Ken Maschhoff’s business grew from a southern Illinois family farm into a large pork-production company by expanding its hog operation and working with family farmers who raise pigs through part of the production cycle. The company’s history dates its agricultural roots to 1851, while its own account traces the move toward modern pig production to the mid-20th century.
How the Maschhoff family moved into pork production
The Maschhoffs describe themselves as a fifth-generation, family-owned business with roots in southern Illinois. The company’s 2026 brochure says those roots date to 1851; its official history gives a more specific chronology of the family’s later transition into hog production. These are company accounts, not a single independently established founding date.
- In the late 1930s, Ben Maschhoff rejuvenated the family land, according to the company’s history.
- Wayne Maschhoff returned to the farm in 1956. The family acquired a 700-head finishing barn in 1961.
- Ken and Dave Maschhoff joined the family business in the late 1970s and focused on hog production. The company says the sow herd grew from 150 to 700 in 1979.
- In 1996, the family began collaborating with farmers to raise weaned pigs.
The company’s history and its 2026 brochure identify Ken and Dave, along with their wives Julie and Karen, as owners. A 2017 Agriculture.com profile also described the business as owned by the brothers and their wives.
How production partners helped the business expand
The partner model connected the company’s pig production with independent family farms. In testimony to the U.S. House Committee on Agriculture on May 4, 2011, Julie Maschhoff, then a company vice president, described 320 production partners as family farmers managing the wean-to-finish stage. She said the company supplied pigs and feed and owned the pigs through the production cycle.
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That description explains one way the business grew beyond the family’s own farm: partner farms handled a production stage while the company provided inputs and retained ownership of the animals. The testimony describes the arrangement and partner count in 2011; it does not establish that the same terms or number of partners apply today.
What the available figures say about the company’s scale
Published figures refer to different years, measures and scopes, so they should not be treated as interchangeable. The table separates them by source rather than presenting them as one current tally.
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| Source and date | Reported scale | What the figure represents |
|---|---|---|
| The Maschhoffs, About page, retrieved in 2026 | More than 130,000 sows across five states | Current company-published sow-count claim; not a market-hog production total. |
| Julie Maschhoff’s U.S. House Committee on Agriculture testimony, 2011 | About 192,000 sows; approximately four million market hogs annually; more than 950 employees; 320 production partners | Company figures presented to Congress in 2011, not a current operational audit. |
| National Pork Producers Council profile, date not stated | About 3.5 million market hogs and 500,000 feeder pigs annually; described as the third-largest U.S. producer | An undated association profile estimate, not a dated or audited current figure. |
| Agriculture.com profile, around 2017 | 218,000 sows; described at the time as the nation’s fourth-largest pork producer | Historical article-period figures. The profile said the business had grown from 8,000 sows over the preceding 20 years. |
Sows, market hogs, feeder pigs, employees and partners measure different parts of the operation. The figures also come from sources with different dates and purposes: company materials, congressional testimony, an association profile and a trade-publication profile. The company’s current About page provides a sow count, but the available sources do not establish a separate independently verified current company-wide production total.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How the company describes its production commitments
In her 2011 congressional testimony, Julie Maschhoff stated: “Our focus every day is to raise pork in an efficient, humane and environmentally responsible manner.” This is the company’s stated mission, as presented by a company executive; the statement itself is not an independent assessment of production practices.
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