World Pork Expo: Zoetis Pork’s Champions of Care celebrates swine industry’s slat level heroes
Program highlights the passion, resilience and mentorship of swine professionals shaping the future of pork production
4 November 2025
2 minute read
By: Wes Lack, national sales director at Zoetis Pork, spoke to The Pig Site’s Sarah Mikesell at World Pork Expo about Zoetis’ Champions of Care platform which recognizes and applauds individuals for their deep passion for animals and dedication to raising healthy pigs and their efforts to provide safe, healthy pork to consumers.
We are seeing lots about Champions of Care around World Pork Expo. Can you talk about what this means?
Our business is about people, and we want to take the opportunity to recognize and applaud all the Champions of Care out there. The Zoetis Champions of Care platform is really about that – how we recognize those people who are dedicated to our business and our industry from the slat level all the way up to whatever position they may hold in our business or their business.
What stands out about the individuals who have been highlighted so far? They are extraordinary people.
Yes, they all are. I think everybody in the industry is, but I kind of compare the Champions of Care to an Olympic champion. They’ve got a lot of the same traits – they're dedicated and resilient; they’ve got the skills; they’ve got the knowledge. And they’ve got the leadership behind them to really influence what they do every day, but they also influence the people around them every day. And they take care of and are dedicated to the health of their animals.
How do you look at different ways individuals in our industry champion care and what does being a Champion of Care mean to you?
As I mentioned, there are Champions of Care everywhere in our industry, and we recognized them at our event last night as well. But these are guys and gals that go above and beyond. Regardless of the hat that they wear within their organization, we all play a role in being a Champion of Care.
It’s about caring for the animals, and those guys are easy to spot out there on the farms. But the guys that are outside of the farms – they're Champions of Care too, because they're dedicated every day to the business and what they do. We appreciate all of that, and we want to be a part of it and just help bring those people and their stories to life.
What I've noticed is they’re not just leaders, they’re natural teachers.
Absolutely, when you get that circle of influence, those are the people that everybody looks to and goes to with questions. Having that kind of relationship with your peers and leaders out there, that makes you a teacher, even though you may not think you are. They're doing it every day.
I know we're pig people, but our business is people. Our Champions of Care really highlight exactly what we're talking about here.
How can producers or industry members celebrate or learn more about Champions of Care?
Several ways but first, our sales reps are out in the field all the time, so just reach out to your sales reps. Or you can go to the Pig Health Monthly website and check out the descriptions of all the Champions of Care that we've recognized.
Or if you are like me, just Google “Champions of Care” and it'll pop up a bunch of articles and YouTube videos on the Champions of Care that we've recognized over the last few years.
We get busy in our lives, and if you watch one of the videos or just have a conversation with your Champion of Care, it's humbling to see their story. It's really their life, and that's how they approach their job and the industry.
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.
