Higbie Livestock

07/12/2026

After a great spring jackpot run…We headed to our two favorite NJSA shows of the year: The Exposition & National Junior Summer Spectacular.

It was SO GOOD to have “Expo” back in Iowa!!! It just felt a little like coming “home”…

THE EXPOSITION:

While Calla didn’t get to make the trip to Expo with us, we were super honored that she was awarded one of the top NJSA Scholarships: Rolling into Success. Her older brother won the same scholarship twice. We are incredibly thankful for all the ways the NJSA has molded and shaped our children over the past decade and winning this scholarship is so very meaningful.

Anah:
- Top 10 in Intermediate Showmanship (7th)
- 2nd High Individual in Intermediate Livestock Judging
- Reserve Overall in Intermediate Sweepstakes
- Champion Livestock Judging Team
- 2nd in class with a little December York gilt she purchased with her NJSA Premier Breeder’s credit from last year. One we are excited about adding to our Yorkshire program. She brings some different and unique genetic pieces and she’s one we can’t wait to breed.

Elim:
- Top 10 Intermediate Livestock Judging (7th)
- Top 10 Intermediate Sweepstakes (6th)
- Reserve Champion Livestock Judging Team

NATIONAL JUNIOR SUMMER SPECTACULAR

It was a little hard to not miss the green chips and the traditional trip to Louisville, but with Expo being in Indy the last couple of years, we loved getting to be back there too. Anah had a GREAT WEEK in Indiana!!

Anah:
RESERVE CHAMPION Intermediate Showman
CHAMPION Intermediate Sweepstakes
RESERVE CHAMPION Livestock Judging Team

She also showed and sold her cross gilt in the Open Show / NSR Summer Type Conference where she had Champion Cross Gilt and High Selling Crossbred Gilt.

Summer Spectacular is also where Premier Breeder Awards are presented. It’s been REALLY hard not having pigs we raised to show this year, and it significantly impacted their Premier Breeder points. HOWEVER, it’s quite a feat to have still made Top 5 in 3 different breeds despite only showing in half as many B & O shows as most of the others.

Anah was 3rd Overall Premier Berkshire Breeder
Elim was 4th Overall Premier Landrace Breeder & 5th Overall Premier Hampshire Breeder

To say we’re waiting patiently to get some semen back in some of our own this fall is a lie. We aren’t waiting patiently, we CANNOT WAIT!! If anything, what happened to us has made us stronger, more passionate and much more appreciative of the level of livestock that God has placed in our hands to breed!! We're eagerly anticipating the fall show run and perhaps even more so, the fall breeding season!

07/08/2026

We just wanted to give a big THANK YOU to Pennington Show Pigs from Ohio for their purchase of our Champion Cross Gilt at the Summer Type Conference in Indy! She was a hard one to let go of, but we can't wait to hear how she impacts their program!

07/03/2026

CHAMPION CROSS GILT at NSR Summer Type Conference. BID on cci.live today!!!!

We have absolutely loved this hammer of a gilt since the moment we laid eyes on her late last fall. Anah campaigned her all spring in Kansas and she won almost every jackpot she went to. She fed easy and never missed a beat for us all the way through. One we feel like is elite in her angulation and design!

Conquer x Bravo
Bred by: Eggers Showpigs, Iowa

BID ON: https://cci.auction/auctions/4832

01/17/2026

It’s quiet here. Our farrowing barn is empty. Our nursery is almost empty. There is no running, excited little feet and sweet, curious faces when we open the doors to these barns. There is just silence. And maybe that’s what makes this so hard – the silence.

We bred around 25 head for December and January. And with the exception of one perfect berk litter, nothing bred. Fall had us feeling SO INCREDIBLY excited about this farrowing season – we got all the semen we wanted, heats were strong, breedings were solid, nothing came back in heat. I guess it was about early November when I first knew something wasn’t right. No dropped bellies, no underlines forming. I expressed my concerns to a dear friend (who also happens to be a vet) who immediately said – I’m coming over and we are going to ultrasound your sows. I was grateful. We needed to know. We ran our precious ladies by her one by one and she had the very hard task of telling us over and over again – open. It was soul crushing. She hugged me. I cried. We all cried. And then it was several weeks of letting it all sink in.

We LIVE in anticipation of this time of year and somehow our reality abruptly shifted. Welcome to agriculture, right? It’s not like we are immune to this sort of thing. Rather, production agriculture has a plethora of ups and downs on the daily, but they aren’t usually quite this expansive.

We have come to the conclusion that we must have had a batch of feed with mycotoxins that either left everything unsettled or caused early term abortions. I guess how it happened doesn’t matter as much at this point as what it looks like going forward. We won’t be having a live sale in March.

We are sad. We are disappointed. But we aren’t without hope. Here’s what I know to be true about my God: If the cattle on a thousand hills are His (Psalm 50:10) then so are all the sows in our barn. They aren’t Ryan's or mine or our children’s – they are His. And at the end of the day, He is sovereign and He is good. Are we to take the good things from his hands and not the bad? I don’t know why he allowed this, but I do know that HE is the author of our family’s story. He’s been behind the formation of EVERY successful pig who’s ever been born here. He allowed this to happen, and I trust that He will use this for His glory and our good because scripture promises that to those who love Him (Romans 8:28).

A few weeks ago, he also gave me this verse from Psalm 112: “He is not afraid of bad news; his heart is firm, trusting in the Lord.” I can say that our hearts are firm and we are trusting that there is something GOOD in this. Maybe He wants us to invest in some new genetics that we would otherwise pass by, maybe something lies ahead for us that will require a lighter farm load …. Or maybe, He just wants us trust him with something so close to our hearts.

The good news is that He is gracious even in the midst of hard things. We had one December Berkshire litter out of the gilt Anah showed last spring and summer who was was so successful at every level. If I would have been allowed to hand pick just one gilt to stick – it probably would have been her. God also graciously let most of our sows for February litters stick. They are bellying down and I don’t know if I’ve ever been more thankful for popping underlines and low bellies! AND we usually save some of our best sows for February – so although our world was rocked, we aren't left desolate.

It feels a little like when Jesus fed 5,000 people with a handful of fish and loaves. We are only bringing a handful of “fish and loaves” to the table this year – but we are trusting God to multiply what He does give us. I’m hoping that all summer and fall long, we can watch with anticipation to see what He will do. Every victory we have ever had is from His hands – and in the end, it’s never really the victory that matters, it’s what He’s teaching us in the process. I promise I’ll share that with you as we watch and wait – I’m actually excited to wait, breath held, to see what He has for us to learn from this season of hard.

In closing, to our very faithful customers, we aren’t going anywhere. While we may not have pigs we raised to sell to you this year– if you need help finding a pig, picking out a pig, feeding your pigs or showing your pigs – we are STILL HERE TO HELP!! We are a whole family of people passionate about good, quality livestock. We know everyone has different needs, so let us know if we can help you find something. We have many industry connections and will be out and about in a way we wouldn’t normally need to be this year – so we would love to continue to be involved in helping you find what you need so you can reach your goals!!! Just reach out to us!

AND …. Stay tuned if you’re needing pigs for those later Southern state fairs, KJLS, Ak-sar-ben, Royal, NAILE, Cheyenne, etc. Some of our best are bred for February. We aren’t sure if we will sell private treaty or online, but let us know if you’re interested in a February and we will make you are high on our priority list. We're also changing around some summer and fall breeding options and that has us excited too.

Thanks for taking the time to read this. We’re still looking ahead with the same amount of passion as we’ve always had. And at the end of the day, whether is the barn in full or empty, God is good.

12/01/2025

We sure do love our berks around here! So thankful to the American Berkshire Foundation for this write up and for selecting Calla as one of their 2025 scholarship recipients.

Another one of our outstanding scholarship recipients.

Calla Higbie is a dynamic and accomplished young agriculturalist from Quenemo, Kansas, with a strong foundation in livestock production, leadership, and agricultural advocacy. Homeschooled through high school, she has excelled academically and in extracurricular pursuits, and will be pursuing a degree in Agricultural Communications at Connors State College.

Calla’s experience spans both cattle and swine production. She grew up on a commercial cow-calf operation and helps manage her family’s 30-sow show pig enterprise, with a focus on Berkshire genetics. Her hands-on involvement includes breeding, raising, marketing, and selling livestock to youth across the country. She has earned top honors in national competitions, including Champion Berkshire and Overall Purebred Barrow at the NJSA Southwest Regionals and Supreme Champion Breeding Gilt at the Kansas State Fair.

Her leadership is equally impressive. Calla has served as president of her local 4-H club, county 4-H Council, and the Kansas Junior Simmental Association. She is also a Kansas State 4-H Youth Council member and an Ag Ambassador for the Franklin County Farm Bureau, where she advocates for agriculture at the community and legislative levels. One of her proudest achievements was representing Kansas youth at the National 4-H Conference in Washington, D.C., where she spoke before the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee.

Calla’s future goals include combining her passion for agriculture with her creative talents by launching a graphic design business focused on the ag sector. She plans to remain active in production agriculture while using her communication skills to promote the industry and the Berkshire breed she holds dear.

Congratulations Calla!