Jackie Celebrates 20 Years with Iowa Select Farms
posted on Friday, January 15, 2021
Congrats to Jackie for celebrating 20 years with Iowa Select Farms!
A native of Jefferson that now finds herself living in southern Iowa, Jackie has spent most of her career working on multiplication grower farms, providing quality gilts for our sow system. Since 2012, Jackie has worked at G039 Shirley, a farm that provides replacement gilts for Sow 29.
“I enjoy watching the pigs grow and keeping them healthy,” she said. “I also really like heat checking and getting the gilts to come into heat.”
For Jackie, a typical day at Shirley consists of showering in (but, of course!), walking through the barns and getting a good look at every gilt on the farm, providing any necessary treatments, heat checking, tagging, marketing and then rounding out the day with any paperwork in the farm’s office.
“When I applied at Iowa Select Farms all those years ago, I was looking for a job close to home with good benefits that treated their employees well,” she said. “And that’s exactly what’s kept me here all these years. Those things have never changed.”
Things that have changed for Jackie, however, have been the technology used in barns, efficiency of breeding techniques and biosecurity. “The change has been gradual, but now looking back 20 years you realize how different things are,” she said. “Time really does fly when you’re getting old!”
When she’s not at work, you can find Jackie knitting, quilting or fishing at one of the many lakes and farm ponds near Mount Ayr. She also enjoys spending time with her four children, eleven grandchildren and one great grandchild!
Like every single one of us, Jackie is hopeful for 2021 and anxious to get back to normal life. When her kids were younger, the Iowa Select Farms Family Days at Adventureland were always a big highlight. Now, Jackie and her husband look forward to the annual Iowa State Fair outing and are hoping we get to do that again this year.
“Those are just a few examples of how the company has taken care of us over the years,” she said. “In addition to all the friendships I’ve gained, I’m grateful for all of the opportunities we’ve been given. It’s been a good ride.”
Congratulations on 20 years, Jackie! We’re thankful to have a dedicated employee like you on our team.
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