Eggheads

The egg carton says pasture-raised, but that might not mean what you think it means. Patrick Samuels left a Special Forces career to fix that — starting with 300 chickens and a kitchen sink, and building toward a million birds in mobile coops across the Midwest.  In this episode, Greg sits down with Patrick to talk about what regenerative egg farming actually looks like, why the industry’s certifi...

🎥 Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/jexU5-Qo_E0?is=BqH4iXcb-4DddkqV Travis Bybee spent 25 years in banking, all while quietly building toward the life he actually wanted. He bought his first piece of land right out of college and spent the next two decades accumulating 1,400 acres, farming until dark after every shift, with one goal in mind: becoming a full-time farmer. The missing...

In rural America, grain bins are so ubiquitous that you might not even notice them on the landscape. But if you were to stop on your drive home and take a closer look at one, there's a good chance you'd see the name 'Sukup' written on the side.  Steve Sukup is the Chairman of Sukup Manufacturing. Back in 1963, the company started off making grain stirrers, but they've since expanded their offering...

Burnbrae Farms first got into egg farming in the 1940's, when Joe Hudson, who was just 13 years old at the time, brought home 50 chickens to establish a backyard flock. Today, Joe's daughter, Margaret Hudson, serves as President and CEO of Burnbrae, which has long-since outgrown the backyard, and become the largest egg producer in Canada. Margaret joins us to discuss how her and her family kept bu...

It doesn't matter how hard-working you are as a farmer, if you don't have the right genetics in your flock, it's going to be difficult to have success in the egg game. But as the industry evolves, and the needs of consumers change, deciding which birds are the right fit for your farm has become much more complex.  Neal Martin is the General Manager of US distribution at Hendrix Genetics. He joins...

Over the last few decades automation has completely changed the way eggs are processed. And with robots now assuming many of the jobs handled previously by humans, producers can now process eggs faster, and with a higher degree of accuracy than ever before.  Bill Bretschneider is a product manager for MOBA, a company based in Barneveld in the Netherlands, and one of the world's biggest suppliers o...

When Raechel Van Buskirk served up some creatively-flavored deviled eggs at her dive bar in Omaha, Nebraska, she had no idea that it would change her life. And what started as a way to drum up some business on Sunday mornings, would eventually lead to a chain of restaurants, national distribution and even an appearance on Shark Tank.  Today, Raechel walks us through the whirlwind rise of her compa...

In an industry where it would be easy to treat an egg as just an egg, one brand has built its entire identity on finding the next big thing.  Jasen Urena is the Executive Vice President of NestFresh, a company that's been an early adopter of cage-free, free-range, pasture-raised, non-GMO, and regenerative organic egg production, and recently became the first company in the US to put a humanely hat...

Egg prices are sitting near all-time lows, and that's not because of weak demand, but because supply has outpaced it. Emily Metz, President and CEO of the American Egg Board, joins Greg to talk about how her organization is working to close that gap. Emily walks us through the AEB's strategy for getting people to consume more eggs, from changing their reputation as only a breakfast food, to gettin...

In-ovo sexing has the potential to end the practice of male chick culling — and the technology seems to have finally caught up to the ambition.  Greg hosted a panel on the topic at the Peak Conference, featuring Nancy Roulston, Senior Director of Corporate Policy and Animal Science at the ASPCA; Juliana Machado, Geneticist and Data Scientist at Hendrix Genetics; Casey Downey from Innovate Animal A...

In early 2025 HPAI outbreaks had egg prices sitting at record highs; just one year later they're hitting inflation-adjusted historic lows. And while that may be great for consumers looking for a cheap source of protein, it has a lot of US producers feeling the squeeze.  Joining us to discuss the issue is Brian Moscogiuri. Formerly of Urner Barry, and Eggs Unlimited, Brian recently launched a new v...

In 1985, Bernd Meerpohl watched his father take a risk in purchasing a struggling farm equipment company. That company was called Big Dutchman, and today it operates in 174 countries and generates around €1.5 billion in annual sales.  Bernd took over as CEO in 1992, and maintained the unwavering commitment to salesmanship, innovation, and emerging markets that's made Big Dutchman into the global b...

From the time you start to suspect you might have an HPAI outbreak on your farm, to getting lab confirmation, can take between 1 and 5 days. And while producers wait for those results to come back, they're forced to make extremely tough decisions — cancelling deliveries, isolating employees, culling entire flocks — based on incomplete information.  Erik Tyrrell-Knott is the President and Chief Bus...

Most people would figure that lighting a hen house is a question of screwing in some bulbs and turning them on. But as it turns out, the type of lighting you use can have a profound effect on birds, shaping their behavior, improving welfare, and driving production results. Max Obers is the CEO of HATO Lighting, a Netherlands-based company with over 50 years of history in agricultural lighting. Tod...

There are so many different types of egg-farmers: traditional caged operations, cage-free, free-range organic...the list goes on. But one organization strives to represent all of their interests, and advocate on their behalf at the highest levels of government.  Chad Gregory is the President and CEO of the United Egg Producers (UEP), an organization that represents over 90% of US egg farmers. The...

Bruce Dooyema's career in poultry began in the 7th grade, when his parents bought him a dozen chickens to raise in the backyard. Now, as Director of Strategic projects at Versova, he's responsible for around 40 million of them. And as if that wasn't enough responsibility, Bruce serves as President of the International Egg Foundation, where he helps establish layer operations in countries strugglin...

There are so many different ways to introduce contaminants during the egg production process: improperly used chemicals, dirty equipment, poor handling techniques, the list goes on. And it's the job of today's guests to develop and enforce the protocols that prevent all that from happening, which would be a tough enough gig for one facility, let alone 15.  Kim Rice is the VP of Food Safety and Qua...

Finding the right ventilation solution can be make or break for your layer operation. And especially now with the emergence of cage-free farming, making sure air is circulating evenly can be key in ensuring your chickens remain healthy and productive.  Craig Morley is in charge of sales at Aerotech, and Ross Demerly is their applications and sales engineering manager. Together they have a combined...

Sometimes people have this idea that farmers shouldn't use immigrant workers at all, and that there are enough people looking for work domestically to staff their operations. Today, we're getting into why that's often just simply not the case.  Kyle Farmer is the founder of Farmer Law PC where he's an attorney specializing in immigration law. He works with producers, and operators throughout the a...

The last few decades have seen an incredible amount of change in the egg industry. That's especially true of egg grading, where we've gone from machines that can process 200 cases per hour, to systems that can do 800. And where advances in vision automation mean we no longer need people on the line manually inspecting eggs for dirt or cracks.  Craig England was formerly the President of Sanovo Tec...

In four generations, the Braswell family has gone from selling animal feed to local farmers, to becoming one of the largest suppliers of organic feed and specialty eggs on the east coast. And now, Trey Braswell, the president and CEO of Braswell Family Farms, is focused on continuing that incredible legacy.  Trey joins us today to walk us through the history of the company, to take us inside their...

The Weaver family has been in the specialty egg game for a long time, and they've seen incredible success with their brand, Westfield Egg Farm. A big reason for that success has been their continued willingness to innovate, including a unique model that holds their contract farmers to extremely high standards, but also gives them the autonomy to run their operations as they see fit.  Our guest tod...

What a year it's been for Eggheads. We've featured so many new voices and interesting perspectives from throughout the egg world, and gained a whole bunch of new listeners along the way.  Today, Greg shares his thoughts on all of the people and issues we've highlighted in 2025, and what you can expect from the show as we move into 2026.  Happy New Year! 

Coke Anderson has had one of the most storied careers of anyone in the egg business. She started with a 30,000-bird flock, which would eventually grow into M&C Anderson pullets, a 1700-acre farm that rears nearly 5 million pullets annually. She would also become the first woman to lead the American Egg Board, and helped the organization navigate through some turbulent times.  Today, Coke joins...

Today, we're returning to our special scramble format and welcoming to the show three legends of the egg industry. We have Mark Kleinsmith, formerly the National Sales and Marketing Manager for Lubing USA, Steve Kuykendall, formerly a Regional Manager for Lubing USA, and Craig England, who spent decades working on the breaker and grader side of the industry.  These three old friends have a combine...