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New Faces to Watch – Beyer Genetics

Friday, March 11, 2022

Beyond The Sale How They Work Industry News Showpig News

Click the link below to watch the Brian Beyer #BreedersBrief interview with Kevin Wendt!

Beyer Genetics is owned and operated by Brian Beyer and his wife, in Utica, Minnesota. The couple runs on average 15-20 sows and specializes in producing and marketing Crossbreds and Berkshires.

As a youngster, Beyer grew up in the show ring exhibiting pigs at the county fair. He also spent much of his time on the farm with his dad, Wayne, who focused on raising Chesters and Hamps in the 80’s and 90’s. The time spent with his dad was impactful and the lesson’s his father taught him, made Wayne one of the biggest role models in Beyer’s life.

“The whole thing starts with my Dad , Wayne Beyer. He instilled the passion around raising livestock, showing livestock, and using agriculture to help raise a family. Things like structure, show hog/breeding hog/ brood sow, and many more lessons that still are discussed today root back to hog trips with Dad as a kid,” Beyer says about his father.

These influences and experiences, coupled with support from Ag teachers, fellow breeders and his mother who taught agriculture for 30 years opened doors of opportunity for his future and fueled his passion to raise pigs of his own. Thus came the birth of Beyer Genetics. Today, while they are getting started and trying to raise young kids of their own, Beyer and his wife focus on producing show pigs targeted for state shows in the state of Minnesota, like the Minnesota Youth Expo and Minnesota State Fair.

“The Minnesota State Fair was “The Show” as a kid and now a youth circuit, summer livestock expo, and a junior swine show have been added to that. Those additions have created more competition, more opportunities, and more learning. Getting pigs into the right homes for each different set of goals,” Beyer says.

Outside of just trying to get pigs in the right homes and provide families with success, Beyer holds a desire to serve a bigger responsibility. A big picture goal of their operation is to provide experiences for kids and families that are positive and teach the young people the valuable lessons that agriculture provides – very similar to the lessons he learned growing up.

Beyer comments, “Our industry has been key to my up bringing. I have first-hand experience with the impact showing livestock can have to mold a person’s life and career. Passing those lessons on to my family and other families is why we are in the show pig business. I tell my wife, that if we didn’t raise them, I would still help mentor youth in this industry.”

With a long-term goal of producing elite show barrows that can compete and deliver these types of experiences, Brian is currently focusing on building an elite female base by retaining their best producing gilts. His hope is the male progeny from these females can help build their reputation and help market their genetics as proven and prestigious within the breed. To help with promoting these genetics, Beyer and his wife have elected to consign in The Debut to gain more traction and awareness.

“Living in Minnesota can be a challenge from a traffic stand point, so we need to open more avenues to get pigs out of the state and into different parts of the state. Locally we have a few families that support us, but with a small county from a pig numbers stand point, not every family comes to us and we completely understand that. We need to open up new markets to continue building towards our goals. We have made some large investments in gilt, bred sow, and semen purchases from HH, Conover, Bobell and Brinning to name a few, and we hope this will help us attract some families with passion and talent to compete at the higher levels of State Fairs and beyond,” says Beyer.

The Debut is a premier consignment auction platform that showcases new consignors, breeders or operations looking for a facelift or re-introduction to the market. The next Debut Auction is Monday, March 21. Look for entries from Beyer Genetics and reach out to Brian Beyer with your inquiries or questions about his offering. Brian: (507) 251-1291