Thanks to Our Information Bureau, You're Networking
March 29, 2010
Everybody seems to be networking these days, but the way Pipestone System shareholders network has to be the most effortless. With no help from Facebook and without composing a single tweet, you contribute to a vast and useful knowledge base that grows every week. Whether it’s obvious or not, you’re networking.
Kari Hamann and our Information Bureau staff make it happen for you. They realize you sometimes wonder, “Why should I take time to talk to them every week?”
“When a member of Kari’s team phones for weekly performance statistics, she’s compiling information the shareholder can use to make better management choices,” says Dr. Spencer Wayne. “We need to know how each flow is behaving, so this is an important service.”
Some shareholders already keep complete records for each group of pigs; others aren’t in the habit of tracking pig mortality and health issues. Whichever approach describes your operation, the outcome of sharing information with Pipestone System can be a real benefit. Dr. Wayne points to the value of using aggregated data from different finishing barns.
“We have a big data pool stretching back across the 15-year history of the System,” Dr. Wayne continues. “By harnessing that much information, we put shareholders on the same plane as the big vertical integrators.”
It’s important to track and record a pig group’s health story in order to make informed decisions about the next group. Each week producers, owners, health technicians, and veterinarians receive an e-mail report on mortality within the flow.
Dr. Wayne defines four positive outcomes of this weekly information gathering, recordkeeping, and reporting: 1) earlier disease recognition—a change in performance will be quickly passed along to your veterinarian, 2) better understanding of animal behavior, 3) numbers that help System management evaluate genetic characteristics in a flow, and 4) comprehensive closeout data so shareholders can truthfully measure profitability.
Of course, the spring rush will test the shareholder-networking concept. “While producers focus on fieldwork, it will be tempting to skip reporting this week’s pig results,” says Kari. “I promise we don’t call to annoy the shareholder. We’re here to keep valuable information flowing in.”
Next week, when a member of our Information Bureau phones, remember it only takes five minutes to improve your own operation and the entire system. Five minutes? Nobody networks faster than you!
Contact: khamann@pipevet.com; 507-825-7001
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