From our 2022 issue of Benchmark swine magazine, in her own words, a sixth-generation hog farmer describes her journey and why keeping on top of biosecurity is a must.
By Acacia Hagan, Photos courtesy of Two Mile Pork, LLC
Two Mile Pork, LLC (aka TMP) is in the Monroe City area of Missouri, and was started in 1994 by my father, Scott, and mother, Riss Hays, and her father and mother, Larry and Dorothy Abell, who were already in a row crop partnership with A & H Farms.
Other founders of Two Mile Pork also include Scott’s parents, Nick and Henri, and two pairs of his uncles and aunts - Pat and Margie Hays, and Tony and Jeanne Hays - who were fourth generation row crop and hog farmers as Hays Brothers LLC.
Since then, another great uncle and aunt, Joe and Marie Purol, have become part of the Two Mile Pork ownership group.
All in all, six couples - all related to me - own TMP with my father Scott acting as manager.
As a sixth-generation hog farmer, raising pigs has always been a passion. I was four when the original sow unit was completed, though there have been several additions to get it to the 4,000 head site it is today. I like to tell people “I was not born in a barn, but I was raised in one” and most of my five siblings would agree with me that growing up in the sow unit was great. It probably helped that as young kids the people we worked with spoiled us with snacks.
The summer after my second year of college, I took a production internship in Iowa. In the evenings we had meetings with people from all areas of pork production. One of them, a veterinarian, stopped me after a meeting and asked, “What do you plan to do after college?” I thought for a minute and said, “I am not sure because the only thing I know how to do is raise pigs.”
Luckily, my father persuaded me to get my degree in Agriculture Business, which provided me with several options. The next summer, I became involved in another production internship - this time in Illinois. By the end of that summer, I had agreed to come back full time after graduation as a farrowing house lead.
To read the Full Article from Benchmark magazine, click HERE.