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WALTONVILLE, Ill. — Levi Laird simply likes pigs.

From childhood, he has raised pigs using different production styles, and has now found the right fit for his young family.

For David Newman, raising pigs and selling pork is a way of life but also a business and a science, using knowledge to pursue quality. Newman and his family run a farrow-to-finish Berkshire pig operation at Myrtle, Missouri, in the Ozarks near the Arkansas line.

They have their own brand, Newman Farms Heritage Pork, selling to restaurants across the U.S. with some direct-to-consumer sales.

MOUNT AYR, Iowa — Kevin Triggs isn’t exactly sure when his grandfather started raising pigs.

“He got married in 1918, so it was sometime after that,” he says. “He raised Spots, and always said they were the best.”

ST. FRANCISVILLE, Ill. — Hogs paved the way for a two-generation farm to become a four-generation farm.

Cameron McClure — the fourth-generation component — keeps busy on the Lawrence County, Illinois, farm with a contract hog operation and grain farm. His father, Greg, grew up on the farm here but his life took a different direction when he moved to Colorado years ago.

When grain prices are high, all hog producers are looking for more bang for their buck. Management could hold the key to keep more dollars in wallets.

“There’s only so much you can do with ration ingredients,” says Joel DeRouchey, Extension swine specialist with Kansas State University.