Taking time to honor excellence is a challenge in our fast-paced and demanding world. Each year, Carthage Veterinary Service prioritizes this during its Annual Swine Health and Production Conference. Here’s a recap of the 2021 honorees.
Good Neighbor Award: Dale Weitekamp
Weitekamp, a fifth-generation farmer in central Illinois, was selected for the Good Neighbor Award because he has been a tremendous leader and neighbor to his local community and the swine industry throughout his career, said Aaron Lower, president of Carthage Veterinary Service.
“Dale’s devotion to his family, pig farming, and his community shows that he is a ‘Good Neighbor.’ Dale is also a local EMT volunteer with the Raymond-Harvel ambulance service. During the early outbreak of COVID-19, Dale used his own masks and white Tyvek coveralls from his farm in order to continue to serve his community as an EMT,” Lower said.
Outstanding Finisher Award Winner: Craig Huelskamp
Huelskamp started helping on his family’s farrow-to-finish farm when he was 8 years old. He now takes care of the family’s 2,400-head finisher with the help of his brother Scott, his uncle Mike, and his nieces and nephews.
“Craig ensures good biosecurity to influence herd health and safety, implements good individual pig care with sorting fallouts and performing treatments, achieves proper feed management to enhance feed conversion, and also practices strategic marketing planning with the help of his PSM Production Manager, Samantha Cisco,” Lower said. “Craig also likes to challenge himself in trying to get the tightest sort on each marketing cut. There were numerous times where Craig excelled in sorting market hogs and achieved a live weight 15 lb standard deviation. He will never shy away from doing what is best for the pig, even if that means adding extra work to their already busy days.”
Outstanding Sow Farm Winner: Grand View Farms, LLC
Grand View Farms, LLC, led by Farm Manager Ben Stajkowski, is a repeat award winner, Lower said. This farm continues to excel, leading all Carthage System Farms in every quarter over the past year.
“They have performed at this extremely high level with very little turnover. This is more impressive in 2020, where we know staffing was difficult. This past
year, the farm has weaned 13.1 pigs/sow farrow, that is 3,500 weaned pigs/week off of 267 farrowings. They have had 91.3% farrow rate, 16.2 total born, and had a 31.5 PSY. The team has the ability to bend but not break, keeping consistent performance for the long term,” he said.
Outstanding Swine Manager: Tom Wilkey with Strawn Pork
Wilkey is the longtime manager at Strawn Pork, a 3,200-sow farm where he manages nine employees.
“He takes ownership of the farm with key skills in maintenance and renovation projects,” Lower said. “He also just gets it done – managing off site gilt development and three breeding projects over the past five years with minimal oversight. He oversees the production of three small breed-to-wean herds that make up the pig flow for the system.”
Outstanding Swine Technician: Joe Valdez
Joe Valdez is the breeding department head at LaMoine Valley Farms and just celebrated his seventh year of working for Carthage System. He started with the company as a technician and worked his way to a breeding manager position.
“He has been recognized for his incredible work ethic, as he is always striving for greatness in his department and does not accept anything less. Joe is never in the farm office, he is always knee deep in work with his crew. As a result of his excellent leadership and motivation to succeed, LaMoine Valley maintains a 92% farrowing rate,” Lower said. “Joe doesn’t shy away from challenges including managing difficult flows through both maintenance and health challenges on the farm.”
Outstanding Teamwork Award: SisBro Farms
This team was formed in 2015 as the farm was constructed as a 2,600 head breed to wean herd. Just four years later, in 2019, the farm was doubled to 6,200 sows, with everyone except one person from the original team.
“This outstanding retention is driven by the farm manager and leads who create a great workplace for the team. This teamwork award recognized their work during a farm expansion. Farm construction projects come with a lot of long nights, constraints to overcome, breed projects, and plans changing daily. However, this team strapped on their boots and dealt with juggling these headaches to drive a successful project,” Lower said. “The comradery of the team is second to none. They are always helping each other, practicing excellent communication, and carrying passion for what they do.”
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