Whole hog: How one Winchester farm raises its pigs

By Ben Singson REPORTER

WINCHESTER — Americans love pork.

Behindbeefandchicken, pork is the thirdmost popular meat consumed in the United States, with the average American eating just under52poundsofpigtotal last year. The National Pork Producers Council said there were more than66,000farmsacross the country producing pork as of 2021.

Despite this, however, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said the number of farms with hogs on them has declined by 70% since 1990 as individual outfits grow larger.

The USDA said most pork farms in the U.S. are concentrated in the Midwest. One such farm is Spencer Farms in Winchester, run by the father-and-son duo of Jeff and James Spencer. While James Spencer said he did not have an exact number of pigs on their farm, he estimated there to be around 20 sows.

“I’ve got pigs from all different sides running around,” he said.

Pigsarejustoneofseveral things Spencer Farms grows; the outfit also farms corn, soybeans, grain and beef, among other things. Jeff Spencer said his father wastheonetogetstarted raising pigs in the ‘60s. He took over for his father after getting out of college and raised them himself for 20 years, though he said he initially intended to quit pig farming, only keeping a few for meat. His son then began raising a few pigsofhisownafterjoin- ing Future Farmers of America, Jeff Spencer said.

“He kept raising some tomakemoneyandthen, thepandemichit,andthe packers wouldn’t buy our hogs,” Jeff Spencer said. “That’s how we got started in the meat business—tryingtogetridof our own hogs.”

James Spencer said that his grandfather raised pigs to “pay for farms,” though he said pigs were not worth nearly as much today as they were back then. Nevertheless, he said there were few other ways for him to stay around Winchester and make money aside from raising hogs.

“You had a few hogs to pay for farm ground,” he said,“butnow,yougotto have farm ground to pay the hog bill.”

Therewereafewways to tell a healthy pig from a sick one, James Spencer said. Happy pigs could be seen “flopping around in the mud or running around” with perky ears, he said. The signature curled tail is another indicator of a healthy pig.

“Youalwaysseeincartoons a pig with a curled tail,” he said. “A pig with a curled tail is a happy pig.”

Meanwhile, unhealthy pigs“actlame”withtheir head and ears down, Jeff Spencer said. James Spencer said that while their tail straightening outwasnotalwaysatelltale sign of something being off, it was typically a good indicator. Common diseases for pigs included African swine fever, classical swine fever, pseudorabies and influenza.

Keeping the pigs of

Spencer Farms happy andhealthywassimplya matter of “(giving) them all the food and water they want and keep(ing) their pens dry and clean,” James Spencer said. The farm also tries to keep its pigs antibiotic-freebypreventingdis- eases from cropping up in the first place. Pig farmers need to stay on top of diseases for their animals, as many of them cannot be cured, only treated.

JamesSpencersaidthe difficulty of caring for the pigs depended on the time of the year.

“This time of year, it’s difficult because the weather’s always changing,” he said. “They get started with colds and then sick, but (in) the middle of summer and, a lot of times, the dead of winter, it’s not too difficult because they don’t get sick as often.”

Once the hogs are ready for slaughter — which could take anywhere from three to six months, according to various sources — James Spencer said the farm sells them off to various places around west-central Illinois. The farm is one part of the billions of pounds in pork that are sold each year in the country, fueling an industry that was worth $7.2 billion last year.

Despite pork not makingthefarmasmuchasit used to, both Spencers noted that it usually breaks even on pig sales.

James Spencer also noted that profits on pig sales were going up because they were selling them at a premium.

“It’s something for me to do ... and it keeps (us) from having to buy meat at the store,” he said.