Bilingual Production Well Being Specialist - Osceola, IA Job Listing at Iowa Select Farms in United States of America (Job ID 4395)

Description

IOWA SELECT FARMS JOB DESCRIPTION 

TITLE: Production Well-Being Specialist                                                                         

REPORTS TO: Director of Production Well-Being

LAST REVISION DATE:09.10.2024

PURPOSE OF POSITION: 

The Production Well-being department supports production through three main functions:

• Educate on animal care & biosecurity
• Improve animal care & biosecurity
• Compliance verification of animal care & biosecurity

This position will coordinate and carry out the ongoing animal care and biosecurity training and internal assessment functions of the company. They will serve as a training resource across all geographies of Iowa Select Farms.

In addition this position will support production by providing resources and services that train caretakers and/or enhance their existing skill set in the areas of pig care, recordkeeping, identification/treatment, biosecurity, and other production practices. Focusing on continual improvement in animal care. 

Promote and exemplify a culture of top notch pig care. 

COMPANY VALUES:

• We believe in doing the right thing every day, operating with character and integrity, and being stewards of our resources by committing to:
  1. Our Animals  
  2. Our People
  3. Our Environment
  4. Our Community

COMPANY EXPECTATIONS:

• Ensure that all swine in the Iowa Select Farms production system are raised and handled following the guidelines set forth in 1) Iowa Select Farms Production SOP's, 2) Iowa Select Farms Animal Welfare Statement, and 3) SelectCare.  

• Adhere to Iowa Select Farms biosecurity policy, animal wellbeing policy, and safety policies at all times. Reporting any violations or concerns to management team immediately. 

ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Creating and conducting effective and engaging training for 
  • New caretakers
  • Tenured caretakers
  • Contract labor
  • This may be in an on-farm or classroom setting
  • Establish good relationships with farm managers/supervisors 
  • Support host training farms when onboarding new employee caretakers
    • Facilitate routine communication with training farm management
    •  Oversee the training at each host farm and ensure trainees can properly execute daily pig care, animal handling, and routine, daily farm activities according to Iowa Select Farms production SOPs and policies
    • Develop mentors at each TN host training farms to assist with training 
• Training topics may include but are not limited to:

1. Daily pig care and observations, production SOPs, timely identification & treatment, timely and proper euthanasia, animal handling, biosecurity and record keeping

• Conduct on-farm assessments that impact animal well-being and overall pig health
  • Production Well-being assessments
  • Biosecurity assessments
  • Transportation assessments
• Partner with production supervisors and managers to:
  • Identify areas of opportunity to improve animal care, production and biosecurity
  • Create and implement solutions that positively impact animal care and production. Must have the ability to identify problems or concerns at the individual farm level or system level and bring forth solutions or ideas for new approaches and improvement. 
• Written and verbal evaluation of an individual's or farm's performance regarding animal care, biosecurity, or specific production practices. Partnering with production managers and supervisors to create and implement plans for follow up and improvement, when needed 
• Assure site personnel have necessary supplies and tools to maintain compliance with animal care and handling policies and biosecurity.
• Maintain confidentiality of information and records.  
• Attend team meetings and give updates that assist in achieving departmental goals.
• Demeanor should be positive and professional at all times with the focus on work tasks, not personal issues. 
• Attendance is critical. Be at work on scheduled days and be ready to work by determined start time. If you're conducting training, arrive at least 15min prior to determined start time ahead of the trainees. 
• Be friendly, positive, helpful, team-oriented and respectful to everyone 
• Computer knowledge/ skills- able to run reports, data entry, email, word documents, excel documents, and able to navigate the tools site to be able to find important company documents.
• Other duties as assigned by supervisor. 

LEADERSHIP COMPETENCIES

• Teamwork: This position will work closely with caretakers, mangers, supervisors, production staff and other company employees/contractors so teamwork is vital.
• Ability to learn and teach: Responsible for training our caretakers by staying in compliance with Iowa Select Farms policies and procures while providing constructive and motivating feedback to caretakers regarding performance and follow up with the caretaker's manger/supervisor timely. 
• Communication Proficiency: Excellent written and verbal communication skills regarding performance with the ability to conduct effective hands-on training with a wide array of audiences.  Provide unified leadership message with senior management. 
• Problem Solving: Be effective in conflict resolution by address conflict quickly and take action immediately by collaborating with appropriate departments when made aware of policy violation. 
• Time Management and Organizational Skills: Our business culture is fast paced, innovative with and dedication to continuous improvement.  We are highly competitive, operate flat and lean from an organizational standpoint and because of our live animal units, we operate 24/7/365.  Ability to prioritize daily tasks, be detail orientated and organize and manage the scheduled day/paperwork and people while taking the initiative are essential.  
• Respect: Treat and listen to all our employees and external individuals the way you would like it returned and be open to others ideas and opinions as you keep Iowa Select Farms' Core Values top of mind. 
• Stockmanship: Strong technical skills in swine production with demonstrated ability to improve performance through the development and implementation technical pig care skills and adhere to bio-security and animal welfare at all times. 

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES

• No direct supervisory responsibilities for this position.

WORK ENVIRONMENT

• This position will routinely have hands on direct exposure with pigs. 
• While working within farms this position will work in an environment where the noise level can be loud and the environment may have nuisance levels of gasses and dust, particularly in the winter months. Additionally, the employee is frequently exposed to fumes or airborne particles, moving mechanical parts and vibrations.  
• While performing onboarding and classroom training obligations this job operates indoors in an office that is climate controlled and includes hazards typical to that environment 
• This role routinely uses standard office equipment such as computers, phones, photocopiers, filing cabinets and fax machines.

PHYSICALITY REQUIREMENTS

• The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of the job.
• Required to stand; walk; sit; use hands to finger, handle, or feel objects, tools, or controls; reach with hands and arms; climb stairs; balance; stoop, kneel, crouch or crawl; talk or hear.  
• The employee must be able to continuously repeat necessary movements such as bending, lifting, pushing, pulling and different hand movements as needed to complete tasks
• Specific vision abilities required by the job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception and the ability to adjust focus.  
• The employee must have the ability to sit for long periods of time and to maintain focus on projects such as computer screens or detailed paperwork.
• Ability to lift up to 75 pounds along with climbing up ladders and over gates up to 48 inches in height.
• Ability to climb in and out of livestock trailers that can be as short as 48 inches in height
• Ability to drive a vehicle for prolonged periods of time.

POSITION TYPE/EXPECTED HOURS OF WORK

• This is a full-time position with the expected days of Monday-Friday
• Flexibility in hours is required during health and staffing challenges 
• Occasional weekend work may be required as job duties demand

TRAVEL

• Travel is a component of this position which entails the utilization of a company vehicle.        Travel will be anywhere within Iowa Select Farms geography with some overnight travel. 

EDUCATION, EXPERIENCE and OTHER QUALIFICATIONS 

• 2+ years of swine production experience is preferred
• Must possess a valid drivers license with acceptable driving record 

LANGUAGE

• Bilingual is required 

OTHER DUTIES

• Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Additional duties, responsibilities, and activities may be assigned or changed at any time with or without notice.