McClure Farms

We’re the McClure family – Darwin, Ryan and Terry – and we operate a hog finishing operation. That means we raise pigs from 15 to 270 pounds. We built new hog barns and expanded the size of our crop acreage to ensure our farm could survive into the future. Another advantage of the hog barns is the manure, which we use as a fertilizer for the crops, saving thousands of dollars in fertilizer costs.

Corn, soybeans and wheat are stored in these grain bins at our farm. The machinery shed next to them provides space for us to store our various pieces of equipment and a place where maintenance and repairs can be conducted.

Ryan has always been interested in animals and raised a small group of pigs each year when he was in high school. When he came back to farm full-time, his interest in being involved in the pork industry led us to invest in state-of-the-art barns for our farm. Now, Ryan is responsible for taking care of the finishing barns, like this one, which can hold 2,400 pigs each. 

While many people may think we operate a factory farm, it is truly a family operation. We are contract growers for Cooper Farms, which means that Copper Farms owns the pigs, but we own the land and the barns and are responsible for the day-to-day care of the pigs. Once the piglets are weaned, they come to our farm, where family members of all ages help with their care. Baby pigs and mother sows require more intensive care than growing pigs, so we separate the responsibility for these stages so that each farm is able to give the specialized care necessary for pigs at all growth levels.

Being good neighbors is an important aspect of being a pork producer. We invited the community to see our newest hog barn when it was finished. We opened our doors to help them better understand our farming operation and modern pork production. They learned we are business people, and by investing in new advancements in technology, we improve our farming techniques and practices and the care we are able to give our pigs.