On any given day, if you swing into the Rehmeier hog farm near Augusta, MO, there's a good chance you'll find three generations of the Rehmeier family hard at work — maybe four.

The patriarch of the family, Layton Rehmeier, will be there to greet you. Sons Rick and Dean — the fifth generation — are likely working side-by-side with their sons, Eric and Nick. Some days, Eric's oldest son may be helping his Dad catch pigs for processing, or he and his two siblings are keeping grandpa and grandma busy.

“It's kind of unique,” Rick Rehmeier admits. “When we say family farm — Dad's still involved, Mom still does some of the payroll and bill writing, Dean and our sons are here.”

The farm that serves as the hub of Rehmeier Farms, Inc., was settled by Rick's great, great grandfather, who, with a brother, immigrated from Germany and bought a nearby tract of land in the mid-1850s. That generation and the next were typical farmers for the times — a few pigs, a few cows, hay, corn and grain.

About a hundred years and three generations later, the Rehmeier's steered their farming enterprise toward dairying, selling the last of the hogs when Layton joined the army and headed for Korea. The dairy enterprise thrived from 1950 to 1966, when Layton decided: “There has to be a better way to make a living than milking cows.”

Their quality herd of Holsteins was dispersed and 50 Duroc-Yorkshire crossbred gilts were brought in. “Dad actually started the ‘modern’ hog farm,” Rick explains. “He was one of the founding members of the St. Charles County Pork Producers Association.”

From that meager beginning, the hog operation began its slow and steady growth. The milk house was converted for farrowing with 16 crates installed. A few years later, 16 Smidley farrowing huts were purchased.

Rick graduated from a two-year animal science program at the University of Missouri in 1976, returned to the farm, and the following year a new, 42-crate farrowing barn was built. The sow herd grew to 250 sows.

Younger brother, Dean, too, graduated from the two-year animal science program. In 1981, the brothers partnered up to purchase a 150-sow operation near the Missouri River bottomland and formed the Rehmeier Bros. partnership.

Time marched on, and families and farming goals grew. The first confinement, breeding-gestation barn was built in 1995. In 1997, another new farrowing barn was added and the sow herd increased to 500 sows.

In 2003, an uncle decided to slow down a bit, so his 500-sow, farrow-to-finish facility was rented, building Rehmeier's sow herd up to 1,000 sows.

“He was getting close to retirement age, my son was out of college and we knew more boys wanted to come home, so we needed to expand,” Rick explains. The hog facility and 120 acres of farm ground was purchased in 2006.

Rehmeier Farms, Inc. row crop and pork production is currently spread in three directions from the home farm — 10 miles north and south and 3 miles west. Sows are farrowed at the home farm and the uncle's farm, but all sows are bred at a central breeding-gestation facility. A small, on-farm boar stud provides maternal and terminal line semen.

In addition, the uncle's farm has 2,900-head finishing capacity, and the 150-sow farm in the Missouri River bottomland has been converted to a 700-800-head, wean-to-finish unit. The home farm has 1,500-head finishing spaces and another 600-head finisher is rented.

All pork production is managed by Rehmeier family members, including two brother-in-laws who watch after off-site finishing, and two employees who have been around long enough to be considered almost family.

“Dad hired David Engemann in 1976 when I went off to college, but he told him, ‘we probably won't need you when Rick comes home,’” Rick explains. “Dad added a few more sows, Dean went to college and again, Dad reminded Dave, ‘we probably won't need you when Dean comes back to the farm.’ That was 35 years ago, and Dave is still working for us.” Another employee has been with the family for 28 years.

Production has grown to 20,000 hogs annually, with some additional feeder pigs sold when production is especially good. The main farm — 600 acres, 200 tillable — sits in St. Charles County, on the edge of the urban rim northwest of St. Louis, just 45 minutes from the city's airport.

Active in the Industry

Rick Rehmeier has taken the lead in representing the family corporation at the state and national level. Having worked his way up through county and state offices, he recently completed a six-year stint on the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) board of directors. He chaired the NPPC budget and the Pork PAC committees, and currently serves on the National Pork Board's environmental committee. Brother Dean served on the county board and as president.

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