Al Loux Named Top Finishing Supervisor for Q2-2022
posted on Wednesday, January 11, 2023
“Al and I talk every day,” said Ryan Reinke, a finishing farm manager. “He’s always on it. He gets us what we need to do our jobs and pulls in his supervisor, Tom Boge, and our veterinarian, Dr. Jass, to develop strategies that are best for the pigs we’re caring for. He removes the small hang-ups before they can become bigger ones.”
Congratulations to finishing supervisor Al Loux on earning the distinction of top finishing supervisor for quarter two of 2022.
Ryan, who cares for several of Al’s farms along with his wife, Sam, and employee Juan, said what makes Al good at what he does is that number one, he’s an exceptionally good communicator and number two, he’s there for his team.
Since joining the company as a farrowing technician in 1999, Al’s career has changed significantly. One might say he’s also been consistently kept ahead of his career path while contributing his time and talents to areas that need the most help.
He started as a farrowing technician at a sow farm, then was promoted to department head and again to farm manager. Later, he jumped into the finishing team as a marketing specialist, where he was known for his high performance and intuitive skills.
But when the transportation team needed help, he took another leap across departments to serve the role of biosecurity truck wash monitor and then transportation maintenance and truck wash supervisor.
Never one to stand still, he’s now back in finishing supervising the teams of Ryan, Sam and Juan Hernandez, Daniel and Dana Sanchez, Angelina Del Angel and Shane and Trent McNickle.
“These teams do a great job of doing the right thing for the pigs and staying current on tasks,” said Al. “We maintain a commonsense approach—if it’s the right thing to do for the pigs, then we do it and stay on top of it.”
Ron Rush, director of finishing, says Al is fair with his team and consistent in his message and expectation of his managers. He’s also skilled in his job, has high attention to detail and is an effective trainer.”
Sam says the team approach that Al champions helps them be successful. “He’s easy to get ahold of and works alongside us, especially when things are challenging.”
Challenging is a good word to describe a career in livestock care. “The best thing we can do is get our supervisors looped in early when there is an issue,” said Sam. “What makes our team run well is how all is always there for us when we need him.”
Ryan says they have adopted Al’s mentality to stay current on the daily chores and ‘keep the wheels moving forward,’ something commonly referred to amongst Al’s team.
“He advises us to do as much as we can every day as we don’t know what lies ahead, like a massive snowstorm paired with a tractor breakdown, which can put a team far behind.”
Ryan and Sam were referring to this Christmas when much of Iowa was under snow and blizzard conditions. Weather that wreaks havoc on livestock farmers.
“This Christmas was horrible for us. One could say we never had one,” said Sam. “Our farms were under snow, we had two pick-ups and two plows, and it still wasn’t enough. But Al was with us, helping us dig out the farms to get in and care for the pigs. He never left.”
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