Resourcefulness the hallmark of lean pork producer

FOR helping to create one of WA’s largest and most successful piggeries and becoming a major player in the State and international pork markets, Chris Brennan has been nominated for Business News’ 40 Under 40.

Mr Brennan is a vet and teamed up with his brother, Michael, in the family’s Agripork Australia business to create the Select Pork label launched this month in Action super-markets.

The Select Pork range aims to become pork’s answer to the Q Lamb concept, which has helped to significantly in-crease lamb consumption in WA.

Monash Group partner Mark English said he nominated Mr Brennan because he “would be a substantial businessman in the next decade”.

“He and his brother started that business from scratch and now it is turning over $3 million a year,” Mr English said.

“I think he will double or treble the size of their business in the next five years.

“They produce the leanest pork in WA. Their product goes virtually straight from the farm gate to the supermarket.

“They’re even selling into Singapore.

“He’s one of the few vets I know of who have taken their skills and applied it to a business venture like this.”

One thing that has set Mr Brennan’s pig farm apart is the way the pigs are housed.

Instead of being put in aluminium sheds and pens, the pigs live in Canadian-style clearspan shelters. They are given a floor of straw rather than concrete.

The pigs’ virtually free-range lifestyle helps produce leaner meat.

“Chris and his brother did two big tours of Canada and the US before they even set up their business. This is one of the offshoots of that,” Mr English said.

“Chris even has a plan for the straw from the pig shelters. That is to be collected with the pig manure and then sold as compost.

“They produce their own grain for the pigs and mix their own pig feed to their own specifications”