Logistics Excellence
Interns Continued
Danville Picnic
Employee Announcements
HR/Employee Services
Recruiting Corner
Openings
Welcome New Employees
Turkey Recipes & Tips!
Employee Count

Logistics Excellence

Our Logistics drivers continue to set the bar for excellence. This week Tim Swanson and Jason Thram embark on a journey to deliver poults to Utah; a whopping 26 hour one way trip (they are gone 3 days at a time). Every week trucks from either Aurora or Willmar head out to Utah with 60,000-80,000 day old poults. GM Kurt Schimek states that throughout this trip Willmar Logistics drivers monitor sophisticated software to insure poults are delivered in perfect condition. It takes an extraordinary driver to do this job. These guys aren’t just hauling furniture here, they are ensuring the well-being of our newly hatched live poults. With the use of this software they are able to maintain temperature, while monitoring Humidity & Co2 levels in trailer. Way to go guys!

Interns Continued

Farewell to another of our interns; Jordan Guertz, a student from NDSU, did an internship with Farm Service Elevator this summer helping develop our HAACP plan.

We said farewell to Laura Norling last week but now we have some pictures of her goodbye party and video of her last prank to share!

Danville Picnic

Here are some pictures from the Danville Ohio Hatchery summer picnic. It was on Tuesday August 18, 2015 during their regular lunch hour. Manager Mike Worley took the pictures, perhaps to avoid getting pictures taken of himself! What would a summer company picnic be without guessing the contents of large jars of Peanut M&M’s and penny’s? Congrats to jar counting winners Jennifer Baker (won the big jar of candy), Jessica Shirley and Elizabeth Waldeck (each won a jar of M&M’s), and Paul Haven who won the penny jar. Sounds like everyone enjoyed the meal and had fun.

Employee Announcements

The other week we found out that our very own Tessa Duncombe, AgForte Quality Control Lab Tech at the Foley Hatchery, competes in a spectacular looking sport known as cowboy mounted shooting. Tessa took the time to write about her experience with mounted shooting and sent over some great pictures. Take a look below (and make sure to watch the video clip she is in all the way at the bottom!):

“I started competing in cowboy mounted shooting in 2010 after sending one of my horses to a trainer who also happened to be one of the top shooters nationally at the time. I thought it looked fun and was hooked after trying it. I started out pretty slowly, only attending about 5 shoots per year for the first 3 years, then my horse got sick with Lymes disease so I sat out most of that year. During this time I was dating my husband who I met through mounted shooting, he bought a new horse which gave me the opportunity to start riding his old horse. I am still riding Doc now, while our children compete on my old horse Ruby. She recovered fairly well but will never be a top performance horse.

One of the things that I love about this sport is that it is for the whole family. Younger kids have to ride their horse through the course, while older kids have to maneuver through the course while engaging the targets with cap guns. Children then get to shoot from the ground with guidance, the goal to teach them proper gun handling and safety. They are expected to treat their cap guns like real guns at all times during a competition. Age 12 and up can compete with real guns. There are families with kids, parents and grandparents who all compete. Five of our six children have or currently compete with us at most shoots.

Our targets are balloons, 5 light colored, 5 dark. We shoot single action 45 revolvers, each gun loaded with 5 black powder blanks (there is no projectile), the balloons are broken by percussion and the hot embers from the black powder. They have a range of 15 to 20 feet, though 20 is a pretty long shot. Sometimes the wind is in the right direction and helps. There are over 60 patterns, most competitions have 4 to 6 patterns, or stages, plus a shotgun and rifle class. Each competitor will shoot the first five targets, called the random pattern, with their first gun, then holster, switch guns and shoot the rundown portion of the pattern. It is pretty impressive watching the top riders do this in 9 seconds on a fast pattern, remembering the hammer has to be pulled back for each shot, plus the gun change and guide your horse. Fastest time wins, with penalties for misses or knocking over barrels.

I love that I have become a better rider by competing in this sport, and my horses are better horses. Not much will rattle most shooting horses, I’ve never been around so many well trained horses, though like with any horse, this takes time. Some horses take to it better than others. A lot of people bring their horses in training to the competitions for the exposure. There they are around horses that it doesn’t bother so they have no reason to fear it. Many people use ear plugs on their horses as well. If they have proper training to begin with shooting off of them isn’t a big deal.

We could shoot every weekend if we chose to, but we seem to average 1-2 per month May through October, with one or two in the winter sometimes.

Funny story: At our Regional competition last September my horse slipped and fell while turning the rundown barrel, which normally means you come off your horse and get a 60 second time for that stage. Somehow I stayed on, Doc got up and took off so we were able to finish the pattern. I was complimented as having the most graceful fall that day.” – Tessa Duncombe

Baby

Congrats to Jennifer and William Scott Sutterlin (Agforte Maintenance Tech in Danville Ohio) on the birth of their baby girl Gracelyn Rose Sutterlin on 8/27/15. She weighed in at a whopping 2lb. 6oz.& 14 &5/8 inches long, being as she was 2 months premature. Grace is breathing on her own but is still in the hospital until she reaches at least 4 lbs.

HR/Employee Services

The Human Resources/Employee Services Team specializes in benefits and payroll, compliance and policy, employee relations, ag-recruiting, legal compliance, and company & employee overall well-being. We are located on the first floor of Life-Science Innovations on the MinnWest campus at 1800 Technology Drive. We look forward to working with you!

Please message us via email at employee.services@life-scienceinnovations.com or give us a call at

320.222.9515 or 888.320.9750 extension 2515

Recruiting Corner

Hello from Michelle Falling, MN Affiliates Recruiting Specialist

Recruiting is not showing signs of slowing down again this week, so please keep an eye on our postings and thanks for your referrals! The best way to apply or inquire about opportunities is through the Employment Page on our website. It’s updated at least once a week!

You are welcome to contact me with any questions you have regarding the new opportunities posted or if you want to talk through your career goals here at michelle.falling@life-scienceinnovations.com | or just give me a call at O: (320) 222-9790 M: (320) 441-8596. Thanks for trusting me to help you through the process!