The 2024 South Dakota Master Pork Producer winners were announced Jan. 15 during the 56th annual South Dakota Pork Congress in Sioux Falls. Recipients are Brian Mehlhaf, of Madison; Cristina Rocha, Iroquois; and Ross Mencke, Onida.
Mehlhaf grew up on a farm with pigs and believes that pork production is the best way to bring family members back to the farm. He started his career driving truck and buying and selling hay before returning to hog farming in 2012, when he built a 2,400-head finishing barn with his first wife. In 2018, he built two more barns. When his wife died in 2020, Mehlhaf signed a three-year contract to work with Sunterra Farms. In 2022, Mehlhaf re-married and soon after began working with Tri-Tech-Agricare Nutrition and Compart Family Farms to finish pigs for the Compart Pork Store. His sons, Devin and Jacob, have both returned to the farm with their wives, Emily and Madison, and are involved in the operation.
Rocha manages Banner Farm, a 10,000-sow unit near Iroquois built by Pipestone Management in 2022. The farm includes four main buildings: a farrowing barn with 1,870 spaces, a gestation barn with 152 pens for 31 sows per pen, a breeding barn for 3,060 sows and gilts, and a gilt development unit. Under Rocha’s leadership, Banner Farm’s dedicated team of 24 full-time employees takes care of daily tasks including heat checking, breeding, farrowing, weaning and pressure washing. Rocha cites hard work, cooperation of the team, attention to detail and the heat no service protocols as driving production success and maintaining exceptional breeding and farrowing standards.
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