With Thanksgiving just around the corner, visions of turkey feasts, fun family gatherings and reflections of gratitude likely cross your mind.  As you prepare for your Thanksgiving meals, here are some invaluable tips and resources from the Minnesota Turkey Growers Association and the National Turkey Federation to enhance your culinary experience:

Food Safety

The MTGA suggests four core practices to ensure you are protecting yourself and loved ones from foodborne illnesses:  Clean, Separate, Cook, and Chill

Meal Planning

When it comes time to plan your meal one of your biggest questions is likely, “How big does the turkey need to be?” Again, the MTGA has you covered with this handy chart to help you determine your bird size based on how many people you are planning for:

Thanksgiving Feast

Whether you are planning for 20 people or 2 the NTF has put together a comprehensive guide for your holiday meal planning with Thanksgiving 101, covering everything from the variety of ways to cook a turkey, to side dishes, to recipes for your leftovers and more!

Hopefully these resources will help you to plan and prepare for your holiday meals!

In the Community

North Carolina A&T University

The Select Genetics North Carolina Division embarked on an exciting journey this year to bring their vision of educating the community to expand their talent pool to life through innovation, brand awareness, and thrilling events.  Last week, the HR team, in collaboration with the Raeford Breeder team, had the pleasure of hosting students from North Carolina A&T University. Tori Herring, gave the students a warm welcome and offered insightful perspectives into the Select Genetics operations. The students had the opportunity to visit the farm and engage in a demonstration of the insemination and semen extraction processes. Two employees from Kyle Goodman’s farm expertly showcased the proper procedures for these processes. Dr. Fasina and her students also participated in roundtable discussion with Service Techs including Kyle Goodman, Josh Hess, Jimmy Maxwell, and Breeder Division Manger Kevin Reeves, alongside Dr. Molly Parker.

Kevin Reeves commented, “With the technological expansion occurring in our industry, visits like this are more important than ever.” Thank you to everyone who participated and contributed to the success of this event!

West Central MN CEO

Kristy Nystrom, an agile coach for Nova-Tech Engineering, recently presented to West Central MN CEO. Kristy works with the leadership team at Nova-Tech and brought her understanding of positive conflict to the group. She introduced them to the idea that conflict is not necessarily a negative. In fact, it should be embraced, transformed, and by using your strengths you can work through any conflict to adapt and resolve it.

L.E.A.D

Bethany Wallace, Training Specialist for LSI Shared Services, had the opportunity to be a day presenter for the Willmar Lakes Area L.E.A.D program. She shared her knowledge of strengths and teambuilding with the group, helping them to dive in to how their strengths can be used as a tool in their everyday lives. The L.E.A.D program is designed to empower individuals from diverse segments of the Willmar Lakes Area to serve as leaders who will strengthen our communities by developing their professional and personal skills.

Select Genetics Highlights

Transportation Team Meetings

In early November eight members from the Select Genetics Transportation team visited the Osceola Hatchery for some team building, tours, and a strategy meeting with the Osceola Hatchery supervisors to strategize on improving communication and the needs of each team to better support each other in the future. Team members visiting included: Troy Robinson, Jason Bruhn, Keith Cook, Nick Landberg, Jerry Lee, Sean Presnell, Chad Clifford.  Osceola supervisors present included: Gaby Zamora, Hatch Supervisor; Sabrina Hatfield, Service Supervisor; Moises Zavala Medrano, Egg Room Supervisor; Sierra Obermeier, Asst. Hatchery Manager; and Steve Koch, Iowa Transportation Manager. The team building sessions were led by Misty Williams, HR Coordinator and tours were led by Sierra Obermeier.  Thank you to everyone who visited! The team enjoyed meeting everyone and it was a fun and effective visit!

Select Genetics | Missouri

For the second year, the Select Genetics Missouri HR team participated in the YMCA truck or treat.  There were over 2,000 kids and parents in attendance.  It was a great event to get for Select Genetics to have a presence!

Select Genetics Missouri recently hosted a teambuilding bowling event.  Pictured below are the winners of the event with the highest scores, Jereme Hutton, Service Tech and Joann Scott, Office Admin. Congratulations!

Christmas Party

Life-Science Innovations, PALS, Willmar Poultry Farms, MinnWest Technology Campus, and Farm Service Elevator celebrated Christmas a little early this year with their Holiday Party on Saturday, November 11th.  The event was held at the Willmar Conference Center and included a nice meal and entertainment by the Holy Rocka Rollaz, a 50’s rock band that performed their holiday show.  Thank you to everyone who attended for this fun evening!

Benefits Spotlight

Empower Webinar

Back to Basics

Join Empower for a live webinar to learn why it’s important to save with a retirement plan and how to overcome financial hurdles.

Register to attend Back to Basics by clicking the link below:

Attend an online meeting:

• Wednesday, November 15th at 12:00 p.m. or 5:00 p.m. CST
• Thursday, November 16th at 11:00 a.m., 2:00 p.m., or 7:00 p.m. CST
• Friday, November 17th at 10:00 a.m., 1:00 p.m., o 4:30 p.m. CST

Sign up at educationseries.empowermytime.com for the session that best fits your schedule.

IRS Contribution Limits

Empower Retirement is the benefit provider for the Life-Science Innovations & Affiliates Retirement Plan account.  To review or manage your account you can access information via:

• Online access at Empower Retirement
• Download the mobile app
• Call 855-756-4738 to speak with a Customer Service Representative

Years of Service Anniversaries

Congratulations to the following team members who are celebrating Years of Service milestones in the month of November!

5 YEARS

Christopher Strand | Nova-Tech Engineering

Omar Arguelles Espinoza | Select Genetics

Tony Crawford | Select Genetics

Tyson Stork | Select Genetics

Martin Amofa | Select Genetics

Dianne Hammond | Select Genetics

15 YEARS

Dale Larsen | Select Genetics 

45 YEARS

Brenda Thiewes | Willmar Poultry Farms

Openings

Current status of all organizational openings.

Position	Company	Phase	Current Status	Contact

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Welcome New Employees

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Employee Count

As of 11/15/23 we have 2,089 employees

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Human Resources is a 360 degree business partner with our family of affiliates to attract, engage, retain and develop our most valuable resource: our people.  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 human.resources@life-scienceinnovations.com or give us a call at

320.222.9750 and select Human Resources, option 1