Pork Powerhouses 2023: Sow numbers, pig profits down while productivity up

There is no question: 2023 was a tough year, financially, for the pork industry. 

“Brutal,” “horrible,” and “one hell of a challenge” were some descriptors the powerhouses used when asked about swine production in 2023. The annual Pork Powerhouses® listing, now in its 29th year, ranks hog operations by number of sows. This year’s list includes operations with more than 25,000 sows. 

With 4,164,376 sows, the Pork Powerhouses® represent 69% of the nation’s breeding inventory, based on data from the quarterly “Hogs and Pigs” USDA report released Dec. 22, 2023.

Fewer sows in 2023

In 2023, 36 companies — one fewer than in 2022 — had more than 25,000 sows. Win Productions, based in Valley City, Illinois, dropped off the list after selling its hogs to another producer in August 2023, according to Shawn O’Brien, with Win Productions. The company reported 26,000 sows in 2022.

Of the 36 companies, 17 remained constant in their sow numbers from 2022, 10 reduced numbers, and nine added sows. Collectively, they reduced sow numbers by 17,348 from 2022 to 2023. This is the first year since 2010 that Pork Powerhouses® reported a net loss in sow numbers, although it should be noted the list reflected the top 25 at that time and now includes any operation with more than 25,000 sows. 

Profits down

"I don't have to tell you, the industry is hurting right now from a profitability standpoint,” says Bob Ruth, president of the National Pork Board and past president of Pennsylvania-located Country View Family Farms.

The Iowa State University (ISU) Estimated Livestock Returns model showed a loss of $57.97 per 270-pound finished hog in April 2023, with an average $31.57 lost per head for the year. This made 2023 the worst profit year ISU recorded, according to university Extension livestock economist Dr. Lee Schulz. 

Ruth pinned profitability loss on inflated cost of production, which he said in December was close to a record-breaking $1 per pound, as well as demand that had not yet caught up.

National Pork Board CEO Bill Even says the European Union’s (EU) downward trend in pork exports, driven in part by in-creased regulatory pressure, creates a “once-in-a-generation opportunity” for the U.S. pork industry to capture more of the global market. The U.S. is second to the EU in world pork exports. Total pork exports were up 6% by value and 8% by volume at the end of 2023, thanks to a surge in December, according to the U.S. Meat Export Federation.

Production continues to improve

While profitability fell, Pork Powerhouses® were clear: Productivity is up. Producers credited improved genetics and continued investment in health and biosecurity. “The farms that are left are very efficient,” says Matt Hueber, president of Great Plains Management in Creston, Illinois.

Other producers recognize the challenge to maintain the momentum. “We’ve got to keep getting really good at what we do,” says Rob Brenneman, who owns Brenneman Pork in Washington, Iowa. “Production is key. No question.”

Smithfield closes sow farms in Missouri

The Pork Powerhouses® list is built using data each company provides, except Smithfield, which did not respond to a request for an update on 2023 sow numbers. An industry source says a “safe” estimate would put Smithfield at about 810,000 sows, following its liquidation of operations in northern Missouri. That would be a decrease of 75,000 sows, based on the 2022 estimate of 885,000 sows.

Local news stations reported in August 2023 that Smithfield would close 35 hog farms in Missouri: 13 near Newton, 12 near Lucerne, and 10 near Princeton. In an April report from station KTVO on the possibility of those closings, one employee, speaking anonymously, said, “The company president blamed the move on ‘challenging hog market conditions.’ ” 

Pipestone at No. 2

Minnesota-based Pipestone Management represented the largest growth, with an increase of 60,612 sows. Dr. Barry Kerkaert, chairman of the Pipestone Holdings board of directors, says the growth came from acquiring management of family-operated farms, mostly in Kansas, Missouri, and South Dakota, and from replacing assets in disease-prone areas. Pipestone is “disciplined,” he says, in keeping sow farms at the “periphery of the Corn Belt” away from pig farms, as a health measure.

“Pipestone remains firmly committed to not expand-ing the industry, but we are committed to bringing in more sustainable farms that will provide the next generation with a viable pork supply,” Kerkaert says. “The industry doesn’t need new pigs at this time, but we recognize for these independent farmers we work with, if they don’t have a high-quality, good-health opportunity to get their weaned pigs, they are not going to survive.”

Selling sows, enhancing efficiency

Seaboard Foods, based in Shawnee Mission, Kansas, took the No. 3 spot, down from No. 2, with a de-crease of 28,000 sows. Noel Williams, vice president of live operations, says 336,000 sows was the company’s number as of early February 2024. Reductions were made as Seaboard “works to improve the efficiency of our operations,” says Williams, who also noted the difficult economic conditions.

No. 7 Prestage Farms, based in Clinton, North Carolina, reduced its sow numbers by 5,000, mostly due to genetics-driven improvements in sow productivity but also high costs of production, says Zack McCullen III, vice president of swine production. “We have less sows producing basically the same number of pigs, maybe even more,” McCullen says. 

The bulk of The Maschhoffs’ reduced sow numbers (down 15,000; No. 10) came from selling its Indiana farms, says CFO Jeff Diesen. The company, based in Carlyle, Illinois, also closed a couple of small sites in Nebraska.

“Some of the farms we sold were very productive, with great people,” Diesen says. “They just didn’t fit geographically in our regional-based operating footprint.”

Other companies reporting fewer sows included JBS USA, Greeley, Colorado (down 6,642; No. 5); Tyson Foods, Springdale, Arkansas (down 4,000; No. 15); Protein Sources, Mapleton, Minnesota (down 4,000; No. 25); and Sietsema Farms, Allendale, Michigan (down 1,500; tied for No. 28). Cooper Farms, Fort Recovery, Ohio (No. 32) dropped 1,100 sows due to converting three sow farms to Prop 12 compliance. VMC Management, Williamsburg, Iowa (down 3,400) was No. 36.

Hord Family Farms acquires New Horizon Farms

The second largest expansion of the year — 15,000 sows — was fifth-generation Hord Family Farms, based in Bucyrus, Ohio. Hord announced it completed its acquisition of New Horizons Farms, a farrow-to-finish operation in Pipestone, Minnesota, on Nov. 17, 2023. The acquisition bumps Hord Family Farms up to No. 23 from No. 33, with 45,000 sows.

“While we will always have deep roots in Ohio and continue to make investments here, this acquisition reflects our deliberate strategic growth and dedication to producing quality food products for consumers,” CEO Pat Hord said in a press release.

Other additions

• AMVC Management Services (No. 8) added 13,000 sows that “were existing production purchased by a client and new to the management system,” ac-cording to Dr. Jason Hocker, a veterinarian with AMVC, based in Audubon, Iowa.
• Clemens - Country View Family Farms, in Hatfield, Pennsylvania (No. 11), bought two farms (about 5,000 sows) from The Maschhoffs and repopulated a 5,000-sow unit that was empty last year due to porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS).
• Prop 12 and converting to open pen gestation were the main reasons for growth at Brenneman Pork in Washington, Iowa (up 6,500 sows; No. 22). “It looked like an opportunity for longevity,” owner Rob Brenneman says. “Now, granted, costs are higher and it’s not worked out yet. But we believe it will.”
• Fine Swine in Dublin, Ohio, replaced a sow unit that had poor health and expanded/converted a farm to bring it into Prop 12 compliance. Its number increased by 7,000 sows, and its rank improved to No. 24 from No. 30, as of February.
• Suidae Health and Production in Algona, Iowa, populated a new farm with 6,500 sows in spring 2023. This bumped Suidae up to No. 31 from 35.
• Allied Producers’ Cooperative, based in Westside, Iowa, and Tosh Farms, based in Henry, Tennessee, also added sows (6,261 and 1,000, respectively).

What's ahead?

As recently as early January, ISU forecast an average annual loss of $18 per head for farrow-to-finish operations in 2024. If real-ized, ISU livestock econo-mist Schulz wrote on the university Extension website in October, that would make 2023 and 2024 “go down as the worst two-year stretch for profitability in hog production, even eclipsing the infamous losses in 1998 and 1999.”

However, Schulz subsequently reported, conditions had improved notably by late February, with average annual returns forecast close to break-even for 2024, based on late February estimates. Still, farrow-to-finish producers are expected to lose an average $17.39 per head in 2023 to 2024. This is slightly better than the $21.98 per head in 1998 to 1999.

“Change is the only constant, and it feels like we are going through another one of those shifts, as we have every 10 to 15 years or so,” says Pat Hord, of Hord Family Farms. “Pork producers remain optimistic in the face of these challenges, and hopefully, we will see better times soon.”

Click HERE to see previous Pork Powerhouses® rankings.