posted on Monday, July 11, 2016
“Every detail matters,” said Loni, the farrowing lead at Sow 28. “You have to have everything right when it comes to farrowing, if one piece is missing you could lose a piglet or the health of a sow could decline—heat lamps, nutrition, staying on top of treatments. It’s not just one thing we focus on, it’s a hundred little things our team covers in these farrowing rooms on any given day.”
“Loni didn’t come to us with a whole lot of experience in swine production, but she has picked up all of the tasks associated with sow and piglet care very quickly,” said Mikey, manager of Sow 28. “She cares tremendously about how we do things, has a lot of enthusiasm and since day one has been anxious to learn and grow within the farm.”
Loni, who has been working at Sow 28 for a year and a half, started as a technician and was then promoted to farrowing lead. Recently she joined the Production Leadership Program to begin developing her skills to become a farrowing department head.
Being in the Production Leadership Program, Lonnie maintains her job as a farrowing lead while also learning how master the role ahead of her—a farrowing manager. “She’s learning how to manage a department, scheduling, how to train, how to input data into Tools and all of the other responsibilities that go with the job,” said Mikey.
Balancing out the farrowing team is Sarah, who we introduced earlier in a post, along with Steph, Ty, and Miranda, plus Ben and Adam who just joined the crew and are progressing through training.
It’s also a family affair for Loni. Her son, Logan, works part time at Sow 28 and her brother, Wes, works in the nutrient management department.
“I really love working with the mamas and saving baby pigs, plus I like that I have the opportunity to keep moving up,” said Loni. “Agriculture is an important career if you think about how many people we feed (3 billion servings of pork, if we make our goal), and the responsibility we have to care for these animals and produce a quality product. I want to become a manager someday, because I enjoy working for Iowa Select Farms and can see the huge strides the company is making and it’s exciting.” #billionpounds
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