Clive, Iowa — Two brothers from Inwood have been honored with a statewide award for pork producers.
According to the Iowa Pork Producers Association, brothers Gary and Gerry Brands of Inwood have been named as the 2018 recipients of the Pork All-American Award. They were presented their award at the 2019 Iowa Pork Congress in Des Moines.
The IPPA Pork All-American award was established in 1970 to honor producers under 40 years of age who have established themselves as community leaders and successful and dedicated business people. They have previously been presented with the Master Pork Producer designation. The Brandses won the award in 2009.
The brothers custom farrow pigs for Idlenot Farms of Larchwood. They also manage swine finishing barns that they bought from their parents.
In addition, the Brandses feed cattle and farm row crops with their parents. While Gary manages most of the swine enterprise, Gerry manages the cattle enterprise, but as with most family farm operations, they help each other out and are the sounding board each needs when it comes to major decision making.
Their sow farm was one of the first in the Lyon County area to incorporate year-around air filtration into their herd biosecurity program, and they say they have seen the continued benefit to herd health since the sow farm became fully filtered in December 2007.
Tyler Moser of Idelnot Farm, who nominated them for the award, said “Gary and Gerry have always sought to achieve a high level of production, animal well-being, and environmental stewardship. We are super pleased to see their hard work and dedication recognized with the Pork All-American Award.”
The Iowa Pork Producers Association and Iowa State University Extension co-sponsor the Master Pork program awards, including the All-American award. Nominations for the 2019 Master Pork Program awards will open in May.
Photo caption: Pork All American award
The 2018 Pork All-American Award went to Gary and Gerry Brands at the 2019 Iowa Pork Congress. Pictured are Chris Rademacher, Iowa Pork Industry Center; Gary and Heather Brands, Gerry and Kandace Brands, all of Inwood, and IPPA President Trent Thiele of Elma.
