Carl Owens and Tyler Miller Clench First Place Select Pride Win for Multiplication Growers
posted on Friday, February 28, 2020
“Take care of your pigs and they’ll take care of you.”
That’s the motto of Carl Owens, longtime Iowa Select Farms employee and current manager of Three Fires G043 and McKenny G736. With the help of animal caretaker, Tyler Miller, the duo recently clenched the first place SelectPride win for multiplication growers. It was Carl’s first-ever, first-place win.
According to Carl, there’s no secret to success. It all comes down to showing up for your pigs every single day.
“We do the same things, the same way, every single day,” he said. A statement that rings true for nearly every farm that receives the first-place spot. “It’s all about consistency.”
A native of Albany, Missouri, Carl always knew he wanted to work with livestock someday. He grew up on a farm with pigs, cattle and row crops.
“There’s something about watching your animals grow,” he reflected. “It’s rewarding to get through the struggles and produce great pigs.”
This year, the multiplication team is focusing on selecting #TheRightPig. Which, simply put, means properly identifying the right animals based on size, health and activity to maximize their ability to compete. Carl jokes he’s been doing that for the past twenty years.
“The pigs coming from multiplication farms are the future of Iowa Select Farms’ herd,” said Courtney Abell, Gilt Selection Specialist. “It’s extremely important that our farms provide individualized care to every single animal, every single day.”
According to Abell, Carl and Tyler take their job as animal caretakers very seriously. Whether it’s coming to the farm multiple times a day in inclement weather to check on their animals or the excellent care they provide both their animals and farms, they have pride in what they do. A reflection of that is the scores they ended Q4 with, including 1.9% mortality, 99.6% on their Production Well-Being Assessment, 100% on their Biosecurity Assessment and 100% on their Supervisor Sit Assessment.
“What most people probably don’t know about Carl is that he’s very passionate about what he does and takes his role caring for his pigs very seriously,” she said. “I’m happy he finally won first place so that everyone else can know what a great job he does.”
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