SelectPride- Q1 Most Improved Farm
posted on Thursday, June 15, 2017
“We also talk a lot about how our job is about livability,” said Hebert Aragon manager of Sow 114. “What each and every one of us can do to keep the sows healthy and how we can save more baby piglets in farrowing. That is the most important job we have as caretakers.”
Hebert and the Sow 114 crew show that spending time on training and focusing on what they can control can produce results, which is why they are being recognized with a brand new SelectPride Award—Most Improved Sow Farm.
SelectPride sow awards are based on quarterly results of farrowing rate, total born, born alive, total born conversion and sow mortality. Then, the outcomes of biosecurity and production well-being audits, safety compliance and retention are included to create a final score for all sow farms. The top ten sow farms are recognized quarterly as SelectPride Winners.
The Most Improved Sow Farm Award helps recognize those farm teams who make big improvements in their scores, but may not necessarily be able to break into the top ten. “There are some farm teams that are moving mountains out there, but for reasons such as health status they have experienced setbacks,” said Dan Dean, senior sow supervisor. “This gives us the opportunity to recognize managers like Hebert who has developed a great team, has put the right people in the right place and is steadily making significant improvements.”
Hebert and the Sow 114 team— Breeding Department Head Jorge Castillo; breed leads Erick Garcia, Misael Solórzano and Javier Maldonado; farrowing department head Esmeralda Vazquez; day one lead Jose Chavira and technicians Luis Castro, Delsin Christiansen, David Cintron, Irene Torres, Ray Torres, Juan Yepez and Javier Yepez—landed firmly in the number 20 spot for quarter one, hitting a ten week total born average of 14.1 and a born alive average of 12.5.
“The effort Hebert and his team have made and what they have accomplished to meet their farm’s objectives proves that you can have a PRRS positive farm and be able to make improvements and be competitive,” said Dan.
Looking at the improvements the team has made from week 1 to week 22 are indeed impressive. Week 1 Sow 114 has a 12.6 born alive and 13.5 total born, improving to a 12.9 born alive and a 14.1 total born just last week (week 22). While these numbers are important, it’s the total born conversion that shows the amount of effort happening on the farm—increasing from a 73.56% to a 79.39% in that same time period. “This shows the farrowing team has been working extremely hard on tending to sows, checking litters, colostrum management and making sure each piglet’s environment is warm and dry,” said Dan.
“We’ve had a lot of people like Aaron Fopma (supervisor) and Dr. Jass, DVM, helping me with solutions and providing training that I can take back to my team,” said Hebert. “Recently we worked on mortality removals from the farm because that is a place where disease can enter, so it’s important that we do it right and everyone is trained. Sanitation and biosecurity play such a big role on our farms and the health of our animals. We stay steady and focused and keep improving each week and it’s paying off.”
Other sows farms recognized for Most Improved, by category, are as follows:
Sow 22—most improved farrowing rate
Sow 25—most improved total born
Sow 22—most improved born alive
Sow 117—most improved wean average
Sow 112—most improved sow mortality
Sow 5—most improved total born conversion
Sow 18—most improved stall efficiency
Congratulations to all winners! #billionplus
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