Introducing Jim Coakley, Zoetis Pork’s new Champion of Care
Jim Coakley, swine herd manager at Oklahoma State University, describes his role managing the farm and working with students
20 October 2025
3 minute read
By: Jim Coakley, swine herd manager at Oklahoma State University, and McKenzie Squires, Strategic Account Manager at Zoetis, recently spoke with The Pig Site’s Sarah Mikesell.
Jim, you have just been announced as the next Zoetis Champion of Care. Tell us a little bit about you and what you do at Oklahoma State University.
I'm the swine herd manager at OSU, but my background is in production agriculture of all kinds. I'm from a little bitty town originally called Hobart, Oklahoma, which is in the southwest part of the state. My wife and I moved to Stillwater, Oklahoma and that's when I started managing the swine farm at the university. We run between 80 to 100 sows, and I manage all the facets from breeding, feeding and farrowing. We produce pigs for judging, show pigs, market hogs, etc.
I assume the students are heavily involved?
Absolutely, I tell everybody there's no way that we could make it if we didn't have student workers.
McKenzie, what qualities do the Champions of Care emulate?
When we think of Champions of Care at Zoetis, we truly are looking for that slat level Champion. When it comes to Jim, I think he takes that to the next level – not just being a Champion in the barn, but also the work and advocating that he does for the students in the industry. It goes beyond what he does at Oklahoma State.
Jim, everyone can be a Champion of Care – how are you instilling this mindset in the students that you work with every day?
The student workers and the classroom activity that we have in labs and things at Oklahoma State – I try to work with them and work beside them because at the end of the day we're producing a product that we want to be high quality. We want it to be safe, and we want it to be desired by the consumers.
Not only do we want to raise the best show pigs, but we want to raise the best quality pork product for the consumers. So I try to instill that in everything that we do in regards of care and management of not only the pigs but the farm as well.
I'm sure with students – they are coming in with all different levels of experience, and some didn't grow up on a pig farm, right?
Absolutely, we have students from all walks of life and from all areas of the US. Some have never been around a pig and want pig experience. Sometimes that can be the best person out there because they're really hungry and they're like a sponge. They want to know how to take care of them, and they want to know how to do it correctly.
I suppose they might see things differently when it comes to wellness or health, right?
Yes, there's no doubt that sometimes they think, especially when you can get them to come out of their shell and say, “hey, I noticed this or what about this,” and it's something that maybe I've overlooked or not thought about before. You definitely get different opinions and different ideas that sometimes we mesh together, and something great happens.
How do you and Zoetis work together to support the university's swine program?
It's a team effort because it takes a team to run the swine farm. We're a land-grant university, and we have a lot of people like Mackenzie – I've bragged on her. She is such a wonderful person and is very loyal to Oklahoma State University. And Zoetis has become that as well, and their products are second to none in regards of the care and management of swine. So we just incorporate their products into our herd health plan and things have certainly been extremely good.
McKenzie, anything to add?
Jim and I both have a very strong 4-H and FFA background and grew up in the industry so I think that's definitely helped us understand and facilitate the need of really the importance of helping that next generation, so we can continue on as an industry.
Jim, you're the Champion of Care, but you are influencing a lot of students that potentially will be pig caregivers in the future.
Yes, no doubt. My goal is to produce student workers that when they leave the farm – whether they're in the pork industry or not – someone that is going to produce a high-quality product that's safe for the consumer. To me, that is what Champions of Care is all about – let's make the next generation better.
Learn more about Jim and meet all of Zoetis Pork’s Champions of Care
Sarah Mikesell
Sarah Mikesell grew up on a five-generation family farming operation in Ohio, USA, where her family still farms. She feels extraordinarily lucky to get to do what she loves - write about livestock and crop agriculture. You can find her on LinkedIn.
