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The 2024 Pork Powerhouses list reflects an industry recovering from steep losses, but not a broad expansion: 12 of the top 36 U.S. producers increased sow numbers, 13 were unchanged and nine reduced them. Murphy Family Ventures returned after taking over 150,000 sows from Smithfield, while Passel Farms entered at No. 21 after reorganizing Standard Nutrition Services’ pork operations and acquiring Cactus Family Farms. The changes show why list movement is not a simple measure of new production: ownership transfers, productivity gains and health or cost decisions can all change a company’s sow count.
What the 2024 list measures—and what it does not
Successful Farming’s 30th annual Pork Powerhouses report ranks the 36 largest U.S. swine producers by sows owned or managed. Together, those operations accounted for 4,177,901 sows, nearly 70% of the U.S. breeding inventory, using the USDA Quarterly Hogs and Pigs report released December 23, 2024. The figure includes animals managed for other owners as well as those a producer owns, so it is not a count of each company’s owned herd alone.
The report’s accessible figures establish the overall direction of change, but not a complete company-by-company year-over-year movement table. It is therefore possible to identify the aggregate winners and decliners, and to report specific 2024 ranks and sow counts, but not to reliably label every named company as up, down or unchanged from 2023.
How many producers grew, held steady or cut sow numbers?
Among the 36 companies, 12 increased sow numbers, 13 were unchanged and nine reduced them, according to Successful Farming’s 2025 report. Nine of the companies that changed their count moved by 2,000 sows or fewer. That pattern points to a mostly stable aggregate rather than a wave of large herd expansions or contractions.
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Those categories describe reported company counts, not necessarily changes in the number of hogs ultimately produced. A producer may raise output per sow through genetics, health or management improvements while keeping fewer sows. Conversely, a change in who owns or reports a herd can move a company’s count without creating or removing equivalent production capacity.
Notable positions and entrants in 2024
These are reported 2024 positions and sow counts, not a full year-over-year ranking comparison. Where the report information does not establish a company’s direction of movement, that status is left unspecified rather than inferred.
| Producer | 2024 position | Sows reported | What is established about the change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pipestone Management | No. 2 | 392,000 managed | Year-over-year direction not stated |
| Iowa Select Farms | No. 4 | 260,000 | Position reported in company communication; year-over-year direction not stated |
| JBS Live Pork | No. 5 | 259,320 | Year-over-year direction not stated |
| Prestage Farms | No. 7 | 170,000 | Reduced sow numbers as genetics increased productivity |
| AMVC Management Services | No. 8 | 161,500 | Year-over-year direction not stated |
| Christensen Farms | No. 10 | 140,000 | Year-over-year direction not stated |
| Clemens Country View Family Farms | No. 12 | 115,841 | Year-over-year direction not stated |
| Reicks View Farms | No. 20 | 64,000 | Year-over-year direction not stated |
| Passel Farms | No. 21 | 60,000 | New to the list after a business reorganization and acquisition; its sows were not necessarily new to the industry |
| Brenneman Pork | No. 24 | 52,000 | Year-over-year direction not stated |
| Suidae Health and Production | No. 26 | 45,000 | Year-over-year direction not stated |
| Fine Swine | No. 27 | 40,000 | Year-over-year direction not stated |
| Cooper Farms | No. 32 | 33,200 | Year-over-year direction not stated |
| Murphy Family Ventures | Returned to the list | 150,000 | Re-entered after assuming the sows in a Smithfield transaction |
Successful Farming’s 2025 report is the source for the positions and counts above, except that Iowa Select Farms’ No. 4 placement was reported in company communication. The table does not rank a company’s profitability or debt, and sow counts alone do not provide either measure.
Why Murphy Family Ventures returned—and why Smithfield’s count changed
Murphy’s return was an ownership change, not a new 150,000-sow expansion
On December 2, 2024, Smithfield and Murphy Family Ventures announced an agreement under which a Murphy-owned business would assume 150,000 sows and the market hogs they produce. The transaction closed December 27, 2024. Smithfield continued to provide feed, transportation and other production services. The Murphy-owned operation has capacity for about 3.2 million hogs annually, according to Successful Farming.
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For interpreting the list, the key distinction is ownership versus operating support: the sow count moved to Murphy, while Smithfield retained a service role. The transaction changed which company’s name those animals belonged under in the rankings; it should not be read as 150,000 sows suddenly entering U.S. production.
Smithfield’s filing gives a different view of its scale
Smithfield’s SEC registration statement reported approximately 750,000 sows as of September 29, 2024. Successful Farming subtracted the 150,000 transferred to Murphy to arrive at an estimated 600,000 for Smithfield in the 2024 list. The filing reported that Smithfield produced 10.8 million hogs from approximately 750,000 sows in the nine months ended September 29, 2024, and 15.8 million hogs from approximately 770,000 sows in 2023.
The filing also said Smithfield sources approximately half of the hogs processed in its Fresh Pork segment facilities through its Hog Production segment, which includes more than 400 company-owned U.S. farms and more than 1,900 contract farms. That integrated structure helps explain why a change in sow ownership need not end the associated production relationship.
How Passel Farms became a new entrant
Standard Nutrition Services announced Passel Farms in May 2024. CEO Pat Joyce said Passel absorbed about 35,000 of Standard Nutrition’s 38,000 sows and acquired Cactus Family Farms. After the acquisition, closure of a 1,500-sow site and discontinuation of management services for 6,000 sows, Passel owned 60,000 sows and ranked No. 21.
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Its farrow-to-finish operations span Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska and South Carolina. As with Murphy, Passel’s appearance on the list reflects a changed company structure and asset ownership; it does not establish that all 60,000 sows represented newly created capacity.
What the industry’s finances looked like in 2024
The list’s modest net movement came after a sharp turnaround in hog economics, but the improvement did not mean producers had wide cushions. Iowa State University estimated an average profit of $3.46 per 270-pound finished hog in 2024, compared with an average loss of $24.10 per head in 2023. The same Iowa State analysis put January 2024 losses as high as $34.86 per head.
Feed costs eased as well: Iowa State estimated November feed cost at $86.49 per head, down from the two-year-period peak of $131.52 in July 2022. These figures indicate relief from the prior cost squeeze, not a guarantee that each producer was profitable. Results vary with feed procurement, herd performance, marketing timing, financing and other company-specific costs; the report’s sow rankings do not disclose those financial details.
Why sow counts can fall even as productivity improves
Productivity gains complicate the idea that a smaller herd always signals retreat. Successful Farming reported that many farms now routinely exceed 30 pigs weaned per sow per year, compared with low-20s 30 years earlier. Prestage reduced its sow numbers as genetics increased productivity, illustrating how a producer can seek more output from a more efficient breeding herd rather than add animals.
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JBS Live Pork’s Matthew Turner said genetic partners had delivered animals that improved breeding-herd and terminal-animal performance. AMVC veterinarian Jason Hocker described 2024 as a recovery year in which the company was beginning to see benefits from unusual changes made to weather the economic storm. Those comments describe company experiences, not a guarantee that genetic or management investments will pay off uniformly across the sector.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Three decades of consolidation and scale
Only six of the 39 companies on the first 1994 list remained among the producers on the 2024 list. The following comparison uses the sow counts reported for those years by Successful Farming; it shows scale change, not inflation-adjusted financial growth or comparable profitability.
| Producer | Sows in 1994 | Sows in 2024 | Change in reported count |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smithfield | 65,000 | Estimated 600,000 | Higher |
| Seaboard | 20,000 | 336,000 | Higher |
| Iowa Select Farms | 11,400 | 260,000 | Higher |
| Prestage Farms | 74,000 | 170,000 | Higher |
| Christensen Farms | 11,000 | 140,000 | Higher |
| Tyson Foods | 95,000 | 72,000 | Lower |
The comparison points to long-term concentration and a much larger operating scale among surviving producers, with Tyson the named exception whose reported sow count declined. As Prestage vice president Zack McCullen III put it, “I do think going forward you will continue to see consolidation.” Clemens executive Patricio Vidal contrasted 2,000- to 3,000-sow farms that were considered huge 30 years ago with today’s several 10,000-plus-sow units.
The pressures that still shape producer decisions
PRRS remains a costly, persistent risk
Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) remains a central health challenge. An Iowa State University analysis estimated that PRRS-related lost production cost the U.S. pork industry $1.2 billion per year during 2016–2020, an 80% increase from a decade earlier. The virus’s adaptability makes the problem difficult to eliminate. Fine Swine owner Dave Heisler said newer PRRS strains are much worse than those in the past, while Cooper Farms veterinarian Don Davidson described producers as chasing the disease with practices without getting ahead of it.
Pipestone Management, ranked No. 2 with 392,000 sows managed, illustrates how health and economics can prompt capacity decisions: president Hannah Walkes said the company decommissioned more than 70,000 sows in nonproductive locations over four years to improve herd health and economics. This is a company-reported action, not a sector-wide estimate.
Labor and technology affect operating costs and output
Producers reported fewer local applicants and greater reliance on immigrant labor. Reicks View Farms risk manager Brady Reicks said technology had evolved quickly. The report links filtered incoming air, automated feeding, precise nutrition and better data analysis with animal care, cost reduction and productivity. These systems can alter the economics of a farm, but the report does not provide comparable company-level investment costs or returns.
Quick Recap
How to read the list as a financial signal
- Separate herd transfers from expansion. Murphy’s return and Smithfield’s reduced count chiefly reflect a transfer of ownership, not a comparable increase or decrease in national capacity.
- Distinguish owned from managed sows. Management firms such as Pipestone can rank highly by managing herds without owning all the animals.
- Do not equate rank with financial strength. Sow counts and rankings do not reveal debt, margins, cash flow or farm-level returns.
- Consider productivity and health alongside headcount. More pigs weaned per sow can change the output associated with a given breeding herd, while disease can undermine performance and drive herd reductions.
- Read 2024’s profitability recovery cautiously. The average moved from losses to a small estimated profit, but a $3.46 average profit per finished hog leaves little room for unfavorable cost or production shocks.
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