On this week’s edition of The Inside Scoop, we caught up with Brice Conover, owner and operator of Conover Showpigs. Brice gives an inside look at his operation and even shares some fun facts that you may not know!

Describe your operation in terms of scope, size, breeds, etc.
I run a herd of 100 sows give or take a few. Consisting of mostly Berkshires about 20 crossbred and a handful of Duroc, Yorkshire, and a couple of Hampshire sows.  

What, in your opinion, makes your operation unique?
My operation is very unique as I make my entire living off my Berkshire sow herd.  

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received? 
The best advice I have gotten is from dad telling me to never get barn blind on your own evaluation of your own stock.  

Describe your ideal customer.
An ideal customer in my opinion is one that is open in their communications with me and shares their goals and values my opinion in helping them make the best selection to fit their needs.  The Berkshire breed is definitely one that they all don’t need to look alike and many breeders have different criteria or goals for their own operation to be successful.  

Share a story of one pig that stands out amongst the rest of the ones you have raised.
The one pig I remember the most is a boar I showed at the National Barrow Show in 2005. Steve Mapes was the judge and used him to win his class but was scared to use a boar that was that far out there in terms of bone and power and moderation at the time.  He left him standing and a commercial Berkshire breeder bought him and used him in his Berkshire Gold meat program and a year later I went back and bought him and brought  him back and the next few years Timber and I tore a path through the breed. In his first crop at my place, he sired the Grand and Reserve Champion Berkshire Gilts at the World Pork Expo Junior Show, the Champion Berkshire Gilt at STC and the Champion Berkshire Gilt at National Barrow Show and the Champion Berkshire Gilt at Tulsa shown by Blake Goss.  

What is one chore that you hate to do but must be done?
The chore I hate the most is power washing.  

If you could raise pigs anywhere in the world BESIDES the state you are in, where would it be and why?
Iowa is a great place to raise Berkshires, if I could raise them any other place right now I would say on either coast.  

What’s playing on your radio while working in the barn all day?
I currently don’t have any radios in any of my barns but if I did it would either be Sports talk radio or 80s country music.  

A thing you can’t live without unrelated to pigs
I love my family and raising Angus bulls. I enjoy nothing more than walking through the pasture with the kids looking at our cow calf pairs on early summer lush pasture.  

A fun fact that many people may not know about you.
A fun fact you may not know about me is I have 2 different colored eyes.