After wrapping up the 2026 Industry Insight Surveys for Swine Live Production, Poultry Live Production, and Animal Sciences Sales, Continental Search, Swineweb, and Poultry Producer are taking the next step: updating the annual salary benchmarks for key operations roles.
Over the past few weeks, hundreds of managers, supervisors, and sales professionals have shared what they are seeing on the ground. Those insight surveys focused on hiring challenges, turnover, changing expectations, and how teams are adapting to disease pressure, consolidation, and new technology.
Now we are turning to a related question that comes up every year:
How are these critical roles actually being paid?
To answer that, Continental Search, Swineweb, and Poultry Producer are launching two salary surveys:
- Feed Mill Management Salary Survey (2025 edition)
- Poultry Live Production Salary Survey (2025 edition)
Both surveys are now open for a limited time.
A continued collaboration on real-world benchmarks
Swineweb and Continental Search have worked together for several years to provide practical benchmarks for the industry, especially around compensation in feed mills and live production.
The Feed Mill Management Salary Survey has become a dependable reference point for salaried feed mill managers and the people who employ them. It is used by:
- Managers who want to understand where their pay and responsibilities sit in the market
- Owners, HR leaders, and operations directors who need real numbers when reviewing compensation plans
This year, that effort is expanding.
For the first time, we are adding a Poultry Live Production Salary Survey to build a salary report specifically for salaried roles in U.S. poultry live operations.
Who these salary surveys are for
The 2025 salary surveys focus on two groups:
Feed Mill Management Salary Survey
- Salaried feed mill managers and leaders in the United States and Canada
- Roles such as multi-site managers, feed mill managers, superintendents, assistant managers, and foremen
Poultry Live Production Salary Survey
- Salaried professionals working in U.S. poultry live production
- Broiler, layer, turkey, duck, and specialty operations
- Roles across live operations: complex and live operations leaders, breeder and layer managers, hatchery managers, flock supervisors, veterinarians, nutritionists, and related salaried positions
If you are in one of these roles and work on a salary basis, these surveys are for you.
What the surveys cover
Both salary surveys keep the question list short and focused. They ask about:
- Job level and scope of responsibility
- Company type and size
- Years in the industry, with the current employer, and in the current role
- Highest education and field of study
- Base salary ranges, bonus eligibility, and bonus levels
- Overall satisfaction with pay and likelihood of changing employers
- What would most improve satisfaction with the present employer
The goal is to gather enough information to build clear, comparable salary ranges and see how pay relates to responsibility, tenure, and company profile.
Confidentiality and what participants receive
Both surveys are:
- Confidential – results are reported only in aggregate, not at the individual level
- Quick – each one takes about three minutes to complete
- Targeted – limited to salaried roles in the United States for this round
Everyone who completes a salary survey and shares compensation will receive a free PDF summary of the results when the report is finished.
- Salary ranges by role and level
- Simple cuts by experience, company type, and size
- Key observations about satisfaction, movement, and expectations for the next year
These salary surveys are designed to sit alongside the Industry Insight Survey results. Together, they connect what people are experiencing in their roles with how those roles are paid. They aim to give professionals, owners, and HR leaders:
- A grounded look at staffing and structure
- A realistic view of what key roles are earning
- Better information before they plan budgets, adjust compensation, or make career decisions in 2025 and 2026
How to take part
Both salary surveys are now open for a limited time.
Click these links to participate:
- Feed Mill Management Salary Survey (2025): https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/FeedMillSalarySurvey
- Poultry Live Production Salary Survey (2025): https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PoultrySalarySurvey2025
You can answer on your computer or phone, or see QR codes in the photo above linking directly to the survey. You can also see them from posts on Swineweb and Continental Search.
If you are not in a salaried feed mill or poultry live role, you are still welcome to follow the results. The final summaries will also be shared on Swineweb.com and continentalsearch.com
What comes next
In the coming weeks, we will release summaries of the 2026 Industry Insight Surveys for swine live production, poultry live production, and animal sciences sales. Responses are currently being compiled, and participants in the survey will receive the results directly in their inbox. The same process follows for the first two salary surveys open right now.
Additional Industry Insight and salary surveys are planned for 2026, building on this year’s work.
If you are a salaried feed mill manager or a salaried poultry live production leader, your response will help keep these benchmarks honest and useful. A few minutes from your day can give the wider community a clearer view of what pay and responsibility really look like in 2025.
