Farmer Eaten by Hogs at Oregon Farm

Oct 02, 2012

Mystery Surrounds Case of Animals Eating Human

In a bizarre and unfortunate incident that left a man dead on an Oregon farm, authorities from the state are currently investigating how a 69 year-old man was eaten by his hogs. On Wednesday morning, Terry Garner, an Oregon swine farmer went to feed his pigs as part of his morning chores. Several hours later, a family member became concerned that he had not returned back from the barn so they went to look for him. To the family member’s horror, Garner was found dead and it appeared that his body was eaten by the hogs in the hog enclosure.

There are still a lot of unknown details about how Garner died. The Coos County sheriff’s department is currently investigating the incident. It was also known that Garner’s sows and boar were considered much larger than the norm. Some reports are saying that the animals were 700 pounds.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.