About Me

After working for over 20 years on a swine CAFO and realizing the integrator prioritized their own wealth and growth over the well-being of the animals, farmers or environment, I left and didn’t look back.

My name is William Butler Jr. I’m father to a couple of wonderful humans and that’s my MOST IMPORTANT role to date. I’m here to tell you how we’re going to attempt to make a better future for them, you and the environment.

I worked on our multigenerational farm for most of my adult life. Our family went from growing row crops and tobacco until 1995 when the first six barns of the swine CAFO were installed.  Four more barns were later added for a total of ten.  The average swine feeder-to-finish operation consists of an integrator and a farmer with land. The farmer with land has the barns built (enormous debt) and installs the earthen, clay lined holding ponds (lagoons) to hold/treat the waste (free fertilizer). The integrator supplies the pigs, feed, weekly service person to inspect animal health and farm efficiency and loading crews. The farmer essentially babysits the hogs until they reach market weight. The animals are removed by the integrator’s loading crew and sent to a slaughterhouse. The barns are washed and sanitized (paid for by farmer) and repaired (by farmer) for the next group of pigs. The farmer does not own the pigs. The farmer is paid for weight gain and feed conversion, even though the farmer has no way to verify that information. The integrator takes the pigs for profit and leaves the Contract Grower with endless byproducts; the liability, responsibility and management of thousands of gallons of waste produced daily, the disposal of hog carcasses, and extensive barn repair due to 300 pound hogs in setups designed for max weight of 250.

During my employment, I witnessed animal abuse by employees of the integrator. We constantly had issues with feed quality and outages due to the integrator’s flawed feed mill and delivery truck system.  We ALWAYS took pride in how well the animals were cared for while on our farm.  But, when the integrator sends a crew to pack the animals onto trucks for slaughter, the screaming, bullied animals are no longer in our care and their grim, abusive journey towards death begins.  For years, they only had to travel by truck an hour or two to market. Our North Carolina based integrator has recently built a ‘processing plant’ in Iowa. Now, our 300 lb. pigs travel 1,100 miles packed into a truck for close to 20 hours so the integrator can eliminate the middle man (Smithfield) and take 100% of the profits.

I haven’t been a part of the farm since 2019.

I was recently flown to San Francisco to speak on a panel at the 2022 Reducetarian Summit about our collaborative efforts with Transfarmation.  It was such an honor to be in the company of so many people part of a movement striving for a better world.  I returned home inspired and moved accompanied by a greater sense of hope and confidence to take these first steps of our new adventure.  I’ve posted videos on my social media accounts.  I have lost hope for our older generation, so I’m focusing on guiding GenX age folks and younger toward a healthier lifestyle while being environmentally conscious. I plan to regularly update my TikTok and Instagram accounts.  I may even start a blog here. 

This project was initially to be named Butler Organic Mushroom Farm. But, this isn’t about us.

Thanks for stopping by.  Be safe and well.