, and Tirey says it’s important to help consumers realize the important nutritional benefits of pork and equip pork producers to talk about it, too.

“Protein is such a valuable source of nutrition,” she says. “I hope that consumers see the benefit and the value. The way that we try to weave it back into the pork producer is by sharing their stories and letting consumers know that ‘This is who raises your food. This is who is working 365 days a year to make sure you have that valuable protein for your family.’”

Avoid Assumptions

She views her role as someone who can help cut through the confusing messages consumers experience today.

“People just believe what they hear and don’t try to do any sort of research these days,” she says. “That’s what our association and our staff constantly tries to do is get through the noise and help consumers understand why pork is such a great protein and why our farmers do what they do and care so much about what they do.”

Tirey also wants to help producers understand they can’t just keep their head down and go about their work every day or they will never see positive results from consumers.

“When I came into this role, we had a lot of regulatory fights and battles, and a lot of our producers felt very defensive,” she adds. “I tried to impress upon them, that if we don’t share our story — if we don’t go to those dietitian conferences, sit on those panels and give them that inside track to what we do — then they’re never going to know. If you’re not a part of the conversation, then the assumptions are made and you’re not there to talk about it.”

Josh Maschhoff, president of the Illinois Pork Producers Association, says that’s one of the things he appreciates most about Tirey – her ability to be a part of any conversation.

“She is excellent at building relationships with people,” Maschhoff says. “She can walk into a room where she might not know anybody and quickly make introductions and connections with those people. And most importantly, she can remember their name.”

Tirey says that’s a skill that has taken some work over the years to develop. Her best advice is to give people direct eye contact and really pause to take a moment to listen to who they are and what they have to say before you start talking.

Her ability to hear people has helped her carry on many tough conversations in her role. For example, she recently learned of an all-pork ban at all the Chicago public schools that was implemented during COVID. Every Monday through Friday, the Chicago public schools serve over 325,000 meals. That’s a conversation that can’t be ignored, she says.

“We’ve been working diligently to find answers and connect with newly elected board members of the Chicago Public School Board and work with our legislators that represent those key constituencies in those school districts,” Tirey explains. “A high demographic of the Chicago Public Schools is Hispanic and African American. One of the highest consumption rates for pork are those two demographics, and for those families that probably don’t even realize that something that they hold so culturally close to them by preparing pork in their families, but yet their children are not able to access that valuable protein.”

It’s an issue that she won’t give up on for the pork industry that she cares so deeply about.

“When I was hired, I told the board my family was everything to me and that I would work my tail off, but family came first,” Tirey says. “They always supported that. They encourage my family to be a huge part of this industry because that’s what who they are and that’s why I love representing them every day.”

Tirey also shares the secret behind why she cut her hair after she started working for the Illinois Pork Producers Association, tips for connecting with people you don’t know and more about the challenges facing the pork industry on “The PORK Podcast.” You can watch it on YouTube or listen anywhere podcasts are found.

Watch more episodes here.

10 Quotable Moments from The PORK Podcast

Tue, 30 Dec 2025 14:41:31 GMT

The conversations that take place on The PORK Podcast are some of the highlights of my year. I don’t take the honesty, vulnerability and wisdom shared for granted. Here are some of my favorites (there were too many to list) in case you missed them.

“If my dad was in a crowded room, he would look around for the person nobody was talking to, the person sitting by themselves. And that’s where he would go sit. He always said, ‘Everybody’s got a story, and most of them are pretty darn good.’” — Scott Hays in Episode 20, “ If the Pigs Do Well, We Do Well ”

“I don’t want my child to go through the same sort of struggles that that I went through. I want to be sure that when he grows up, he is in a world where he can have the freedom to eat whatever he wants to eat, have the freedom to go to a grocery store and have those products available when needed.” — Maria Zieba in Episode 19, “ Fighting for Certainty in Uncertain Times ”

“We don’t give up very easily, and that can cause us to have a blind spot at times. Don’t let the passion and pride that are our biggest strengths turn into a potential weakness by causing that blind spot. We’ve got to know and anticipate that a slight deviation in course is necessary at times to continue to make us sustainable. Fighting that course correction could be somebody’s downfall or take you down a path that that you weren’t expecting or intending.” — Josh Maschhoff in Episode 21, “The Next Generation of the Pork Industry”

“I remember a friend sending me this reminder: If not, he is still good. Sometimes things don’t go how we want, and even if that’s the case, I believe God works all things for his good.” — Maddie Hokanson in Episode 32, “ Focus on Your Why ”

“Don’t be afraid to be the only person like yourself in the room.” — Lori Stevermer in Episode 16, “ Don’t Be Afraid to Be You ”

“If you’ve ever watched Yellowstone, that show creeped me out,” Wiley says. “When I saw the family dynamic portrayed, it made me uncomfortable. We can have our disagreements. But, as a family, you better have each other’s backs out in the community, especially in the business we’re in.” — Todd Wiley in Episode 34, “ Avoid Yellowstone Drama When Transferring the Family Farm ”

“Live in the moment because it goes by incredibly fast. People always say that. But when it’s 100 degrees and you’re 13 years old, you’re probably not thinking about how it’s going to all come to an end someday, so you might take things for granted or not truly appreciate those moments. Take advantage of every moment when you’re at a show.” — Olivia Shike in Episode 27, “ Livestock, Leadership and the Next Generation ”

“I always felt like I had to take calculated risks in judging. I was willing to give up a point here or there to try to score big. I think that it’s probably the entrepreneurial R&D piece of me. I think in life, when you’re chasing greatness, you’ve got to take some calculated risks.” — Doug Hankes in Episode 14, “ Weighing the Odds ”

“Without her, it would have not worked at all.” — Rob Brenneman in Episode 26, “ The Gas Pedal and the Brakes ”

“What are your big things? What is most important for you as a family? Is it winning a banner? Is it developing character? Is it enjoying what you’re doing? I think it looks different for every family, but taking that time to decide what means the most for your family is key to not letting all the other stuff get in the way.” — Emily Spray in Episode 24, “ The Truth About Stock Show Moms ”

You can also subscribe to The PORK Podcast on YouTube or anywhere podcasts are found so you don’t miss an episode!

The Top 10 PORK Stories of 2025

Tue, 23 Dec 2025 17:34:44 GMT

Which stories caught the most attention in 2025? From pork’s new tagline to China exports and from Prop 12 to fires, here’s a look back at the top 10 stories on PorkBusiness.com in 2025.

1. Panic Slowly: China’s Cancellation of 12,000 Tons of U.S. Pork Sends Loud Message

It’s a mad scramble to find a new home for 12,300 metric tons of U.S. pork produced for China that was cancelled last week in the latest trade war casualty, says U.S. Meat Export Federation vice president for economic analysis Erin Borror.

The impact of this cancellation is being felt throughout the entire red meat industry, she adds. These high duties have effectively halted trade and could result in billions of lost dollars for U.S. livestock producers.

USDA says this is the largest cancellation since May 2020, early in the COVID-19 pandemic. Although Trump administration officials suggested last week that a de-escalation of trade tensions between the U.S. and China could be coming soon, USMEF says neither side has adjusted recently heightened tariff rates. Read the full story.

2. Tragic Turn: Trailer of Show Pigs Bursts Into Flames on I-80

With the windows rolled down and the sun on his face, Chad Rieck admits he was having a pretty good day driving down Interstate 80. He was pulling a trailer with four gilts, and one of those gilts was bringing home the title of Third Overall Purebred Breeding Gilt from the Aksarben Stock Show.

For Chad and his wife, Amy, spending precious time with their 17-year-old daughter Hollynn at a stock show is something they don’t take for granted. Their busy daughter, now a senior, was juggling the show weekend with homecoming, volleyball and dance team. Because of this, she drove separately to the show with her mom to squeeze in more of her school activities.

Separated by a couple minutes on the interstate, they were chatting on the phone keeping each other awake on the drive from Grand Island, Neb., back to their farm in Creston, Iowa. Suddenly, the traffic slowed down and their day took a tragic turn. Read the full story.

3. Iowa Man Reveals Best Tenderloin from 99-County Tour

After a ‘whirlwind of a sandwich odyssey’ in Iowa, JayJay Goodvin, chief explorer of the Iowa Gallivant, revealed his favorite tenderloin from his 99-county tour.

Just over 10 months ago, Goodvin started a quest to eat a tenderloin in all 99 counties in Iowa. With more than 28 million views of his videos across his social media platforms, the response to his journey left him speechless.

After thoughtful analysis and some soul-searching, Goodvin announced the winner to a live WHO 13 News audience on Feb. 13. The winning tenderloin was served by The Landmark Bistro of Grundy Center, Iowa. What set this tasty tenderloin apart from the other 98? Read the full story.

4. California Doesn’t Get to Tell Iowa How to Raise Hogs in Iowa, Attorney Bird Says

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird led 23 states in a brief supporting Iowa pork producers against California’s strict-hog-housing regulations — Proposition 12, the Office of the Attorney General reported in an article on Jan. 29. As the nation’s top pork-consuming state, California has major influence over the whole market.

“Proposition 12 sets harsh regulations that will spike pork prices, dictate to other states how they should raise their hogs, and force some pork producers to close up shop if they cannot afford to keep up with the strict new mandate,” the article said. Read the full story .

5. Viral Videos Fuel Interest in Pig Shows

Red shirt, hair in a bun, the stare. You don’t even have to be in the stock show industry, and you’ll likely remember seeing Karis Dadson, 14, showing her pigs in iconic tiktoks, shorts, videos and reels. Not only are these videos reaching youth exhibitors in the livestock industry, but the impact goes even further. The Pat McAfee Show recently discussed showing livestock because of this family’s social media outreach. They’ve been featured on ESPN and BarStool Sports, and Will Smith has even shared their posts.

For the Dadson family of Paso Robles, Calif., the attention their videos have sparked was unexpected. Kara Dadson, mother of the 14-year-old twins Karis and Krew, said she started it to help build their show pig business, Dadson Farms. She posted their first video on TikTok in 2019.

“I did a lot of social media with my small business prior to that and thought I’d try to do the same thing with our show pig business,” Kara says. “It was frustrating in the beginning, because I’m like, ‘Why can’t my small business videos go as big as the pig videos?’ It took off, and I just continually kept doing it. I never expected this to happen.” Read the full story.

6. National Pork Board Says New Tagline is About You, But It’s Not For You

The National Pork Board announced the tagline of its new pork campaign, “Taste what pork can do,” before a crowd of pork producers at the National Pork Industry Forum on March 13.

One message stood out to marketing advisory committee members Jennifer Tirey, Rob Brenneman and Gordon Spronk as they discussed the new tagline: I’m not the target. Likely, neither are you.

Here’s why that’s good news. Read the full story .

7. China’s Tipping Point: What Looming Crisis Means for U.S. Pork in 2025

There are decades where nothing happens, and there are weeks where decades happen.” This quote from Vladimir Lenin is particularly relevant as globalism, the dominant economic system of the past several decades, faces radical transformation entering 2025.

At the forefront of this transformation is China, the “workshop of the world” and a major destination for agricultural exports. However, China is now grappling with a host of existential threats. The question is not if but when we will witness a total system collapse, and this year appears to mark the beginning of the end, as recession looms overhead.

The challenges facing China could fill volumes, but three key factors make its problems insurmountable. Read the full story.

8. Josh Maschhoff Opens Up About Building on the Family Legacy in Pork Production

When you think about Josh Maschhoff, many things come to mind. He’s a husband, father, president, son, nephew, firefighter, friend, church elder, coach, sixth-generation hog farmer and director of production and flow for The Maschhoffs to name a few. What he is not is an overly emotional person, says his wife Angela, until you get him talking about the family business.

“Josh respects what the generations before him have accomplished,” she says. “He strives every day to work hard to continue building on what they started. He feels a responsibility to continue the family legacy. He cares not only about his family farm, but also the success of the pork industry in the state of Illinois and across the country.”

Growing up as the sixth generation on the Maschhoff’s family farm in Carlyle, Ill., his earliest memories were riding in the combine with his dad singing Randy Travis’ song, “Digging Up Bones.” When he was in grade school, he remembers the business taking off and adding its first production partners. Read the full story .

9. Is the Swine Industry Ready for H5N1? Texas Veterinarian Says “No”

Nearly one year ago, USDA made a shocking announcement. Highly pathogenic avian influenza type A H5N1 (H5N1) was identified in milk and in cows on two dairy farms in Texas and two dairy farms in Kansas. A disease no veterinarian had previously feared in cattle had jumped from wild birds to domestic cows.

Scanlon Daniels, a large animal veterinarian with Circle H Headquarters in Dalhart, Texas, received a call 10 days prior to that announcement that he will never forget from one of his dairy clients that something wasn’t right with some of the cows.

“My client sent me a text: ‘I think I might have it,’” Daniels says. Read the full story .

10. FDA Grants PIC Approval for PRRS-Resistant Pig Gene-Editing Technology

The gene edit used in PIC’s PRRS-resistant pig has been determined safe and effective by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). FDA granted approval to PIC on April 30, putting PIC among the first companies to gain approval for gene editing in commercial livestock in the U.S.

“We have spent years conducting extensive research, validating our findings and working with the FDA to gain approval,” Matt Culbertson, PIC’s chief operating officer, says in a release. “Today marks a major milestone for consumers, farmers and the entire pork industry who have desperately hoped for a solution to PRRS.”

Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) costs the U.S. pork industry more than $1.2 billion per year. This FDA-approved gene edit will be used to breed PIC’s PRRS-resistant pigs, which are resistant to this devastating, global swine disease. Read the full story .

K-State Duo Goodband and Tokach Reflect on 30 Years of Swine Industry Impact

Mon, 22 Dec 2025 15:20:22 GMT

For 30 years, Bob Goodband and Mike Tokach have been in neighboring offices at Kansas State University .

“We had been across the hall from each other for about 20 years, and then Bob tried to move away from me,” Tokach laughs. “He moved to a new office down the hall. When the office opened up across from him, I moved to that office so I could bug him again.”

As the pair approach retirement in January 2026 from legendary careers serving the pork industry through research, teaching and outreach on the K-State swine team, they admit it’s going to be difficult to say goodbye to their hallway conversations and discussions.

“I definitely am going to miss being able to interact with Bob and ask him questions,” Tokach says. “Now who will I yell at about how he’s handling a particular situation?”

In all seriousness, Goodband and Tokach have compiled incredible results during their tenure. It would be easy for them to boast about the thousands of research reports, scientific journal articles, book chapters and Extension articles they’ve written. They could brag about all the money they’ve received from research grants and gifts, the patents they hold, the invited lectures they’ve led, and more.

But that’s not who they are.

In their eyes, it’s always been about one thing: the people, especially the students. The research was not just about solving problems for producers, though it did; it was about building students and the next generation of swine industry leaders.

Elevating Excellence in the Pork Industry

“My personal satisfaction has been watching the students develop,” Goodband says. “When they come in as a green masters or Ph.D. student, what they’re able to do and how they evolve in their specific areas have really moved the program forward. It’s been through them that the great research projects have been developed and have taken off.”

Tokach agrees and says it’s hard to pinpoint one research project or advancement that stands out the most. Every project and each student helped move the industry forward in some way.

“For every student, the research they were involved in was extremely pivotal and important in their careers,” Tokach says. “When I think about some of the major themes or areas that we had a big play in, early in our career, it was in nursery pig nutrition. We helped develop some of the first trials with plasma and blood cells and those technologies.”

He’s amazed by how many aspects of the industry have evolved over 30 years.

“Rodger Main’s work was one that was very fun to watch, because you could see how it moved in the industry,” Tokach says. “I won’t forget watching the average wean age, off of Pig Champ or MetaFarm records at the time, and seeing how wean age moved after that research became public and hit the industry.”

He points out that the most recent work Abigail Jenkins published on the number of pigs that a sow can actually handle based on her number of functional teats as a great example of how research can be implemented quickly on farms to start making a difference.

Secret to the Swine Team’s Success

“We’ve been so fortunate to work with high-quality people — producers, colleagues and students,” Goodband says. “We remember how it was when we were young and starting grad school. You try to keep that in the back of your mind — the people who helped you along the way. We want to be that for the students we are training.”

They admit they each play a different role in their students’ development.

“Sometimes my role is to be the taskmaster, if you want to call it that, holding people accountable,” Tokach explains. “Bob is more of the patient teacher. He has taught hundreds of students swine science and how to write scientific papers.”

In all situations, they operate as a team because they enjoy working together and see students, pork producers and industry as part of the team that makes valuable contributions to the industry.

“We fully understand that any success our team has had is because of the success our students have had going out and their impact on the industry,” Tokach says. “That’s obviously fed back very positively on what our team has been able to accomplish because of the impact that each of those team members, when they’ve went on into their own careers, have been able to do.”

Though it sounds sentimental, Goodband says cultivating a culture of family has been key.

“When the students graduate and take jobs, they’re not going to work in a vacuum,” Goodband says. “It’s important for them to rely on others for help when they have questions that they don’t know the answer to, to call up former grad students to bounce ideas by. That’s been fun to watch and see the camaraderie they have amongst each other that I hope we’ve had some kind of role in fostering.”

What’s Next for Goodband and Tokach?

Tokach doesn’t think anyone will be too surprised that his wife pulls him into “their hobbies.” After retirement, they will move to Minnesota to be closer to family where they have plans to do a lot of trail riding on their mules, bike riding and traveling.

Goodband is hopeful retirement will allow him to get caught up on things around the house and outside of the house that he’s neglected for the past 10 years. He expects that the outside of the house will be immaculate in a year, he says with a laugh.

Both agree that it won’t be the same when they can’t banter across the hallway at each other. Tokach says he’ll miss the tailgates at football games and all the fun they had outside of the office, too.

“Mike holds me accountable in a lot of different things,” Goodband says. “But most importantly, Mike’s my best friend, and I’m going to miss him immensely.”

Goodband and Tokach share about changes in education, research advancements that have left a mark on swine production, and how they built an iconic culture at K-State on “The PORK Podcast.” You can watch it above and on YouTube or listen anywhere podcasts are found.

Watch more episodes here.

A Daughter’s Devotion: Chelsea Schminke Grieder’s Unconventional Path Back Home

Fri, 05 Dec 2025 20:46:11 GMT

Chelsea Schminke Grieder takes pride in being the ‘black sheep’ of the family. As the daughter of livestock legends Al and Kandy Schminke, she always wanted to return to their grain and show livestock operation in Van Horne, Iowa , consisting of about 375 wether dam ewes and 25 purebred Chester white sows.

Unlike her brother Cody who took a more traditional path back to their family’s farm, this fourth-generation farmer took a rather unique path into fashion design at Iowa State University first.

“I wanted to create my own way,” Grieder says. “I love design. I love art. I wanted to dip my toes into that passion, but that didn’t change my love for agriculture. I was still showing livestock very competitively and helping on the farm.”

Although she entered the fashion world with a black-and-white mindset, she quickly realized fashion was very subjective.

“After college, I went to work for a really cool company that designs Harley Davidson saddle bags. Never in my life did I think I would work with leather or motorcycles,” she says. “I worked with many brands while I was there from Adidas to Ryka. With each product, I found ways to make it more successful. I discovered ways to save money and hit our target market more. I took a lot of that back to the farm.”

Something Isn’t Right

Newly engaged to Paul, 2016 started off on a high note for Grieder who was in the thick of wedding planning. Her family’s show livestock operation was booming.

But in February, Kandy’s health “got a little funky,” Grieder explains. Sinus infection after sinus infection, something wasn’t right. She even remembers her mom’s nose changing color a little.

“It was so crazy,” she says. “I was trying to balance my job, the wedding and help on the farm. I also wanted to be there for my mom. She was up and down health-wise. She started having random nose bleeds and began seeing all these specialists.”

No one could tell them what was going on with her mom. Grieder vividly remembers going to the hospital for her own appointment in June.

“My mom met me there and I remember she sat down beside me and I said, ‘You smell weird. Did you shower?’” Grieder recalls. “She said ‘Yes, thanks Chelsea.’”

But she couldn’t let it go.

“She’s my mom – you just know how your mom smells, and something wasn’t right,” she says.

A few weeks later, Grieder lost her job.

“I had designed this full line and was ready to go to production with it,” she says. “I had no heads up, nothing. Not to mention I had a wedding in November. I was like, ‘Oh, my God, what do we do?’”

But she never lost faith that God had a plan.

A week later, Grieder was back at the doctor’s office with her mom who had received a GI scope the day before. The doctors wanted to make sure she didn’t have anything going on internally with her gastrointestinal system.

“One of the GI nurses recommended my mom go back to her family doctor for a full blood panel,” Grieder says. “Between that January to July 2016, nobody had pulled blood on her, which was shocking.”

They discovered her hemoglobin was really low – like “go get a blood transfusion now” low.

“My cousin, who worked at the doctor’s office, called us and said, ‘You need to take her to the ER. This is not good.’ At that point, you hear ‘not good’ and want to know exactly how not good,” Grieder says. “She said on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being bad, my mom was a 12.”

Answers at Last

When they arrived at St. Luke’s Hospital in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, they rushed her mom upstairs.

“I remember hitting that kidney floor, and the smell hit me,” she says. “I said, ‘Mom, this is what you smelled like.’”

Her mom’s kidneys were failing.

“We found out she was in renal failure. They said mom should not have walked in – she should have been crawling in,” Grieder says. “But if you know her, she is as tough as nails and stubborn, too. She’s never going to tell you she hurts. She actually judged a livestock show the weekend before her diagnosis in Missouri. Hindsight is 20/20 – she should not have been doing any of those things, but she just had the mentality that you keep going.”

Doctors confirmed two autoimmune diseases were attacking her mom’s kidneys – Wegener’s disease and ANCA .

“ANCA is a very aggressive autoimmune disease,” Grieder explains. “They call it the silent killer for a reason. They gave her three more days if we hadn’t went in there.”

Within 24 hours, she had a stint placed into her heart and was put on dialysis. She needed a kidney transplant.

“The thing people don’t talk about is that you have to be sick enough to go on the kidney transplant list, but you have to be healthy enough to get one,” Grieder says. “We had an uphill battle from there.”

Al and Kandy Schminke

(Schminke Genetics)

No One is Invincible

Their new reality was hard on everyone, especially her dad who was trying to figure out how to manage the day-to-day activities without her by his side.

“She’s his person – he thought she was invincible,” Grieder says. “We all had to realize, ‘Okay, no, she’s not invincible.’”

From July until October, Grieder did not find another job. Instead, she stayed home to help her mom get to the dialysis center every Tuesday and Thursday and pick up her work on the farm.

“There was a reason why I was not supposed to be working at that point,” Grieder adds. “But it was so hard to watch my mom suffer. It was hard to watch her battle this. We eventually were able to do dialysis at home, but it wasn’t easy. She had to be hooked up for 12 hours a day and stay away from dust, fungus, hay, straw, dirt – all the things that are part of farm life.”

She also couldn’t be around her new grandchild as doctors didn’t want her exposed to any extra germs. All of this made planning a November wedding especially challenging. Grieder says she is so grateful for the village of people who supported her family during this time.

“Our wedding was truly a celebration – and not just for us getting married – but for all of the people who helped us.”

Her mom finally got her kidney in January of 2018, about 1.5 years after she went on dialysis. Grieder says her already close relationship with her mom grew so much during this time when their roles switched.

“I remember brushing her hair one day after she had her shower,” Grieder says. “It hit her like a rock. I told her, ‘We’re going to get through this no matter what, that’s what we’re here for.’”

( l to r): Kandy Schminke; Taylor and Cody Schminke; grandkids Evie, Beau, Wade and Savannah; Paul and Chelsea Schminke Grieder; and Al Schminke.

(Provided by Chelsea Schminke Grieder)

How Resiliency Grows

There’s no doubt Grieder has experienced a lot in the past 10 years. She and her husband now have two kids, Savannah, 6, and Beau, 4. She is also serving as the director of junior activities and events for Team Purebred, a national junior livestock organization for kids in the swine industry.

“She’s always looking out for others,” her mom says. “She works hard to make Team Purebred as strong as she can. She really digs in. We all go through ups and downs in life. Everybody has different things going on. I think that’s one strong thing that she does, is that she can handle it.”

Resiliency is important for everyone, but Grieder believes it’s essential for a livestock farming family.

“I think it’s built into you a little bit,” she adds. “You learn a lot from the circle of life on the farm and the ups and downs of showing livestock. I learned that my path isn’t going to be straight in life and no matter what, you have to get out of bed and keep going for the people around you.”

Grieder shares more about their family’s journey as well as her vision for Team Purebred and passion for connecting young people to agriculture on The PORK Podcast. You can watch it here on YouTube or listen anywhere podcasts are found.

Watch more episodes here.

One Farmer's Idea to Avoid Yellowstone Drama When Transferring the Family Farm

Fri, 21 Nov 2025 18:13:29 GMT

At 8 cents a pound, pigs weren’t worth much when Todd Wiley formed Interstate Swine LLC with his dad in 1998. Nobody wanted weaned pigs. Facilities quickly became available as people left the pork industry. With a sincere desire to make a living raising pigs on his family’s farm, Wiley stepped out in faith. Nearly 30 years later, this multi-generational farming endeavor in eastern Iowa has survived some of the toughest times and some of the best times.

Maybe that’s why Wiley has taken a unique approach to bringing the third generation back to the farm.

“There’s no doubt that family is important to Todd,” says Pat McGonegle, CEO of the Iowa Pork Producers Association. “He puts family first, and the farm is a part of that discussion. He manages his family members that are part of that farm in a real professional way, but also with an eye towards the legacy that he and Denise want to leave on their farm.”

Would This Be Good For My Kids?

Growing up, Wiley’s parents talked about succession planning often with their three sons. The concept of planning for the generational transfer of the family farm came naturally to Wiley.

“When we started Interstate Swine, we needed to hire employees,” he says. “One of the things I was conscientious about was making sure the employment opportunity within our business would be conducive to our children filling those roles.”

From the beginning, Wiley instituted health insurance plans, matching IRA funds, paid time off, paid vacation, and other benefits that employees would typically look for when securing a job.

“I constantly asked myself if this would this be good for my kids someday?” he says.

Wiley and his wife, Denise, have four kids: Drew, a Kansas State University animal science graduate and former K-State Football defensive tackle; Isaac, an Iowa State University agribusiness graduate now employed with Ever.Ag; Emma, owner of Auntie Em’s - Event Florist and attended Des Moines Area Community College; and Joshua, a junior at Iowa State University in animal science.

In 2017-2018, the Wileys doubled their sow farm to create more opportunities for the children to have a place on the family farm.

“It was a fairly tedious process – not only from a business standpoint, but about what the next generation was going to do,” he says. “They were all too young back then, and there was no way I could ask them for any sort of commitment to our business. But I did ask a lot of professionals. I remember asking our accountant specifically, ‘In your experience, what is the likelihood of a farm family having the next generation be involved, providing you have a viable business?’”

The accountant’s response was, “It’s pretty high.”

“Denise and I knew we needed to have some economies of scale,” Wiley explains. “There’s not much point in succession planning, if there’s nothing to succeed to or succeed with. We were mindful of that when we moved forward. Now, we have room for additional people, not only for labor, but also in management where we can utilize their skills.”

No Yellowstone Drama Here

As a family, it is easy to recognize each other’s strengths as well as quirks, he points out. But he wanted a better way to evaluate his children’s strengths and weaknesses, as well as interests, on the farm.

“I remember when a successful family in eastern Iowa, with a number of businesses, built a feed mill and elevator,” Wiley shares. “The father of this family passed away unexpectedly. Come to find out, nobody in the family had any interest in this feed mill and elevator, so they end up selling it.”

This hit Wiley hard. What would his kids say about where their farm was investing capital? That sparked the construction of a succession planning instrument for the Wiley family.

(Lori Hays)

“The first page of the instrument (an Excel document) started two years ago with a list of 35 jobs that need to be done on our farm,” Wiley says. “Most of them are pig related, but we do crop farm some. It was pretty much everything I was doing in a spreadsheet.”

Each of their children (and one daughter in-law at the time) was asked to rate those 35 jobs from one to five under this scenario: It’s 2033 and Todd and Denise are serving in an advisory role only. You choose to be an active employee of the family businesses. Please answer by circling the corresponding number that best describes your interest in the listed activity.

“It was interesting to see who had interest in what, but it also told us pretty clearly where we needed to go in the future if we wanted our children involved in our business,” Wiley says. “Initially, I think they saw it as a fun activity, just another of Dad’s crazy ideas. But I learned a lot.”

This past summer, the family completed the exercise again.

“I needed to see if the kids were drifting in their interest,” he says. “In one case, there was significant movement in what one of our kids wanted to do. It surprised me to be truthful about it. In the other three cases, they held true to what they thought two years previous. But bear in mind, our youngest was a freshman in college two years ago and a lot can change in college.”

Wiley emphasizes that nobody is required to come back and be involved in the operation. He says there are a million ways to make a living out there and he wants his kids to pursue their dreams. In the version his family filled out in the summer of 2025, he added a second page with 45 statements.

“If you’re going to work with people in a business and a family in any organization, even if you’re not related, you need to have some idea of where they’re coming from,” Wiley says. “On the second page of statements, they were asked to rank their level of agreement with the statement.”

For example, one of the statements was: No matter what I may think of a family member’s job performance, I’ll always have their back publicly.

“If you’ve ever watched Yellowstone, that show creeped me out,” Wiley says. “When I saw the family dynamic portrayed, it made me uncomfortable. We can have our disagreements. But, as a family, you better have each other’s backs out in the community, especially in the business we’re in.”

Getting Out and Getting In

This instrument has been helpful for the Wileys in many ways as they prepare to transfer more of the farm to their children.

“It sheds light on areas where their belief system parallels ours,” he says. “We have a definite place of emphasis now. Our children have a pig feeding business called Fourth Gen Hogs LLC, where they’re each 20% owners, Denise is a 10% owner, and I’m a 10% owner. It has been a great exercise in giving them the responsibility of ownership.”

He says the timing mirrors the situation he was in when Interstate Swine was formed.

“They got in about a year ago when it was pretty doom and gloom. We went to the bank with this idea, and they’re like, ‘You want to do what?’”

He believes this business venture will be the vehicle for he and his wife to exit pig ownership as their children get into ownership.

“Uncle Sam would have his way with us if we sold out all at once,” Wiley says. “But if we can gradually exit individual barns or individual parts of our production flow and have them enter into it, that’s a fairly nice segue for us to get out and them to get in.”

Wiley shares more about his mini adventure raising rabbits, opportunities for talented young people back on the farm and the message he hopes pork producers hear right now and more on The PORK Podcast. You can watch it here on YouTube or listen anywhere podcasts are found.

Watch more episodes here.

Juggling Glass Balls: How Veterinarian Micah Jansen Prioritizes What Matters Most

Fri, 07 Nov 2025 14:55:49 GMT

“The key to juggling is to know that some of the balls you have in the air are made of plastic and some are made of glass. And if you drop a plastic ball, it bounces, no harm done. If you drop a glass ball, it shatters, so you have to know which balls are glass and which are plastic and prioritize catching the glass ones.”

When Micah Jansen, DVM, first heard the glass ball theory by author Nora Roberts, she remembers instantly connecting with it.

“As working moms, we have a lot of things we are balancing,” Jansen said on The PORK Podcast . “This concept helps me remember that I must differentiate the glass balls from the rubber balls. If I drop a rubber ball, like failing to get a deliverable to a co-worker on Friday, I can get it to them on Monday. But my daughter’s Christmas program – that’s a glass ball I cannot drop because it won’t happen again.”

She says understanding the difference between the two has helped her focus and be more deliberate as a working mom. It’s also helped her learn how to prioritize and say no at times.

“When I start getting upset about not getting something done or not being somewhere I wanted to be, I have had to learn to say, ‘Okay, even though I’m upset, this is a rubber ball. It is not the end of the world if I can’t accomplish this because I’m catching this glass ball over here.’”

As a swine tech services veterinarian with Zoetis, the struggle is real at times. No two days are alike for Jansen who has been with the company since 2015. From helping people understand how different products work and troubleshooting with clients on swine health issues to assisting with research projects and hosting student interns, Jansen has learned that her role requires some juggling.

Fortunately, she enjoys the challenge.

The Face of Veterinary Medicine is Changing

“The swine industry is constantly changing,” she says. “It’s becoming more integrated, and with those changes in structure, has also come a change in what swine medicine looks like.”

More production systems today have staff veterinarians who work full time and focus on their system’s pigs. Veterinary clinics are becoming more consolidated, too. There has also been a major shift from mostly men to mostly women entering practice.

She believes this may be another reason why the structure of swine medicine has changed, too. Women are multi-taskers at heart and as more women step into veterinarian roles, Jansen says they have sought out how to find balance between their roles at work and at home as mothers so they could do both well.

“I’m still the only woman in the room sometimes,” Jansen says. “But, I’ve never wanted that to define me. I try to focus on what I know without a doubt to be true and also be humble. If I don’t know the answer to something, it doesn’t mean I can’t find it. I’ve always been somebody who would rather not know the answer and come back to someone than to tell them something that’s wrong.”

Jansen spends a lot of time working with students through internships and other research programs. She says they’ve taught her a lot along the way. She is impressed how younger generations are realizing sooner in life that you only have so much time to devote to certain things like work or school, while also taking care of your mental health and well-being.

“They are better at saying, ‘OK, you want me to complete this task, but I know I have exams next week so I can’t commit to getting it done today. However, I will get to it as soon as I’ve completed my other exams,’” Jansen says. “Never in a million years would I have ever done that! But I admire them for being honest with themselves.”

Hard Decisions

A big part of being a great swine veterinarian is making hard decisions and offering clients holistic support.

Terry Moeller, a Zoetis strategic account manager and colleague, says, “Micah always strives to do the right thing when it comes to pig health, and she has extensive knowledge of critical financials that yield a strong return on investment for our customers.”

Her grasp of the swine industry and understanding of the decisions producers face every day have helped her be successful in her role.

“The decisions that we help our clients make are going to impact essentially whether or not they can feed their families,” Jansen says. “Regardless of if you’re in private practice or if you are a staff veterinarian working for a production system, you constantly must keep in mind the other piece of it that adds up fast. When we make a decision to treat an animal, it’s not just a single animal. You have to take it times 1,000, times 10,000, or times 5 million, depending on what decision you’re making.”

Abbey Briscoe, a veterinarian with Harding Veterinary Services, says this is one of the things she admires about Jansen.

“Micah doesn’t settle for ‘easy.’ She doesn’t have her mind made up with an answer to a problem for a client and genuinely takes her time to listen to everything surrounding an issue, gathering all sides and information before thoughtfully answering,” Briscoe says. “She will follow up with additional advice and options once she has had more time to digest and gather outside expert feedback on a case. She honestly wants her clients to have the best possible insight to an issue.”

One of the not-so-easy roles Jansen plays at Zoetis is serving as a go-to-person on influenza. She admits she actually enjoys studying influenza.

“I think people don’t like flu because it can be really overwhelming,” she points out. “Part of the reason it becomes so complicated is that the influenza virus is so good at changing. We continue to see changes in the virus over time, and what makes it even more nerve-wracking is that interface between pigs and people.”

Biosecurity is key to fighting influenza. She says it’s a constant challenge of knowing what you should do next when it comes to animal husbandry, pig movement or vaccination.

“And then what do we do about caregivers? Even if they’re sick, they want to come into work because they want to be able to feed their families. But at the same time, how do we decide when a sick employee could be putting that population of pigs at risk?” she says. “There are so many moving pieces.”

If she could share one message with the industry now, it’s a simple, but profound one.

“Let’s make sure we’re doing things the right way,” Jansen says. “We know the right way. We love data in the swine industry, and we always talk about how it drives our decisions. Let’s make sure that’s not just something we’re saying. Let’s make protocol decisions based on that concept and doing everything we can to get better.”

Jansen shares more about swine health, her days at the University of Illinois and her passion for team roping and more on The PORK Podcast. You can watch it here on YouTube or listen anywhere podcasts are found.

Watch more episodes here.

From Crisis to Calling: How Maddie Hokanson Found Strength in the Pork Industry

Tue, 28 Oct 2025 20:01:52 GMT

In June 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Maddie Hokanson headed out for a routine doctor’s appointment. At 34 weeks pregnant, she admittedly wasn’t feeling great, but as a first-time mom, what’s normal?

She was sent to labor and delivery as a precautionary measure. Not long after, she was in a helicopter being airlifted to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. She and her husband, Eric, welcomed their first child, Brent, by c-section later that day.

“Brent was born with hydrops,” Hokanson explains. “He was born at 10.5 lb. He had so much fluid around his organs and it was putting pressure on his brain, liver, kidneys and lungs. He almost didn’t make it.”

After a couple rough months in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), the Hokansons learned a lot fast.

“I remember a friend sending me this reminder: If not, he is still good,” she says. “Sometimes things don’t go how we want, and even if that’s the case, I believe God works all things for his good.”

Because of the pandemic, nobody was able to meet Brent until he came home from the hospital. Hokanson remembers being surrounded by so many people who wanted to help and offer support. She says it was a surreal experience.

“I remember my naivety thinking that we made it home – we had made it through the hard part and now he was going to flourish,” she adds. “That definitely was not the case for the first couple of years.”

Diagnosis after diagnosis, the Hokansons struggled to take it all in: epilepsy, visual impairment, heart condition, liver failure, autism and cerebral palsy.

“The mantra, ‘this too shall pass,’ kept playing in my head, but when? When will it pass?” Hokanson says.

Perhaps it never will pass, she explains, but what they have been able to do is find joy in all that their family has instead of the comparison of what they don’t.

A Lifeline

For Hokanson, a seventh-generation farmer with Schafer Farms, the farm has served as a lifeline during these early years of adjusting to parenting a child with serious health challenges.

“The farm was my reminder that whether it’s a good day or bad day, I’m still Maddie Hokanson. I still have a purpose in the world beyond being a mother,” Hokanson says. “Coming into the farm office, talking to my parents, grandparents or employees really held me up. I needed work in order to be able to continue handling myself as a mother.”

Schafer Farms was established in 1886. Today they raise pigs, cattle, crops and operate a transportation and trucking business as well. They have two sow farms where they raise genetics for Topigs Norsvin. Getting to work with her husband, her parents, Brandon and Monica, her grandparents, Pat and Lowell, and her brother, Max, and his wife, Hollie, has been a lifelong dream for Hokanson.

“I loved being involved in the farm from a young age,” she says. “From about second grade on, it was expected that we spend our weekends with dad on the farm, breeding and farrowing sows. Although I wasn’t like some farm kids who learned how to drive a tractor when they were 8, I sure knew how to breed a sow and collected a boar by that age.”

Living Out Her ‘Why’

As she became more involved in 4-H and FFA, she started doing livestock judging and participating in communication contests. She began to see the agriculture industry was much bigger than her own farm.

“In ninth grade, we took a careers class in high school that was required as part of graduation,” Hokanson says. “I explored ag communications and learned about promoting our product. That’s when I realized I was fascinated by talking to consumers about what we do on our farms.”

She connected with a Minnesota Pork Board program, Oink Outings. Through that program, she learned how to connect with consumers and advocate for the pork industry. This eventually led her to pursue a degree in ag communications at South Dakota State University, where was she named the commencement speaker in 2019.

“I spoke about a book by Simon Sinek, ‘Start with Why,’” Hokanson says. “It’s all about finding your why in life. I tried to focus on the fact that when you think about your ‘why’ and your ‘why’ resonates with every part of your life, then it doesn’t matter so much what you are doing if you are pursuing your ‘why.’”

She says her “why” since college continues to be to ensure a successful, thriving future for the generations she will never meet.

Eric, Scott, Brent and Maddie Hokanson

(LAURA KNOPIK )

“Whether I’m home with our boys, instilling values of faith, family and farming; at the farm office working on finances as the CFO; helping in the barn; or lobbying on behalf of the pork industry in D.C., my ‘why’ is the same,” Hokanson says. “All of those things help me fulfill my ‘why.’”

Hokanson’s son Brent is now 5, and Scott is 2. She hopes they will have the opportunity to be the eighth generation of farmers in her family. That’s why she devotes so much of her life to focusing on her ‘why’.

“Sometimes, what is best for the industry doesn’t have a short-term financial or other gain for your own individual farm,” she explains. “But it does benefit the industry in the long run – whether it’s with health, markets, traceability – being willing to do things that seem mundane or complex even when you don’t see any short-term gain individually is important. At the end of the day, a rising tide lifts all boats, and it is our responsibility to ensure that the rising tide comes in.”

Hokanson shares more about farm transition, parenthood and connecting with consumers on The PORK Podcast. You can watch it here on YouTube or listen anywhere podcasts are found.

Watch more episodes here.

Newman Sets Out to Secure Long-Term Success for Pork Producers

Fri, 10 Oct 2025 20:10:46 GMT

With just over 30 days under his belt as the National Pork Board (NPB) CEO, David Newman couldn’t be more excited about the opportunity that lies ahead. He may be sitting in a new seat, but he says being a part of this organization and the strategic planning process over the past few years has provided him with the ability to hit the ground running for the industry.

“Now more than ever, there is a transformational opportunity for the pork business,” Newman says. “What gets me excited is building on the foundation established by the farmers. Unlike many CEOs who are hired during times of distress in a company, or times where the industry is looking for somebody to come in and shake things up, the strategic direction is already in place so I can go after it from a tactics standpoint.”

That focus, combined with direction from the board of directors, gives him a leg up, he says. He’s quick to point out the road ahead won’t be easy, but the opportunity is great.

“The National Pork Board represents 60,000 farmers who know a lot about a business that can change on a dime,” Newman says. “Agriculture is one of the riskiest businesses we can be in but is also one of the most rewarding. It’s been a great summer, and we feel a little bit of wind at our back, which is good. Now, it’s about focusing on how we really keep this momentum going into the future.”

What Kind of a Leader is David Newman?

Newman has a long tenure in the pork industry that includes being a third-generation pork producer, a meat scientist in academia, president of NPB in 2019-2020, a member of several industry committees, and the former NPB senior vice president of market growth.

“It’s really challenging to find someone who can go from a restaurant in conversation with a chef to a meat lab in conversation with students about the pork carcass to the boardroom dealing with a board of directors to rallying a staff around an issue or an effort, and then sitting down and talking with producers about all of the challenges that we face in the industry today, yesterday and even tomorrow,” says Jesse Heimer, a Missouri pork producer and member of the NPB board of directors. “David Newman has certainly shown me and so many others that he’s very well equipped in all of those places.”

What is his leadership style? Newman says radical transparency and focus are two ways he would describe his approach to leadership.

“I believe in full transparency – let’s talk about the issues. Let’s frame up a strategy around them, but let’s communicate frequently. Let’s communicate openly and honestly,” Newman says. “No secrets. Let’s talk about the tough issues, and let’s get moving down the road.

He also says focus is important when leading a group of people.

“Find where you can focus, find where you can align the right people around you, and then foster an environment of teamwork and spirit,” Newman says. “That may sound corny and cliche, but I am an absolute believer that culture eats strategy for breakfast.”

He believes authenticity is also essential for driving long-term success for producers.

“Anyone who knows me, knows I’m very passionate about this business,” Newman says. “It’s where my heart is, it’s where my brain is. And when you’re passionate about something, you can rally people around you. That’s what I look for in people who I respect as mentors as well – this authenticity.”

He admires people who are truthful and transparent but also willing to rally around the things that they do.

“Farming is a tough business,” Newman adds. “I grew up in it. I’ve seen the highs, and I’ve seen the lows in this business. But if every day, when you roll out of bed in this limited amount of time that we have while we’re here, if you can do good, meaningful work that you’re excited about, that’s really powerful.”

Leaving it Better for the Next Generation

If Newman was guaranteed to accomplish one thing for U.S. pork producers during his tenure as CEO, he hopes it would be long-term success.

“That may sound incredibly vague, but we have an opportunity to really make a difference,” he says. “If I could have an opportunity to do one thing, it’s that whenever I leave this role someday, and I hope it’s a long time from now, that I leave it better than I found it. But most importantly, that we’ve created a better business and a better opportunity for future generations of people in the pork business.”

Newman says this is possible if the industry is willing to focus, listen to stakeholders, be transparent, work hard and follow the strategic plan and priorities set forth by the NPB board of directors.

“If I can do one thing, I hope to help secure the long-term position,” he explains. “I want to help make sure my son and daughter, if they decide to be a part of this business, don’t have to go through some of the major challenges that my parents went through, that I have gone through, and that literally hundreds and thousands of my friends in the business have, too.”

Newman shares more about NPB’s strategic initiatives, discusses his thoughts on pork quality and where the industry is heading, and opens up about his family on the 31st episode of The PORK Podcast, marking one year of this podcast telling the story behind the story. You can watch it here on YouTube or listen anywhere podcasts are found.

Watch more episodes here.

Authentically Arnold: Build Your Life Around Curiosity and Care

Mon, 29 Sep 2025 17:22:28 GMT

Knowing “where you are at” is one of the most valuable lessons Brian Arnold learned when he was a member of the livestock judging team at Black Hawk College East Campus.

“Dan Hoge taught us the value of understanding situationally where you’re at, how to respond, how you’re going to communicate with others and how to be cognizant of the circumstances around you,” Arnold says. “He often discussed transitioning from college judging to stepping into the show ring. He always said its important to be aware of where you’re at, to know who the audience is, and to make sure your message and how you describe the livestock fit to the situation you’re stepping into.”

As senior product manager of direct fed microbials at United Animal Health, Arnold says he still uses that skill today in his career.

Customers Deserve Our Best
“United Animal Health always encourages us to be endlessly curious,” he says. “I’ve always wanted to just dig in and learn more. To a fault, I can jump into things and immerse myself to learn something new. When Mr. John Swisher founded the company, he focused on providing service and science-backed products to customers. Our job is to bring our customers the best products, and if we can’t do that, we don’t deserve the business.”

He spends a lot of time thinking about what’s next in the industry and travels internationally on behalf of the company to explore opportunities and engage with customers. One of the global trends he sees is more emphasis on the pork eating experience.

“Segments of consumers, particularly outside the U.S., put more emphasis on the eating experience,” Arnold says. “Within those markets, there may be some private label branding opportunities that we see some of the largest producers pursuing with label indicators of ‘fed probiotics’ or their stance on antibiotic usage or housing or production.”

From Every Angle
Charlie Hild, a swine key account manager at United, says Arnold is good at helping him see things from different perspectives.

“Every time I call to pick his brain or seek some help, he always challenges me to approach an account or project from a different angle, which I really appreciate,” Hild says.

Arnold credits his dad to teaching him how to look at situations from all the angles.

“Growing up, I spent a lot of time alongside my dad on our farm,” he says. “We had very humble roots and were small farmers. There were a lot of financial struggles when I was a kid. One thing I give my dad a lot of credit for is his ability to always find a way.”

When you grow up in that type of environment, Arnold says you learn how to figure things out and make things work. He credits his creativity in solving problems to his mom. However, he acknowledges he’s been surrounded by many people over the years who’ve helped him learn how to think outside of the box with a clear head.

“I probably didn’t always recognize as a kid that my dad is extremely steady,” he says. “We had a small commercial sow herd. I remember standing in a pen of pigs with my dad one day. We were having a problem with tail biting. He said, ‘There’s probably just one little thing different about that pig and all the others just ganged up on it.’”

That’s all his dad had to say, but Arnold says he knew exactly what his dad meant in that moment.

“He’s a man of few words, but he always looks for the good in others,” Arnold says. “I want to emulate that for our family.”

What Matters Most
He’s had a lot of opportunities to put the skills he learned from his parents to work professionally and personally. Arnold will never forget the day when he walked out of a meeting at the National Swine Registry office to see his wife Molly standing in the hallway. With tears streaming from her eyes, she broke the news that the doctors had found a lump.

Shortly after that, she was diagnosed with cancer.

“There’s a lot of unknowns when you get handed a diagnosis like that,” Arnold says. “A million questions flood your mind. What’s this going to look like? How are we going to pay for this? Is she going to make it? What happens if she doesn’t?”

At the time, they had one young son. Molly was especially worried about how cancer treatments would impact their son’s life.

“One of the things that she was really scared of as she started to go through treatments was ‘What if he doesn’t recognize me when I lose my hair?’ It finally got to the point where she just asked me, ‘Would you be willing to shave my head? I can’t sit here and do this anymore.’”

Arnold will never forget how their son responded to his mother in that moment.

“He just walked in after I shaved off her hair, hugged her and kissed her head,” Arnold says. “There were so many little moments like that as I look back along our journey where you knew that God was there working through it all.”

Authenticity in a Social Media World
Arnold also discovered the importance of the people in his circle and how fortunate his family was to have so much support from friends from all facets of life.

“You don’t realize how much people mean to you until you go through something like that,” he says. “Fortunately, we were able to get to the other side of that cancer diagnosis. Since then, there’s been some additional health challenges with both of our boys.”

Although the unknowns of those health challenges can be very scary, Arnold says those challenges continue to teach their family valuable lessons about authenticity, trust and the importance of community.

“I think it’s easy, particularly for people active on social media, to portray a very polished, perfect image. I think people can see through that,” Arnold says. “The ability to be real and vulnerable is very much needed. It’s okay to say, ‘I don’t know. I’m not sure. I’m scared.’ Those are things people need to be more upfront about, me included. That’s not always easy for me to do, but I think people are hungry for that authenticity.”

Arnold shares more on The PORK Podcast. You can watch it here on YouTube or listen anywhere podcasts are found.

Watch more episodes here.

Is a World Without PRRS Possible? Two Veterinarians Say ‘Yes’

Mon, 22 Sep 2025 19:01:12 GMT

Everyone experiences pain in life. Sometimes, if the pain is excruciating enough, it results in transformational change. The current pain level of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) in the U.S. is extreme, says swine veterinarians Scott Dee and Gordon Spronk. That’s why they are calling for transformational change in a viewpoint article in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association .

Dee and Spronk say it’s time to create a world without PRRS.

“We aren’t in the spring of our careers anymore,” Spronk said during an exclusive on The PORK Podcast. “We’re in the fall of our careers, and maybe it’s time to be reflective and hopefully speak into and encourage the next generation of pork producers that their life can be better. And not only their life, but the life of the pig, will be better if we had a world without PRRS.”

Why Now?
For more than 38 years, Spronk and Dee have been working side by side to fight PRRS. Why should the industry move to eradicate PRRS now?

“I have a long history as a veterinarian, but my family also raises pigs. We’re in the middle of a generational transfer,” Spronk explains. “It’s important for the next generation who will take over this operation to be encouraged about the potential of productivity, and what could clearly be achieved if we didn’t have PRRS circulating in our sow farms.”

The U.S. swine herd is currently dealing with variants such as PRRSV L1C.5 and L1C.2 that are spreading rapidly. These variants are more infectious than previous isolates, as well as highly pathogenic.

“These highly pathogenic isolates are moving around in areas between wean-to-finish barns, meaning that you can have your sow farm negative produce a group of negative pigs, place them negative, but then they become infected with lateral transmission,” Spronk says. “And our national swine herd mortality is to the level that it’s concerning from a productivity standpoint and competitiveness with other international competitors, namely Brazil.”

Field observations indicate pre-weaning mortality levels ranging from 56% to 100% post-infection, resulting in losses of $1 million to $3 million per 10-week period post-weaning, not to mention compromised animal welfare and compromised mental health among workers.

“The thing that really gets me about this one is the welfare aspect,” Dee says. “It’s the suffering that the animals and the people working on the farms go through. It’s worse than I’ve ever seen it. We know that only pigs can get PRRS, but people suffer when they watch animals die and work so hard to treat them. That to me, is a welfare aspect, along with the economics and the production issues that make this situation so difficult right now.”

What Does A World Without PRRS Look Like?
Dee says there are examples in negative barns of what a world without PRRS looks like – higher productivity, higher health pigs are more fun to raise.

“It’s a flourishing U.S. national herd with reduced antibiotic use, lower mortality, predictable productivity, and with satisfied employees working in a welfare-friendly environment,” Dee says. “In other words, a more profitable and competitive national industry for generations to come.”

Dee believes this could lead to freedom from other domestic diseases such as porcine epidemic diarrhea virus and strengthened prevention of foreign animal disease.

When Dee served as president of the American Association of Swine Veterinarians in 2005-2006, he called for national elimination of PRRS.

“It was the right thing to call for but it was ahead of its time,” Dee points out. “We were missing two things. We were missing a clear understanding of area spread. How do we prevent the virus from moving from farm to farm? We know a lot more about that. The other is US SHIP. We didn’t have a united platform that we could all work together on to kind of collectively come together with decisions as an organization rather than just an individual. Now it’s time to have that conversation again.”

Dee and Spronk outline six non-negotiable practices the industry needs to adapt to survive.

Non-negotiable #1: The U.S. swine industry must eliminate PRRS virus.
The successful disease elimination of pseudorabies, classical swine fever and foot-and-mouth disease can be applied to build strategies to eliminate PRRS virus from our national swine herd.

“PRRS costs our industry approximately $1.2 billion per year. Global competitors like Brazil, Romania, Chile and Denmark have either successfully sustained freedom from PRRS virus or are striving to achieve/have achieved national elimination. The longer we wait, the harder it will be to compete in the global marketplace,” Spronk says.

Non-negotiable #2: The U.S. swine industry must improve its biosecurity.
The U.S. must continue to raise the level of biosecurity across the national herd, through an evidence-based approach known as Next-Generation Biosecurity (NGB), Dee says. NGB targets prevention of viral entry into the breeding herd (bio-exclusion) via direct routes (pigs and semen) and indirect routes, i.e., mechanical routes, aerosols and feed.

“The same concept must be applied to the wean-to-finish sector through both the practice of bio-exclusion to protect standing growing pigs and the practice of bio-containment to protect the region,” he says. “This latter point stresses the need for strategies designed to reduce viral excretion from infected populations, such as the use of vaccines and the participation in voluntary animal health programs.”

Non-negotiable #3: The U.S. swine industry must restrict the use of live virus inoculation.
Live virus inoculation (LVI) involves the harvesting of farm-specific viruses through injection of serum from viremic animals to induce homologous immunity in susceptible animals.

“This practice is neither safe or efficacious, as the use of LVI in sows induces pregnancy loss across all stages of gestation, and does not produce sterilizing immunity,” Dee says. “In addition, when evaluating the productivity of PRRS-virus-infected breeding herds vaccinated with modified live virus vaccines (MLV) versus those administered LVI, MLV herds returned to baseline production significantly sooner and had significantly less total reproductive loss, versus herds given LVI.”

Routine application of LVI in pregnant females should be avoided and limited to a safer use as a one-time application to stable population of non-pregnant replacement gilts housed in a biosecure gilt development facility during a PRRS virus elimination program, Dee adds.

Non-negotiable #4: The U.S. industry must change its behavior regarding the movement of PRRSV-infected pigs.
Between-farm movements of animals and transportation vehicles enhance regional spread of PRRS virus, with vehicles transporting pigs to farms being responsible for most infections. To control the spread of the virus at the regional level, they are calling for change in how PRRSV-infected pigs are moved between sites.

“The co-mingling of infected and non-infected pigs at weaning must be avoided, infected pigs should not be placed near naïve populations of negative sow farm populations or standing growing pigs, and transport vehicles should be sanitized between movements,” Spronk says. “This is simple common sense. We know what we need to do, we just must do it.”

Non-negotiable #5: The U.S. industry needs an improved genetic response to PRRS virus.
Exciting advances are underway in the field of swine genetics pertaining to PRRS virus, Dee says. One approach is the editing of the CD-163 region of the macrophage to prevent viral infection at the cellular level, while the other involves genetic selection to improve the general immune response and robustness of the pig following challenge.

“Each approach has its own strengths and limitations,” Dee says. “I think we do have to temper our enthusiasm that there’s not a silver bullet for this disease. One size doesn’t fit all.”

Non-negotiable #6: The U.S. swine industry needs to participate in US SHIP.
Modeled after the National Poultry Improvement Plan and originally based on mitigation of African swine fever and classical swine fever, the US Swine Health Improvement Plan (US SHIP) has the ability to stimulate collaboration and reduce the impact of domestic diseases such as PRRS virus, they say.

Prior to US SHIP, a platform like this was not available, Dee says. However, the industry can now use this to communicate and collaborate more effectively.

“We are clearly ready,” Dee says. “There’s no question in my mind, after 38 years dealing with this thing, we are so ready. It hurts to sit still. Now is exactly the time to take all the information, all the collaboration that’s coming, and get going, because we know what we need to do. We just have to do it.”

Watch their exclusive interview on The PORK Podcast here or listen anywhere podcasts are found.

Read the viewpoint in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association.

Does Your Farm Team Need to Refocus or Reset?

Fri, 12 Sep 2025 19:05:24 GMT

Building a high-functioning team isn’t just a nice thing to do, experts say there is a strong business case to do it. Companies that cultivate strong, collaborative teams consistently outperform their competitors, driving innovation, engagement and results, according to the FranklinCovey Blog .

Studies have shown that high-performing teams are significantly more productive and creative than ineffective teams, making more-informed decisions and saving more time while producing better results. High-functioning teams also see higher employee engagement and job satisfaction, reducing turnover by 50%.

Joel DeRouchey, professor swine nutrition and state Extension leader at Kansas State University, says building a high-functioning ‘team’ is one of the most important things you can do to achieve success, whether it’s your team at work, a volunteer committee, or even your family. Though the size and dynamics of each of those teams varies greatly, what makes them high functioning doesn’t.

Shared Purpose
As an educator, DeRouchey has had the opportunity to be a part of many teams and see a lot of teams in action. From his perspective, teams must constantly evaluate if they need to refocus, recharge or reset. That starts with asking yourself some questions, he says.

“Are you engaged? Are you with people who truly believe in the purpose of the team?” DeRouchey asks.

He says high-functioning teams share the same goals.

“Whether you’re building a team of employees in the barn or in the boardroom, you have to start with the same goals of self-improvement,” DeRouchey adds. “This requires being open-minded, being a good listener and speaking up when needed.”

The most important trait high-functioning teams possess is horizontal accountability, he says.

“I’m accountable to my team members,” DeRouchey explains. “We all have some individual responsibilities that we have to be champions for, but we must realize how our role impacts the other team members.”

He says horizontal accountability builds trust, understanding and self-awareness that helps each individual improve while propelling the whole team forward.

“To me, that accountability to others is key,” DeRouchey says. “Teams that are always trying to one up each other get destroyed really fast.”

When is it Time to Move on?
One of the hardest parts of being a part of a team is recognizing when it’s time for the team to be done.

“All teams don’t have to stay in the same function and fashion for decades and decades,” DeRouchey says. “They need to evolve to those who can work together, have a common mission and trust each other.”

Teams that don’t work well together aren’t productive or fun. He says this is often due to selfishness among one or more members of the team.

“Sometimes people are concerned if others are getting credit, or if they feel the limelight is being taken away from them,” DeRouchey says.

Other times, the challenges arise when someone is doing a disproportionate amount of work because somebody else isn’t pulling their weight.

“There’s never an exact equal percentage of time spent on every little thing between members of a team,” he points out. “There’s never a equal percentage of who gets the credit.”

But he argues high-functioning teams don’t care who gets the credit. They just want to get it done right. When teams become unfunctional, or people lose interest, it’s important to be able to make hard decisions for the good of the bigger team, DeRouchey says.

“I don’t know what the right word is, but you’ve got to be happy on your team, and if you’re not, then you need to reflect on whether or not you should be part of this team,” he says.

It’s also good to look around to see if there is somebody on the team who’s causing unhappiness or if something the team is doing is causing it. If so, it may be time to hit the reset button.

“We can get into the blame game pretty fast on a team,” DeRouchey says. “That’s human nature. We need to instead look in the mirror and take a step back and say, ‘All right, if something’s not going right, what is it? Is it me? Is it the situation?’ Then, go figure out how to best go forward.”

DeRouchey shares more on The PORK Podcast. You can watch it here on YouTube or listen anywhere podcasts are found.

Watch more episodes here.

Beyond the Barn: How Showing Livestock Builds Future Leaders

Fri, 29 Aug 2025 16:16:44 GMT

“Late nights spent in the barn, the early mornings — that is where memories have been made.”

Making memories with her family and friends in the barn and at pig shows has been key to Oliva Shike’s playbook as a young agriculturist. Her experiences in the swine industry have motivated her to pursue a career in agriculture and make a positive difference in the future of the pork industry.

The oldest daughter of Dan and Jennifer Shike, Olivia’s passion for agriculture, and specifically livestock, comes to her naturally. Her journey showing livestock, participating in FFA and conducting research have shaped her into a passionate advocate for the agricultural industry.

As Olivia returns to college, she joins her mom on The Pork Podcast. Taking the hot seat, she reflects on her final summer with her siblings in the barn and attending pig shows and the importance of those experiences as she prepares for a career in the agriculture industry.

It Started in the Barn
Olivia’s competitive spirit started at a young age. She began showing horses when she was little and quickly transitioned to showing pigs and later sheep.

Olivia and her first pig Rosey.

(Jennifer Shike)

Throughout her show career, she learned valuable life lessons about perseverance, mentorship and personal growth. Her participation went beyond the show ring. She shares fond memories of practicing speeches, preparing for skillathon competitions and livestock judging with her siblings Hunter and Harper. These contests helped her develop valuable life skills that she will use far beyond her time as a pig showman.

Winning the Illinois State Fair with her Chester barrow, Billy, was a moment she’ll always treasure in the show ring. It also meant staying at the state fair for an extra week in the Hall of Champions.

(BROOKLYNN SALO/Cindy’s Livestock Photos)

“It’s an awesome opportunity for the average person to be able to get to experience livestock,” she says. “I would sit with my pig and little kids would come up to see him. I’d let them rub his belly – he loved it. But the best part was I got to answer their questions. That was a rewarding part of the process, knowing we were helping educate people about agriculture.”

While winning banners and buckles is one of the big goals, she says you don’t realize how special each moment is until it might be over.

“Live in the moment because it goes by incredibly fast,” she says. “People always say that. But when it’s 100 degrees and you’re 13 years old, you’re probably not thinking about how it’s going to all come to an end someday, so you might take things for granted or not truly appreciate those moments. Take advantage of every moment when you’re at a show.”

Whether it’s talking to friends, meeting people in the industry or soaking in advice from mentors, she encourages people to take advantage of the time they get to spend at shows.

Outside of the Show Ring
“I’ve always known that I wanted to have a career in the ag industry, but truly finding where I feel I fit in, I definitely owe a lot of it to FFA,” Olivia explains.

Her involvement in FFA and agricultural science fairs became a significant part of her personal and academic growth. During high school, Olivia conducted three research projects. Her first project was a cattle project using cows from her grandpa and uncle’s farm. It sparked her interest in research and a curiosity and desire to understand and improve the industry.

“My dad walked me through the process and taught me how to do stats on it,” she says. “I loved every part of it, whether it was doing the background research, running the stats, or being able to talk about my conclusions.”

In her second project, she set out to study Generation Z meat preferences. With so many stereotypes surrounding her generation, born between the mid-1990s and 2012, she wanted to see if the stereotypes were valid.

“I wanted to learn what was going through their mind when they’re at the grocery store or when they’re at a restaurant making a meat selection,” she explains. “I know that the purchases a consumer makes have a direct impact on the livestock industry as a whole.”

She plans to continue this study as part of a Black Hawk honors class this year, focusing on meat preferences in Generation Z students who are now in high school and college.

Her third project focused on understanding leadership capacity in agricultural careers. One of her key findings was that the agriculture industry needs to create more opportunities for youth to have mentoring relationships.

“I discovered that being able to identify a mentor and then being able to mentor someone else were both highly correlated with greater leadership capacity,” Olivia says. “That made so much sense to me. The people that I’ve learned the most from are my mentors. And, when I’ve had the opportunity to mentor other people, I feel like that’s given me an even greater sense of leadership ability.”

One of Olivia’s most significant observations through her research projects and time in the show ring is the disconnect between agricultural producers and consumers, particularly among her generation. She says social media is both a challenge and a solution, emphasizing the need for accurate, positive messaging about agriculture.

“Social media doesn’t have to be the problem,” she says. “It was created as a tool, and I think that’s what it should be. How can we figure out how to use social media in a healthier way so that we can still be able to form important relationships?”

Coming Full Circle
Now a sophomore at Black Hawk and a member of the livestock judging team, her next step is choosing a four-year university where she will finish her degree in agricultural economics with a focus on policy while continuing her judging career.

The Exposition Judging Contest

(Legacy Livestock Imaging)

Olivia says her future goal is to advocate for the agricultural industry, potentially through political engagement or policymaking. She sees herself working to bridge gaps and promote understanding of agricultural practices.

“I want to actively work to make changes that will help create a better future in our industry,” she says. “Being able to grow up in the swine industry, I have a greater appreciation for what goes on behind the scenes and what kind of support is needed. I want to be able to use this knowledge and skills I’ve gained to fight for them.”

Learn more about how Olivia relies on her faith and humor to keep a positive outlook on life, and how her experiences in the pork industry have helped her develop critical life skills such as time management, resilience and leadership on The PORK Podcast. You can watch it here on YouTube or listen anywhere podcasts are found.

How Pork Power Couple Rob and Char Brenneman Built a Legacy

Fri, 15 Aug 2025 16:10:07 GMT

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.

(Provided by Rob and Char Brenneman)

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.

(National Pork Board and the Pork Checkoff)

“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.

A Time of Transition for the Purebred Swine Industry

Mon, 04 Aug 2025 14:05:06 GMT

What’s next for the purebred swine industry? That’s a good question and one that a passionate group of people are exploring and asking of themselves right now.

“The purebred side of the business is constantly changing,” says Clay Zwilling, CEO of the National Swine Registry. “It’s a dynamic industry. I think we truly are in a place of transition. We always talk about the generational gap. But the industry is so fast paced that even in my short tenure of being gone, it changed so much.”

After leading the National Swine Registry for four years, Zwilling decided to make a career change for his family. But his passion for the purebred swine industry drew him back in 2024.

“A lot of what we’re focused on now as an organization is creating sustainability from a breeder base and from a generational knowledge standpoint,” he explains. “We are focusing on educational activities like our Young Breeder Forum held before NSR’s Draft Sale and partnering with National Pork Board and showpig.com to create the National Show Pig Summit to bring people together and have critical discussions.”

National Swine Registry CEO Clay Zwilling

(Legacy Livestock Imaging)

Of course, he says NSR never wants to lose sight of the bigger industry as well. From participating in the U.S. Swine Health Improvement Plan to collaborating on industry biosecurity efforts to working with National Pork Board, Zwilling says it’s critical to the future of the purebred industry to be actively engaged strategic partners in these efforts.

Are Youth Swine Shows Shrinking?
Although there have been many exciting conversations around digital pedigree systems and branded pork programs, Zwilling says one of the big topics of conversations NSR is having right now is around talent build in the industry and developing young people.

“We get so focused at the shows on the pig. Is this pig what we expect in terms of phenotypic quality? What did this judge say about my pig? How am I making breeding decisions that are important to the business?” Zwilling says. “But at the end of the day, what are we actually trying to do with these pigs as a product? To me, beyond the pig ultimately ending up in the food chain, we have to consider what we are trying to teach young people.”

He estimates a third of the exhibitors at the National Junior Summer Spectacular held in Louisville, Ky., this summer were new families. With the significant rise in the price of the pig project in the last few years, he says that is pretty incredible.

Stormi Swaim showing Hampshire pig

“We know with inflation, the cost of travel, feed, all those things have gone up,” Zwilling says. “I think that’s why my perspective has changed a lot in focusing on how many families are engaged (and how many are new) versus how many pigs are actually at the show.”

He believes pig numbers will likely level out and maybe even retract some in terms of actual numbers exhibited at shows. That’s why he is focused on the exhibitors.

“If the exhibitor number continues to grow and new families come in, that tells me we’re in a healthy place in our business,” he says.

But he admits he’s concerned about county and state fair participation. Zwilling says national shows like the ones offered by the National Junior Swine Association and Team Purebred, have “super fans” who are highly committed to engagement.

“Candidly, if we look at the average Midwest county fair, livestock numbers as a whole, but particularly in the pig barn, are on the decline,” he adds. “I think a lot of it does have to do with the economic factor of it and we have a lot of discussions in the boardroom on bringing in new participation.”

Show pigs are the most accessible for young families in his opinion. That’s why he is driven to focus on engaging new exhibitors and new families to try out the show pig project.

“The cycle of which we sell pigs because of the maturity of the pigs we show today has certainly changed,” he says. “I think we need to start having the discussion of merchandising pigs to specific endpoints in specific places.”

An Attention Competition
In a time where everyone’s competing for time, talent and resources, providing the best experience possible isn’t just important, it’s crucial, Zwilling says.

“Without our members, we’re not here,” he says. “A lot of people may not know this, but at heart, I am a people pleaser. I want everyone to be happy and have a positive experience. I’ve realized I can’t do that all the time because it’s not feasible or realistic. But I do want to identify things that don’t go well and figure out how to make them better. I want people to feel heard.”

Perhaps even more important to Zwilling is to remember that NSR is reaching consumers.

“We’re in the animal protein space, and regardless of whether you have one sow or 100,000+ sows, that’s where pigs are ultimately going to end up,” he says. “We were able to partner with National Pork Board to bring a cooking competition for kids to the National Junior Summer Spectacular. Frankly, with the new consumer facing campaign, Taste What Pork Can Do, it just aligned really well for us to try out this contest this year.”

A team of chefs from Oklahoma work on a tasty dish utilizing pork loin.

(Jennifer Shike)

Teams of young chefs participated in a cooking demonstration by a chef, learning about how to best prepare pork.

“The feedback I got from participants was, 1) we had a ton of fun and 2) it was really interesting to hear the chef talk about the preparation of pork and the different philosophies around cooking pork,” Zwilling says. “Our goal should always be to drive consumer demand and interest in eating pork. If that contest provides a little context around that and a new appreciation for eating pork, it’s worth it for us to invest in doing.”

It’s hard, but he says we have to accept the reality that the majority of our talent in the swine industry doesn’t come from a traditional farm background anymore.

“Projects like this create that passion, create that knowledge, and then open the gateway to ultimately go on and pursue a career in the pork industry,” Zwilling says. “It excites me to know we have a group of young people who are passionate about taking care of pigs and being involved in the pig business.”

Listen to The PORK Podcast to listen to the full conversation on the future of the purebred swine industry and the most valuable leadership lesson Zwilling has learned over the years. Watch this episode on YouTube or listen anywhere podcasts are found.

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