Research veterinarian named Future Leader by pork producers group
By David Blanchette
The local swine industry is getting some badly-needed assistance from a Jacksonville man by way of Mexico.
Rogelio Catalan, a 38-year-old Jacksonville resident, was recently named an Illinois Pork Future Leader by the Illinois Pork Producers Association. He is the research manager for a Beardstown swine research facility operated by the Maschhoffs, a large family-owned pork production company based in Carlyle, Illinois.
Catalan was trained as a veterinarian in Mexico, and came to the United States several years ago on a special visa to work in the swine industry.
“There is an agreement right now between the USA, Canada and Mexico to get people with certain degrees to come to the USA to work in agriculture,” Catalan said.
Catalan first came to the United States to work for Seaboard Foods, a pork production company that primarily has facilities in Texas, Oklahoma, Iowa and Kansas. He then saw an opportunity to work for the Maschhoffs in Illinois and was enthusiastic about the possibility because the Maschhoff position involved more research, which is Catalan’s passion.
“I am excited that all of the jobs we do on-site, all of the research, helps to reduce the cost of producing pigs,” Catalan said. “Making that efficiency on the production side helps to reduce costs for the pork producer.”
Catalan uses his veterinarian’s degree and training to monitor the health and progress of the pigs at the Maschhoff research barn. As a veterinarian in Mexico, he worked a little bit in livestock production but it was mainly with sheep, helping producers with treatments for their animals.
Catalan said the main differences he has noticed between Mexico and the United States in the veterinary profession are the regulations involving antibiotic use in livestock.
“Here, they make sure that only people who have a veterinarian’s degree can prescribe antibiotics, they run tests, send samples to the lab, to make sure what kind of medicine the animal may need,” Catalan said. “In Mexico they used to just sell the medicine to farmers. In the United States it has to be justified before medicine is given, and in Mexico they might say, ‘oh, just give him something.’”
Catalan was surprised to learn that the Illinois Pork Producers Association had named him one of their 2024 Illinois Pork Future Leaders, a recognition that came during the organization’s annual Pork Expo on January 30 in Springfield.
“I feel really grateful about having this opportunity to be a Future Leader,” Catalan said. “I can learn more about vaccines people are working on, genetics, things that will help me in my job with the Maschhoffs.”
Catalan is married to a woman he met while working in Texas and the couple decided to live in Jacksonville because “we were looking for a city that was quiet but not far away from everything. Jacksonville is quiet but you have almost everything here,” he said.
Katie Brown is the associate director for research and development for the Maschhoffs and is Catalan’s immediate supervisor.
“Rogelio took care of a lot of nurseries and production sites at Seaboard so we brought him over to help manage one of our research farms. It’s a specialized farm where we do different trials with pigs to evaluate their gain, feed intake and things like that,” Brown said. “We had Rogelio take over that job, he manages that site with three other individuals, and has done a really wonderful job for us. He’s been a breath of fresh air to our company for sure.”
Catalan came to the United States as part of the TN (Trade NAFTA) Visa program, a non-immigrant employment visa which allows Canadian and Mexican citizens who are employed in specific professional occupations to work in the United States. The TN Visa program is crucial to the American swine industry, where it is becoming increasingly more difficult to find a local workforce willing and able to work on American hog farms. Approximately 68 percent of farm personnel in the United States are foreign workers.
“It takes a lot to learn and TN Visa holders like Rogelio are very willing to learn,” Brown said. “Rogelio is also a fantastic manager of people. He has a team that has both Spanish and English speaking members, so because he is bilingual and can bridge that gap, it helps us with our research processes on the farm. I don’t know where I would be without him because he helps me to be able to do my job on a day-to-day basis.”
Jennifer Tirey, the executive director of the Illinois Pork Producers Association, said Catalan and the other 2024 Illinois Pork Future Leaders will have their first meeting in Springfield in May, followed by a visit to the Smithfield packing plant in Monmouth in July and a pork retail experience in Chicago in October.
“The goal of the program is to educate these individuals who are already in the pork industry and look at them to be potential committee members and board members of the association,” Tirey said. “People who are interested in having more of a leadership role within our industry, helping us with that next generation.”
