Congratulations to Dearl King for celebrating 15 years with Iowa Select Farms!
posted on Friday, April 17, 2020
Congratulations to Dearl King for celebrating 15 years with Iowa Select Farms!
If you’re like us and scratching your heard wondering who Dearl is, that’s because we lovingly know him as Kevin of Cheers B005.
While most employees will never see the inside of our gene transfer centers, Dearl has worked at nearly all of them! His career started at Parker Sow 16 as an animal caretaker, but since then he’s worked at Ringgold Sow 28, Jernquist Sow 15, Hefner B004, B001 and now works as a specialist Cheers B005.
In his current role as specialist, Dearl helps with the daily care and collection of all boars, semen processing and order fulfillment. In the month of March alone, Dearl and his team shipped out 61,630 doses for 26 sow farms and ten gilt developers.
“We are a pretty efficient bunch,” chuckled Dearl, who has worked on the gene transfer side of things since 2008. “Even as we’ve grown as a company, we’ve adjusted and kept up with production. We take a lot of pride in supplying farms with fresh, quality semen.”
Although the crew at Cheers has more than 180 years combine experience, the farm just celebrated their one-year anniversary. Dearl recalls how exciting, yet stressful being a part of a new farm startup was.
“We have a joke on the stud team that ‘semen doesn’t grow on trees’,” he smirked. “The process may seem simple, and we want it to appear that way, but it’s only because we have a ton of experience, plan, prep and follow through.”
A native of Galva, Iowa, pork production is what brought Dearl to southern Iowa, and even Missouri for a bit. For him, it’s hard to imagine that he’s worked for some of the smallest pork producers (his Dad) to one of the largest in the world.
“I’ve always loved working with pigs and it’s crazy to see how much the industry has changed in a relatively short period of time,” he said. “We’ve just become so much more efficient. Our farms, our animals, our people—everything.”
Outside of work, Dearl enjoys relaxing and watching western movies. While he’s seen nearly everything, he claims the best ones were made in the 30s, 40s and 50s.
“Growing up, I used to sit and watch westerns with my grandpa, which I suppose is why I continue to enjoy them so much today,” he said. “It brings back a lot of fond memories.”
Aside from the people, what Dearl enjoys most about his job is the routine, yet ever-changing work. While most weeks look the same, each day requires a specific set of tasks to be completed. Dearl spends time in the barns and also in the lab doing quality assurance.
“I’m grateful to have a job that I enjoy and a steady paycheck,” he said. “This company has always taken good care of its employees and I look forward to retiring here someday.”
Congrats on 15 years, Dearl!
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