management in group September 7, 2016 housing systems Julie Mnard , - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Group Sow Housing Seminar

September 7, 2016

Julie Ménard, Agr, DVM

• F. Ménard Inc.

My story

• n people

management in group housing systems

My personal background

 Swine practitioner and breeding herd

director

 29 years with F. Ménard  Specialized in sow herd health, production

and management

 Swine integrated company  Family owned business for 55 years  From the farm to the market  1.1 million marketed pigs per year  28 000 sows  20 sow farms / 120 breeding herd managers

The consumer is the “master”

Export market :

More than 50

countries Local market :

Our own butcheries

Welfare = A standard

Animal welfare - Europe

Group sow housing

Compulsory – January 2013 10 years of experience

Visit in 2010 – France

I knew it was coming

Visit in Brittany France 2010

Visit in France - 2010

Group sow housing

Renovations + new

constructions

July 2014

Existing buildings

July 2024

Animal welfare - Canada

March 2014

• F. Ménard – April 2013

2 projects

1.

Renovation of an existing barn

2.

Build a brand new barn

What type of lodging to use?

 Crates or pens?

The answer was easy : PENS !!

Sow welfare is a must

I started to question myself

 Which system to use?  How many sows per pen?  Which one fits the best to

my existing barn?

 Which one fits the best

for my brand new farm?

I had to find the “best” system!

Summer 2013

Visit 2 companies in U.S. I saw 3 different feeding types

Free access stalls ESF Competitive – Shoulder system

Visits in US - 2013

What I discovered?

Advantages/disadvantages

• f each systems

Amount of feed/sows Aggressions? Legs problems?

*Very few on people management!

Fall 2013

Specialist of Group sow

housing

Especially : ESF Training of gilts and people

Meeting with Dr Thomas Parsons University Pennsylvania

People

Parson’s rule of ESF

“Rate of success is directly proportional to the size of the payment the guy working in the barn has on the ESF system”

And this was my challenge !

Spring 2014 Renovation Stepputat farm

Challenge at grouping

Mixing multiparous sows – Never been in pens

 Fights +++  Legs problem ++  Dew claw lost ++  Aborted sows +  ↑ culling rate/ ↑ NPD

With the help of my breeding herd manager

We brought improvements

• 1. Grouped by parity
• 2. Increased amount of feed
• 3. Three meals per day
• 4. Fixed the flooring
• 5. Modified the water system
• 6. Adjusted the light

In this remodelling farm project

I never asked my people

about acceptance!

Luckily : I felt on Mario

 He is open minded  Enthusiastic  Likes to acquire new experience  Stimulated by new projects  Brings solutions

Spring 2014

Second project : St-Dominique farm

2700 sow barn Brand new Great opportunity

• to try a new system, to compare, to gain experience

New project : Group sow housing

Responsibility of making the good choice Built for 25 years and more

• Decision was made
• Brand new system
• Free access ESF (Gestal)
• Similar system in France
• Let’s support local dealer
• But…second farm in Quebec
• Had to tune it up!

St-Dominique project

 Choose best tech

advisor

 Help engineer with blue

print

 Knew very well

production

 # pens/# sows per

group

 He was the one to be in

charge of following the construction

March 2014 St-Dominique project

 Things are not always the way we want!  My tech advisor quit F. Menard  I lost the “person” responsible of the project  I had to find someone else to help me…

Summer 2014 – The project started up

 More and more questions from the builders team

September 2014 Information meeting

Goals :

• 1. To expose the blue print
• 2. Explain animal flow
• 3. Find the best candidates to pilot the project

St-Dominique team The structure

General manager

= Conductor Farrowing house manager Breeding manager Team management

Communication

Manager Manager Manager Manager Manager Manager MUTUAL AID

Skills required for Farm managers

• 1. Respectful
• 2. Honest
• 3. Organized
• 4. Technically excellent

 Management  Health

• 5. Problem solving
• 6. Driven to action and results

Other important features

• 1. Calm
• 2. Cares about animals
• 3. Hard workers
• 4. Able to work as a team
• 5. Adaptability

Finally : taking the project as their own

Chief of the farm

Diversified competence

• 1. Great ability to communicate
• 2. Good at production
• 3. Good in construction
• 4. Be the one to help me to build the

brand new team

1st candidate = Michel

Big strengths

Natural “leader” Natural communicator The people want to

follow him

Can make the people

work together

MICHEL

He vibrates on new projects Likes challenges Never sees problems Always sees solutions

Excellent for my general manager

Second candidate = Martin

Wanted to be the general manager

Strengths

 Graduated from agricultural

school

 Very good at numbers  Come from a private farm

background

 Bullish

MARTIN

Weakness

Only 6 months with F. Ménard No proof of his potency

I offered him the position of breeding herd manager.

Rules at F. Ménard for upgrading

Favor people internally Minimum 5 to 10 years of experience We know the candidate -> his potential Good motivation for my farm people Show others the potential opportunities

Farrowing house manager

Position still open Nobody had the quality I was

looking for

Lessons I learned from Luc Ménard

 Be patient ….So I waited….

Fall - Winter 2014

Michel and Martin followed the

project

Went to the farm every week Tuned this and that Answered questions from the

builders

Adjusted the farm to their taste Made it like if it was their farm

March 2015

The team was partly in place Farm was to be newly populated No farrowing house manager yet!

I had an idea :

Make an “open house” of the new barn

 Exclusively to F. Ménard maternity staff

Two goals for the “open house”

• 1. Show the employees

the most high tech building of F. Ménard

• 2. Attract a “king” as

farrowing house manager

Sequence of events

Saturday = farm visit Monday morning 10h00 : Phone call

ROBERT

Farm manager for 12 years Specialist in farrowing house L03 multiplier farm – 630 sows 3 people in the farm (including his wife!)

ROBERT

He was moving to a 2700 sow farms with 9

employees!

Reason for applying : He needed a new challenge

A gift in my life!

The following months

Martin left

 No ownership to F. Ménard  Cannot have 2 chiefs in a barn

Michel with the help of the tech advisor and me

 Built his team gradually  ½ people with experience  ½ people new at F. Menard

Personality profile : The team

Developer Scientist Specialist

Cooperative Facilitator Idealist Facilitator Controller Controller

Personality profile : The team

Developer Scientist Specialist

Cooperative Facilitator Idealist Facilitator Controller Controller Like new challenges Positive motivator Rigorous Organized

Directive and precise Dedicated Decision maker

Calm Patient Open minded Social Analytical Practical mind Bring solutions

Features of this team

“ They complete each other” “ PASSION”

Features of this team

“ MOTIVATED”

Text message from Michel : 16 B.A. Very calm sow It’s fun It’s just like Christmas !

First sow farrowing September 14, 2015

Lessons learned

 People make the project work  Motivate the people like making the

project their own

 Put the good people at the good place  Give clear objectives and make good

follow up

 Listen to your people

Skills required for Group sow housing system

• Good sense of
• bservations
• Detailed person

Skills required

Quick to intervene

Group sow housing

Skills required

• Good judgment
• Decision makers

Group sow housing

Skills required

Question themselves

Group sow housing

Skills required

Initiative

Group sow housing

Skills required

Calm Care about animal

Group sow housing

Skills required

• Like to learn
• Adaptability

Group sow housing

Motivated and positive

Skills required

Group sow housing

Skills required

Always wants to improve

Group sow housing

Skills required

Collaborative

Group sow housing

• 1. I learned a lot from Stepputat and

St-Dominique project

• 2. Success of these group housing

projects ->

Great impact on all the future

projects at F. Ménard

CONCLUSION

What I discovered …

 Sows are very

calm

 Express natural

behavior

 Very fun to

work with

CONCLUSION

Group sow housing

 These are the people who

make the projects work

CONCLUSION

Happy people makes happy pigs

THANKS YOU VERY MUCH! Happy pigs makes people happy