Popular Pig Podcast Episodes

A State of Corn & Pigs | Dean Meyer

About the Guest

Dean Meyer is no stranger to the livestock industry, for more than 30 years, he along with his family have been farming near Rock Rapids, Iowa. He has served as chair of the Lyon County Pork Producers, president of the Farmers Elevator Co-Op, the Lyon County Extension Council, chair of the Iowa Corn Animal Ag and Environment Committee and District 1 Director of the Iowa Corn Growers Association. Being from one of the densest livestock regions of the state, he is passionate about supporting the crops he grows and the livestock he raises. He currently serves as chair of the U.S. Meat Export Federation where he puts this passion to work as he advocates for the expansion of market demand for U.S. red meat exports. Dean and his wife Linda have five children including three sons, Alvie, Jacob and Blake, who work on the family farm helping raise corn, soybeans, cattle and swine.   

Labor and Immigration Reform in Agriculture | Kyle Farmer

About the Guest

Kyle has a passion for teaching. He discovered this passion while working for Kaplan Test Prep as he finished his Political Science degree at Texas A&M University. He has carried this passion throughout his legal career, teaching clients as he helps them to find and understand legal pathways out of labor bottlenecks. His innovation in solving perpetual labor shortages for businesses came shortly after graduating from Vanderbilt Law School. He and his wife, Natalie, began working on various types of immigration visas for their family construction business in Iowa. It was from their perspective as employers that they were able to see the vision for what could be accomplished through foreign recruitment and legal immigration. Kyle and Natalie have built a thriving practice from solid, creative, forward-thinking solutions that provide much-needed relief for their many clients throughout the United States. With one baby boy, three young daughters, and counting, Kyle enjoys spending time with his family on their property in the country, riding four-wheelers, hunting, and raising hogs.

Do We Think Pigs Are Happy? | Dr. David Beggs

About the Guest

Dave has been a veterinarian for more than 25 years and a computer programmer for more than 30. After a long period as a mixed animal vet he is now an Associate Professor at the University of Melbourne with a PhD in Animal Welfare of cattle, where he undertakes research in dairy cattle medicine, reproduction and animal welfare.  He is also editor-in-chief of the Australian Veterinary Journal and a director of the Australian Veterinary Association.

Global Affairs In The Swine Industry | Dr. Jim Lowe

About the Guest

Dr. Lowe is 1994 graduate of the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine and has been working with swine production companies across the United States since that time. Dr. Lowe completed the college’s Executive Veterinary Program in Swine Health Management in 2000 and returned to campus as a student in 2002 while continuing to practice full time. In 2005 he received a master of science degree in infectious disease management. He has maintained an active research program since completing his master’s, focusing on the management of viral respiratory disease in swine production systems. In 2012 he became board certified in food animal practice by the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners.

Talkin’ PRRS | Dr. Brandi Burton & Dr. Amanda Reever

About the Guest

Dr. Amanda Reever was raised on a cattle, hog, and grain operation in Algona, IA, where she developed her interest in animal production and medicine. She received her DVM from Iowa State University in 2022, alongside a Master’s degree in Veterinary Preventive Medicine. Dr. Reever began working for Suidae right out of veterinary school, and she now resides with her husband in Manson, Iowa.

Dr. Brandi Burton is originally from Mt. Prospect, IL, a suburb of Chicago and attended the University of Illinois where she received a BS in Animal Sciences 2015 and her DVM in 2019. Shortly after graduation, she moved to Iowa to start her career with Suidae. Dr. Burton splits her time between veterinary services and field research. She currently resides with her family in Humboldt, IA.

Debunking Myths about Sustainability & Nutrition in Animal Agriculture | Tara Vander Dussen

About the Guest

Tara is a New Mexico native, 5th generation dairy farmer, an environmental scientist, and mom of two girls. Daniel, her husband, manages all day-to-day on his family dairy farm while Tara has her own career as an environmental consultant, speaker, and online agriculture advocate. Tara began sharing her story online through her platform, New Mexico Milkmaid, because she found that people often had misconceptions about farmers and modern farming, and she wanted to set the record straight about dairy farm life and on-farm sustainability. She now has a community of more than 73,000 followers. And she has had the opportunity to speak at national and global conferences about dairy sustainability including at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization Committee on World Food Security and the Forbes AgTech Summit. Tara is also the Co-Founder of Elevate Ag, an online course to provide farmers and ranchers with the tools they need to successfully share their ag story and grow their businesses, and the Co-Founder of Discover Ag, a docuseries and podcast of being agriculture to people in a new way.

Biosecurity Is A Journey | Dr. Derald Holtkamp

About the Guest

Dr. Derald Holtkamp is a Professor in the Department of Veterinary Diagnostics and Production Animal Medicine (VDPAM) in the College of Veterinary Medicine at Iowa State University (Ames, Iowa, U.S.). He received his DVM, MS in Agricultural Economics, and B.S. in Agricultural Business with a minor in statistics, all from Iowa State University. Prior to joining Iowa State, he was a private veterinary consultant. He has also served as a technical services veterinarian for ADViSYS Inc., Vice President of Swine Applications for MetaFarms Inc., Director of Pork Development for E-Markets, Inc., and veterinarian and service manager for Smithfield Foods in Warsaw, North Carolina. Dr. Holtkamp’s research focuses on managing infectious swine diseases, biosecurity, disease risk assessment, and the economics of animal health and disease. He has authored over 50 peer-reviewed publications, is a frequent speaker in the U.S. and internationally with over 240 invited presentations, and has mentored over 260 professional and graduate students. 

Oops We Did It Again | Joe Kerns

About the Guest

Joseph Kerns, President of Partners for Production Agriculture, has thirty years’ experience working with producers, suppliers, and mills to support agricultural operations. He leads a team of professionals with the purpose of understanding the financial parameters around agricultural markets so that those that he works with can thrive and prosper.

Digital Farm & Technology Insights | David Speller

About the Guest

From vegetable farm manager to global ISO auditor, David then moved into the poultry sector when he purchased a UK broiler farm in 2004 and continues to operate a contract poultry farm management company in the UK. In 2018, David founded OPTIFarm. OPTIfarm is a very unique data driven support service, currently for poultry and swine, assessing real time farm data against animal behavioural knowledge and human considerations to increase productivity and welfare globally 24/7. David has a broad and open mind regarding the opportunities of data and digital solutions in farming and he has a passion for creating tangible value from digital solutions.

Proposals Impacting Animal Agriculture | Elizabeth Rumley

About the Guest

Elizabeth Rumley is a senior staff attorney at the National Agricultural Law Center in Fayetteville, Arkansas. At the Center, her primary research and scholarship focus is on legal issues in animal agriculture, and she frequently lectures on those issues and others to audiences nationwide. She has co-taught a course covering “Animals and Agricultural Production, Law and Policy” at the University of Nebraska College of Law and the University of Oklahoma College of Law, and has developed and teaches a graduate/undergraduate course discussing legal issues in animal agriculture at the University of Arkansas. Additionally, she teaches Environmental Law at the University of Arkansas.  She is licensed to practice law in Michigan, Ohio, and Oklahoma after earning her B.A. from Michigan State University, her J.D. cum laude from the University of Toledo College of Law, and her LL.M. in Agricultural Law from the University of Arkansas School of Law.