Utah Goes Hog Wild
A new hog complex gives processors an untapped market-and a city new economic hope
by Christopher Smith
Utah is known as the Beehive State, but it is about to become the pork-chop capital of the western United States.
With the largest hog farm west of the Mississippi River now under construction in a flat valley 10 miles south of Milford in southwestern Utah, experts predict pigs will surpass beef cattle, dairy cows and hay as the state's top agricultural product.
One politician compared the dawn of hog production in Milford to the dawn of the U.S. space program more than three decades ago.
"Many people didn't want to have anything to do with the space program either, but look what it has done for the country," says Gary Sullivan, a commissioner in Beaver County, where Milford is located.
Even Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt waxed poetic about pigs.
"This is the best type of industry because it is real," Leavitt points out. "I remember on our family farm, my mother would tell me there is something sacred about creating food for the world to eat."
Four pork-producing competitors-Smithfield Foods Inc., Carroll's Foods, Murphy Farms and Prestage Farms-have joined forces to create Smithfield Foods of Utah, a $400 million project that once in full operation will contract out 50-pound pigs to Utah farmers who will raise them to 250 pounds. Smithfield will then pay the farmer for the hog's added weight.
The company will provide feed, veterinarian services and technical assistance, and farmers will be responsible for facilities, water, manpower and costs.
Farmers can contract for a nursery requiring as little as three acres, while a large operation would require 200 acres. Start-up costs for a contract farmer is about $80,000 per 800 animals, estimates agricultural agent Mark Nelson.
When the facility is completed in about four years, hog production will skyrocket in Utah, currently ranked 37th in the nation in number of pigs on farms. Last year, Utah farmers marketed 56,000 pigs. When the Milford complex is complete, it will produce up to 2 million hogs annually.
"Pork is going to be the biggest agricultural commodity in the state as a result of this," says Rod Brown, Utah State University dean of agriculture. His school already is adjusting curriculum to ensure swine science is covered in the classroom.
Economic uplift
Pig farming is welcome news for the 1,100 residents of Milford, a town where population has shrunk 33 percent since 1950. The mining boom is long gone and railroad jobs are dwindling. In 1992, the town drug store closed, and many of the Main Street buildings are vacant or for sale.
Construction of the new pig farm will mean 80 new jobs, plus another 80 permanent positions to help run the initial cluster of three high-tech barns for raising brood stock. Eventually, the facility could employ as many as 1,000 people.
The first feeder barns of the complex were completed in February, and construction of nursery facilities and farrow barns began in the spring. About 1,200 three-week-old pigs were hauled from North Carolina to Utah in a specially built semi-trailer to establish the nursery.
"It's a nursery on wheels that had to be built from the ground up," points out Larry Sower, head of the Beaver County Economic Development Corp., and an agent for Smithfield Foods of Utah.
Nelson says that leaner pigs will be placed in the new feeder barns to be raised until they are old enough to farrow-about nine months.
"The reason they are bringing in such young pigs is that they want to reduce the chances of bringing disease to Utah," he stresses.
Each hog house will have a flush system to remove waste, and excrement will be transferred to an enclosed treatment lagoon, where methane gas will fuel barn heaters and sewage will be converted to liquid fertilizer.
Using a computerized feeding system, the piglets will grow to 250 pounds in six months.
"These companies raise hogs like pets," Brown stresses. "They have it down to the point that it takes 3 pounds of feed for every 1 pound of weight gain on the pig."
The initial shipment from North Carolina will eventually produce the 100,000 sows that will become the backbone of the Milford operation.
A Fairy Tale
Pig farming in Milford is an economic-development fairy tale that began in 1992 after Larry Sower, president of the Beaver County Economic Development Committee, read an article in Forbes magazine about Smithfield Foods, a major producer of hams, bacon, loins sausage, chops, roasts and ribs.
"About that time, a hog train rolled by, which you tend to notice because of the aroma," Sower says. "So, I figured I might as well write [Joseph W. Luter III, president and CEO of Smithfield] and tell him we had the resources here in case they wanted to expand out West."
Two days later, Luter called Sower to see if Milford's airport was big enough for his Citation Jet to land.
"[Luter] flew out here and within a month we had a letter of intent," Sower notes. "It sounds simple, but remember, this is one of 100 things we try. For every success, you have 97 failure stories."
But this is a success story: Smithfield of Utah is now under construction.
For easterners, the attraction to Milford was almost instantaneous.
"You can feel the salt of the earth here," says John Prestage of Prestage Farms of North Carolina.
"We are dedicated to giving people who work for us a career," says Sonny Faison, president of Carroll's Foods.
Other reasons the firms flipped over Milford: It's close to West Coast markets and overseas ports; it's on a railroad mainline with a direct route to Los Angeles and one of the world's largest ports; it's surrounded by alfalfa farms to supply feed; and there is ample labor.
Company officials began hiring employees from the Milford area this past spring, then sent them to Virginia and North Carolina for training.
"We hope all the work force will eventually come from the local area," says Robert Manly, Smithfield executive vice president. "The more successful we are in attracting people will determine how quickly our needs will be met and [how fast] we can grow."
The boost to the economy will tighten the social fabric of the area as well, according to Ralph Whitesides, leader of Utah State University's agriculture-extension program, who adds it has been difficult in southwestern Utah to make a decent living in agriculture.
"This will give many young people a way to restore those ties to the land."