Celebrating First Place GDU for Quarter 1

posted on Thursday, September 9, 2021


“Taking first place start the year off was a big reward for us,” said Chris, the manager at Mott gilt developer (GDU). “It shows when you put in the hard work you get positive results.”
Congratulations to Chris, Shawn and Ryan for starting the year on the right foot and taking first place GDU in Q1 2021.

Sitting amongst a very competitive group of farms, the Mott crew say that winning this award is an honor. “The GDU’s at Iowa Select Farms are always high performing,” says Shawn. “It shows us that when we make small changes to improve and continue to put animal health and care first we’ll get great results.”

Two farmers pose in front of a pig feeder outdoors.

For Mott, they stay focused on biosecurity and their farm’s breeding targets. Animal husbandry comes naturally, with all three of them having animal agriculture experience prior to working for Iowa Select Farms.

“They worked hard to take their overall performance to the next level,” says their supervisor, Jeremiah. “Through conversations and working together as a team, they were able to maintain the high conception performance and lower their mortality on both bred and open gilts respectively. With that focus, they were able to take home the number one spot for the system.”
Chris grew up raising pigs and has worked for Iowa Select Farms for 23 years. Shawn started working with pigs in 1990 and joined this team in 2008. Ryan just celebrated 20 years with Iowa Select Farms this past January.

Together, these three bring tremendous experience and a shared value for top notch pig care.
“Our team makes for the perfect trio,” says Ryan. “I really like working with these guys—we’re a family here at Mott."

Looking ahead to the second quarter results, this team thinks it will be a close one. “We’re feeling good about it,” says Chris. “We are going to be right up there!”