ELECTIONS
The IPPBA is a member ran 501(c)3 Non Profit organization and as such is headed up by a volunteer Board of Directors composed of Association Members, who are elected by the Members of the Association. Nominations are cut off February 20th each year, and Voting runs March 2nd-March 30th each year. In order to vote you must be an Active Member of the Association and signed into your Site Account.
Check out the 2023 seasons Nominees below and vote in the form at the bottom of the page for this seasons two available positions(Directors are voted in and then the exact positions they hold are voted on among the directors themselves to ensure the best fitting director is in the best fitting role, more info on that can be found in the bylaws!)
Annie Cooney
Red Rose Farm
I’m a single farmer, have a animal care Business where I help others with tasks like disbudding, goat hoof trimming, castrating pigs, goats and calves. Emergency kiddings and farrowings. Broken legs. Dog attacks etc etc. Help when a vet is not available. I’m on call 24/7 and those emergencies like to come on Sundays , holidays, birthdays, middle of the night etc. For emergency calls I don’t charge I take donations and never know what that will be but I don’t turn anyone down if I’m able to help. I help people out on the phone and messages a lot too, which is time consuming but I don’t ask for anything. Farming comes with all the joys and sorrows, the ups and downs, the good days and bad days. I like to be an encouragement and help to others whenever possible. My very first litter of my own ipp piglets got greasy pig and blood poisoning with mama and piglets having 107 temps, I managed to get them all through it but boy was that scary and a lot of sleepless nights. I’ve also had piglets get tetanus, one of which I was able to pull through ( lots more sleepless nights) and a couple that I sadly lost to it.
Another hard farming night was when I was helping Charlie Moore with a gilt that was unable to deliver her piglets, I ultrasounded and knew she had 3 piglets left and that they were still alive. We had to make the call to do a terminal C-section, it was super sad to lose the gilt but what a joy that all 3 piglets made it and were raised by her sister that farrowed 7 piglets the same day without any trouble.
I’ve had a love for animals all my life and raise goats, cows, pigs, chickens and LGD dogs. My love for ipps started in 2019 when I started helping Charlie Moore at his farm.
I love the breed and want to see it succeed, so I’ve focused on picking quality breeders and help others get started with quality breeding stock or add to their existing herd.
Their gentle personality is important to me and having pigs that trust me with their piglets etc.
I’ve sent pigs to 14 states and my goal is all 50 states. I stand by my breeders ( I think all breeders need too) and have sold a couple boars that for some reason were infertile, I feel so bad when that happens because I know the high hopes we all have for our pigs and how attached we get to our breeders.
I was at the first show in Utah and watched the Association get started. I took 3 young boars to the show in Utah and one placed top in his class. It was fun to get to travel and drive to Utah with my Mom, I never get to travel more then to jobs or delivering animals because I’m usually quite tied down.
I’m a Christian, a child of God and desire to put Him first in my life in everything I do.
And show His love to everyone through my life, yes I fail but He helps me back up.
Honesty, compassion, modesty are personal values I desire to have in my life.
My faith, family, farm and friends are the most important things to me.
I currently have 6 registered breeding sows and 2 boars and numerous feeders and piglets.
I love ipps and the ipp community. I see a lot of beginner farmers starting out with IPPs so I think the Association can be a big help in educating and helping the beginners and seasoned farmers alike and bringing the ipp community together ( LET’S ALL WORK TOGETHER ) And see the breed mature and continue as the perfect pasture pig. I’d like to see more consistency in piglets / breeders, less breeding/ fertility issues, a pasture pig class started at local fairs. And an IPP show in the PNW.
If you’re able to go to the shows do it, it’s a great opportunity to see other pigs, meet other ipp breeders and learn more about ipps.
Jason Riley
Druids Dream Acres LLC
I'm not exactly sure what to say here. I have never been good at this part, I prefer to let my actions show who I am. That isn't really possible here, so I'll do my best.
I spent most of my adult life trying to get away from farms and small towns.... Well that didn't work out so well for me. Amandalyn and I moved away from Boise in 2015. We had a small 4.35 acre lot. I'll never forget how HUGE that land felt to us coming from the city. We joked about how we would NEVER use all that land. Then came the chickens, ducks and turkeys. Still sooo much land! Bring on the goats, and bottle calves and more chickens. I wanted nothing to do with pigs. NOTHING. Life has a funny way of giving you what you need... not always what you want. So pigs... no IPPS at first was the Hampshires. 3 of them. They were just a couple months from the butcher. And I DO LOVE BACON. That was it. I was hooked. Pigs quickly became my favorite farm animal... From there we bought pink pigs off craigslist, then American Guinea hogs and some kune kunes. We are all IPP owners so I wont go into why we ended our trials here.
We currently have 13 breeding sows/gilts and 8 breeding boars. We haven't had much luck selling whole or half hogs, but we sell retail pork at farmers markets, stores and hopefully have a couple restaurants lined up now too. I should know this week.
We have transported pigs all over. We have our DOT Number and Commercial insurance. We have hauled pigs to Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Texas, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Illinois. From there, they went to Maine, New York, Kentucky, Wisconsin and Florida.
I really believe in what we are trying to accomplish here as breeders. We, as a farm, have made it to every expo since the 1st one in Utah. We brought pigs to the last Expo, in Ohio. Our pigs did awesome! Our little boar took Best in class and grand champion. Scoring the 2nd highest of any pig judged so far in any of the expos.
We are currently working on getting our cut room inspected on the farm so we can do our own sausages, bratwursts and bacon here on the farm..
Our farm is young, but we learn quickly. I don't pretend to know everything, but we have a great support group to call when we get stumped.
As far as off farm knowledge, One of my previous jobs was a delivery supervisor at a rental company here. Part of my job was going to event centers and helping people get their event planned out. I think my experience there would be invaluable when planning expos or other events.
That's enough about me.
Thank you for your consideration.
Melissa Myers
Silver Fox Pastures
My name is Melissa Myers my family and I live in SE Iowa on a small 5.5 acre farm with rolling hills. We raise IPPs, Silver Fox meat rabbits and chickens! We also grow a mean garden each year and enjoy selling at the farmers markets. I am employed by the State of Iowa as a Food Safety specialist (health inspector....yeah Im one of those pesky folks LOL). We started raising IPPs early 2021 and boy has it been a learning curve....but we have grown to really love it! These pigs have taught us a lot (no experience with any pig prior to our IPPs) and this year will be a big learning year for us as we have quite a lot of feeders to rotate through our pastures so we will be able to see just how much our pasture can handle. Something I bring to the board is passion and determination...after all these years of living in confinement hog haven and being disgusted by it all Im determined to get our way of farming and practices out there and people to see...pork isnt "the other white meat" as its so commonly called. Im also quite a researcher...I do not jump into something without have a good knowledge base...I was researching and talking with breeders and scouring the IPP FB pages for over a year before getting our first IPPs. I will say...i have a lot to learn yet and changes to make on my farm but I do look forward to the excitement it will bring!
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