A Few Words From President Nick McCulley | |
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During last week's production management call, President Nick McCulley opened by expressing his gratitude to the teams and highlighting several key achievements, which we are excited to share in this issue.
Key Win! Our gilt and sow teams have successfully boosted our weaned pig numbers to over 120,000 per week—a significant achievement. Nick extends his thanks to everyone for their incredible effort in making this possible. Dan Dean has 125,000 weaned pigs/week in his sights, and we're confident in our sow team's ability to hit this next mark.
Key Win! Mortality rates in the wean-to-market sector are on the decline, with weekly mortality now down to 0.5%—our lowest in two years. Kudos to the sow farm teams for producing quality weaned pigs, and to the health services and wean-to-market teams for their relentless dedication to reducing mortality.
Nick also spotlighted the Production Well-Being and Biosecurity Compliance Team's efforts to strengthen the top half of our production pyramid, focusing on improving herd health through biosecurity execution. The team has been conducting on-farm training and biosecurity assessments knowing cooler temperatures are right around the corner.
Also a shout out to the health services team as we continue to see the positive impact of herd closures and depops/repops. Over the last month, the health services team made changes to individual flow plans and a few more farms recently added to PRRS negative status (with more to come!) This is a huge collective effort, and we appreciate the teams working hard to clean up the farms.
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In Case You Missed It (ICYMI) | |
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Transportation Team Celebrates More Pigs to Market
The transportation team is celebrating notable improvements across several areas, delivering more full-value pigs to our customers.
Comparing May, June, and July of this year to the same period in 2023, the team collectively increased the percentage of full-value hogs accepted at the plants—from 98.6% to 98.8%. While this may seem like a slight increase, it translates to 1,774 more pigs reaching the market, thanks to fewer "dead on arrivals," "slows," and losses at the plant. This progress is partly due to better weather conditions but largely driven by recent load crew training and enhanced handling practices.
During this period, we also saw 1,209 fewer pigs being resold to secondary packer markets—those that didn’t meet quality specifications, such as weight. Credit for this achievement goes to the wean-to-market team!
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Welcome, Kaden Zoske!
Kaden Zoske has joined the wean-to-market team as a supervisor. He's a member of the finishing pod led by Al Loux, which oversees the wean-to-market farms around Alden and the surrounding areas.
Kaden holds an ag studies degree from Iowa State University. Before joining Iowa Select Farms, he worked on his family's swine, cattle, cow/calf and row crops farming operation outside Eldora. In his free time, Kaden enjoys live music, playing the guitar, listening to vinyl records and playing pool.
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Welcome, Jose Venegas!
Let’s warmly welcome Jose Venegas to the western Iowa wean-to-market team. Jose already knows us well, as he was previously a contracted site manager for us. Recently, he joined the team full-time as a supervisor on Jason Paysen’s pod team, overseeing wean-to-market farms in the Storm Lake area.
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April 8% Club Announced
The 8% Club recognizes managers and caretakers who achieved a mortality rate of 8% or lower. Congratulations to the following farms on earning a spot on the April 8% Club roster!
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F596 Runde # 4
F064 Girres
F107 Kramer
F340 Askeland
F075 Hosteng North
F699 Durant
F823 Florence
F995 Hoversten Finisher
F489 Roberts
F924 Pettit Farms
F517 Mac West
F187 Marton Vernon
F224 Halverson East
F069 Henderson
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F717 Frey
F176 Zimmerman
F226 SR East
F601 Twister
F588 Mac South
F863 Blackrock
F900 Downing II
F1006 Buell
F282 Antoine West
F782 Sunrise Pork LLC
F595 Stiemel
F223 Otter Creek
F432 Kingsley
F518 Jefferson
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Words of Thanks
Jeremiah Hall thanks the multiplication team for their tremendous work in driving mortality down and the GDU team for their hard work and flexibility on depops.
Todd Neff thanks the wean-to-market team for their focus on striving to maximize our revenue—managing optimum weights and volumes, maxing grade premiums, and reducing resales/culls/DOAs.
Kerry Sweeney appreciates all of those who participated in the employee engagement survey. This year we saw 70% participation. The comments and feedback help us celebrate some great things but also continue to get better.
Small Notes, Big Impact: Carolina Weispfenning thanks Kevin Platt for the quick turnaround on verification letters, Kent Pliner thanks Jeff Arensdorf for all his development work getting the manure billing moved to Tools, Cassandra Jass, DVM, says thanks to Anne Szczotka, DVM for all her hard work on getting the Keast and South Dakota sites cleaned up. Carl Vogel thanks the transportation team for juggling all the movement changes and the maintenance team for the good collaboration on data-driven decision making tools. Dan Childs says thanks to the sow and wean-to-market teams for looping the maintenance team in on their calls, Shaun Flander thanks Chad Hill for his quick response in fixing month-end accounting reports out of Tools, Courtney Mast, Chris Morgan and Jamie Horbach thank the HR and communication team for all their planning and execution on the Iowa State Fair family days. Dave Osman says thanks to the market transport team for making daily and weekly adjustments to get the best weights to our packers and to Scott Gillespie for always supplying data. Tom Boge thanks the sow farms for their hard work on the shut downs, Jamie Horbach says thanks to the Sow 44 crew for going above and beyond all summer cleaning the farm for the customer tours and providing an experience they will never forget, Scott Gillespie thanks the wean-to-market supervisors for taking the time to send corrections to make our iSlat data beautiful! Carolina Weispfenning says thanks to Chris Nydegger for the quick turn around on approvals and paperwork for renewals and internal interviews, Carl Vogel thanks the low voltage techs and IT field staff for covering as many farms as they do with short labor, Kent Pliner thanks the western Iowa maintenance crew for getting the trees cleaned up at Sow 30, and finally, Cassandra Jass, DVM, shares her appreciation for Alex Umbaugh and Valeria Leija Bustos and their help with keeping the sow/GDU clean-up process organized and on schedule.
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Teams Respond to Barn Fire
Dr. Whitney Lincoln, Director of Wean to Market for Western Iowa, expresses her appreciation to all who responded to the fire at one of our finishing sites earlier this week. The Franklin County Emergency Response Services, Alexander, Meservey, and Latimer Fire Departments responded and were at the scene.
Ricardo Sanchez, the farm manager, received a notification from the control system and drove to the site, where he saw flames.
Paul Isaacson, Wean-to-Market Supervisor, Rodrigo Leon, Senior Wean-to-Market Supervisor, and Whitney Lincoln arrived to help coordinate the next steps for the pigs.
Special thanks to Nick McCulley, Tony Thies, Dan Childs, and Dave Osman for their collaborative effort and for meeting immediate needs throughout the evening and early morning.
At this time we don't know what caused the fire but thanks to Ricardo's quick response, the emergency services extinguished the fire within thirty minutes, saving much of the barn structure and the majority of the pigs.
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Hooper Sow Farm Goes Above and Beyond
Kudos to the Customer Tour Team and the Sow 44 Hooper crew for their outstanding efforts in managing daily operations while hosting a high volume of customer tours at the farm. The leader of JBS USA recently reached out to our CEO, Jeff Hansen, to express gratitude, praising Iowa Select Farms for the remarkable impact the tour team and farm crew had on the visiting retail chain stores, food service distributors and wholesale customers. He specifically highlighted their "passion, professionalism and knowledge" in animal care and pork production. Specific thanks go to Jamie Horbach, Director of Public Affairs; Don Hunt, Sow Supervisor; and Doug Bates, Sow 44 Hooper manager.
Do you want to give thanks to someone in the Weekly Update? Please send it to Abby Fausch at afausch@iowaselect.com.
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With Deep Sadness: The Passing of Jaime Keninger
It is with great sadness that we share the news that Jaime Keninger has lost her courageous battle with cancer. She was 47 years old.
Jaime was part of our Iowa Select Farms and New Modern Concepts family for nearly 30 years.
As office manager, event coordinator, and administrative assistant, she was at the heart of everything we did. She organized our Adventureland family days, Iowa State Fair days, meat giveaways, countless PQA trainings, production management sessions, regional meetings, and pork giveaways. Jaime also served as the administrative assistant for the nutrient management team while handling hundreds of smaller, vital tasks essential to keeping our entire company running smoothly.
Many of you might not know that Jaime was Jeff Hansen's relative, as her mother, Jean Thompson, is his cousin. On a personal level, Jaime was Jeff's assistant, managing his calendar and appointments for him and often for his family with grace and professionalism.
More than anything, Jaime was a good friend to Jeff and so many of you.
During this difficult time, please keep Jaime’s family—her husband Doug, our wean-to-market supervisor, their son Eli, and Jean—in your thoughts. We will communicate the details of a celebration of life if the family chooses to hold one.
Her impact on us and our company cannot be overstated, and she will be deeply missed.
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Joke of the Week
What Shakespeare play do pigs like the most?
Hamlet!
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This Week's Years of Service
Check out all of the employees below celebrating their work anniversaries this week and last week. If you see these folks out and about, be sure to congratulate them!
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30 Years
Mikey Shields, Sow Farm Manager Sow 028 Ringgold Sows
24 Years
David Hemann, Animal Caretaker GDU 733 Saratoga
23 Years
Pat Steelman, Maintenance Technician Sow/GDU
15 Years
Gabriel McWilliams, Animal Caretaker Sow 028 Ringgold Sows
14 Years
Dean Feikes, Warehouse Assistant
Dustin Peck, Sow Farm Manager Sow 035 Elmand
13 Years
Jen Sorenson, Director of Communications
12 Years
Ma. Vazquez, Newborn Pig Specialist Sow 008
Pedro Vazquez Cholico, Animal Caretaker Sow 008
10 Years
Amanda Johnson, Farrowing Department Head Sow 011 Stockdale
9 Years
Lorena Vanderpool, Sow Farm Manager Sow 116
David Handy, Animal Caretaker Sow 028 Ringgold Sows
8 Years
Courtney Mast, Human Resource Supervisor
Kylene Stamps-Lumbard, Newborn Pig Specialist Sow 028 Ringgold Sows
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7 Years
Angie Ingraham, Farrowing Department Head Sow 026 Fonken
Jeremy Rodamaker, GTC Specialist Boar 002 Qualley
Raul Romero Gonzalez, GDU Supervisor
5 Years
Austin Stuber, Sow Farm Manager Sow 042 Sandy Hill
Fabian Vazquez Gomez, Farrowing Department Head Sow 021 Davis Sow
Ricardo Castillo Lopez, Breeding Department Head Sow 042 Sandy Hill
Angelica Escobar Gil, Sow Farm Manager Sow 019 Union
Maria Carrillo Leon, Newborn Pig Specialist Sow 032 Last Chance
3 Years
Adrian Melendez Orantes, Assistant Farrowing Department Head Sow 034 Derby
Saul Vara Ayala, Heat Check/AI Specialist Sow 032 Last Chance
Eduardo Miranda Diaz, Heat Check/AI Specialist Sow 032 Last Chance
Ximena Robles Camacho, Animal Caretaker Sow 005 Swanson
Pat Werner, Multiplication Sample Courier
2 Years
Rosa Franzen, Animal Caretaker Sow 007 Jacobson
Chris Bucy, Maintenance Technician - Wean to Market
Michael Cowell, Chauffeur Driver
1 Year
Mario Jeronimo Almora Barrios, Wean-to-Market Supervisor
Oscar Balan Canul, Animal Breeder Sow 035 Elmand
Jay Brenner, Maintenance Technician - Wean to Market
Joslyn Smith, Animal Caretaker - Sow 034 Derby
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Internal Job Openings
Looking for a new role within Iowa Select Farms? Check out what you may have missed last week. To see a list of our current and new job openings and information on applying, click here or contact Human Resources at 641-648-4479.
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On-Call Maintenance Schedule
Stay up-to-date with the on-call maintenance schedule and never lose track of its location. This schedule can be found here, and it will continually be updated in real-time.
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