posted on Tuesday, September 1, 2020
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Congratulations to our entire finishing team (that’s right—every single one of ‘em!) for being name our Q2 SelectPride award winners. From not knowing one day to the next how many pigs they would be able to market to changing pig flows, stocking, nutritional and marketing strategies, it’s been an unprecedented year.
“We want to recognize the entire team for their incredible efforts through all of the changing dynamics our industry faced. Everyone stayed the course and executed every process we asked of them,” said Ron, Director of Grow-Finish. “It’s been a tough year, but our entire team rose to the occasion.”
Alongside Ron are senior supervisors, Bob, Kevin, Tim and Tom, a team of 37 finishing supervisors, seven veterinarians, nutrition and transportation teams, farm managers and animal caretakers. Together, they handle all wean-to-finish animal care at Iowa Select Farms.
“I’ve worked in the swine industry a long time and I know that we’ve got some of the best people possible on our team,” said Bob. “Whether they were getting loads marked, paperwork ready or loads out the door at a minute’s notice, everyone on our team was, and continues to be, willing to do whatever necessary to meet the goals we’ve set for ourselves.”
Tom echoed Ron and Bob’s comments, saying that it truly was a team-effort to make it through the quarter.
“We are lucky to have a great team and leadership from our finishing supervisors,” he said. “But it truly takes everyone working together, down to the individual farm managers and caretakers, to keep things going. We wouldn’t be where we are today if it wasn’t for everyone pitching in and working together. It’s definitely a team effort.”
Kevin, the newest senior supervisor of the bunch although nonetheless tenured, was impressed with everyone’s perseverance. “We had a lot of last-minute changes throughout the quarter and everyone was really good about responding to those changes in a timely manner,” he said. “No one ever said, ‘sorry, I can’t do that.’ It was always, ‘you bet’ or ‘I’ve got it’, which really speaks to what an incredible team we have.”
According to Tim, who’s worked in the swine industry for quite some time, what the company and pig farmers in general went through as a result of COVID-19 and interruptions in the supply chain was unprecedented. He recalled a day that the company had to drop half of their marketing loads for the week—and that was just the first of many bad calls they received that day.
“There are no words big enough to portray how thankful we are for our entire team, including our transportation department who handled all scheduling and logistics,” said Tim. “Everyone understood that what was happening was bigger than us and out of our control. As a result, you saw everyone supporting one another on a whole new level. Things were literally changing by the hour, but no one complained, they just kept working. I want to give the biggest thank you possible to every single one of them.”
As the finishing team continues to press on through Q3 and soon Q4, the hard work and perseverance continues.
“Unfortunately, the disruptions in the supply chain can’t be fixed overnight and our team continues to deal with the after effects,” explained Tim. “But everyone continues to do a great job focusing on getting things back to normal and chasing after our goals full-steam ahead. I couldn’t be more confident in the group of guys and gals we have on our team to reach those goals.”
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