← The Championdrive Podcast
The Championdrive Podcast
Episode 3.9 — Pigs, Pigskin & Careers (Jennifer Slagle, WinMor Farms) + B.I.G. Things in Ohio + Creep Pen Essentials
01:25:33
Covering a wide range of topics in this episode! - Jennifer Slagle from WinMor Farms joins us - and although she raises show pigs, the parallels between the show pig and show lamb industry make this an interesting convo - no matter which species you raise. Beyond the show pig world, Jennifer's had a front row seat in the college football recruiting process, as her son Will, is one of the top football recruits in the state of Iowa. In addition, Jennifer talks with us about her career path at John Deere Financial and offers advice for young professionals. - Luke Snider visits with us about a new program called B.I.G. (Breeders Impacting Generations) to support the youth at the Ohio State Fair this upcoming year. Learn more about how the program was formed, their goals and how you can get involved! - Creep Pen Essentials with Essential Feeds. Barrett Carlisle of Essential Feeds joins us to discuss what products from Essential Feeds can be implemented to help get this year's la...
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- [00:02]
Jennifer Slagle
Now entering the ring, another episode of.
- [00:04]
Luke Snyder
The Champion Drive podcast presented by Novel Designs.
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Steve
I hope you guys all had a really happy new Year and a good Christmas. We're back with another episode of the ChampionDrive.com podcast. There's a lot going on right now. We're announcing our of the Year winners each day this week, so be sure to visit championdrive.com for that. And of course thanks to our presenting sponsors, you can visit Champion Drive to learn more about each of these sponsors, including Show Rite and one of their products they decided to focus on this year for their sponsorship was colossal. So be sure to visit Champion Drive to learn more about that. Our Female of the Year sponsor was once again RSG and they kind of focused on their Repro Elite line which we have a podcast episode coming up with one of their products in our Product Spotlight. But there's more information on the Repro elite line on championdrive.com currently. Rival show Feeds and Rural Supplements was yet again the presenting sponsor for the Rookie of the year and they've been a big supporter of it and they have some pretty big news with their feeds being available via the Kalmbach Feeds distribution channel starting that started in December, so kind of some new distribution opportunities for the rival and rural customers there. And then our man of the Year sponsor was Essential Feeds which which they've been on the podcast quite a bit and have done quite a few product spotlights but their sponsorship focused on the Repro plus line and their creep feed options which is always a good thing to be thinking about right now as many of us have babies on the ground. So be sure to visit Champion Drive to find out who are our winners in the of the Year section. We also have several Stud Ram showcases up including Loyalty, He's a contagious Truce top tier monkey business raised by Nathan and owned with proof it he's FD and he's up on the Champion Drive Stud Ram showcase so be sure to check him out past that. We have a really big episode this week and I really hope you've listened to the entire thing. I got Jennifer Slagle on which she owns Winmore Farms, which is a show pig operation and I know we've not done very many or we've kind of done all sheep focused guests, but I thought she would be really good because there's so many parallels to how the show pig industry has ran to how the show lamb industry is kind of following the same paths and she came to mind for a couple different reasons. She has a really good career with John Deere Financial. And I thought for some of our younger listeners, it would be interesting to get her take on just different career advice and listening to her career path and then also how she also balances that career with running a show pig operation very successful in the show pig world, they really focus on their female base. So I wanted to ask her about that, especially since a lot of our segments have ended up talking about the importance of female lines. And then also I thought it was a great time to get her on, too. Her son Will is one of the top college football recruits out of the state of Iowa. He's a junior and they've kind of been through the entire recruiting process. And with the college football playoffs in action, I thought this was a really good time to get her on. And it was really interesting to hear a lot of what they've gone through in the recruiting process. It's something that a lot of us probably won't ever experience. So it's interesting to get her feedback on stuff. I know a lot of us are sports fans. We always get really good participation whenever we do, like the College Football Playoff bracket or the NCAA Basketball tournament challenge. So I thought a lot of you would enjoy to hear from her. Her son Will showed pigs helps on the farm, like I said, is one of the top football recruits in the state of Iowa. And then her daughter Anna also shows sheep. So she's, she's well in tune with our industry as well. We also have Luke Snyder on and he's going to talk about big, which is a program that you may have seen. It's a sponsorship opportunity that supports the kids in Ohio at the Ohio State Fair. And there's a really good group of people behind that group. And I know some conversations amongst several of us were, what is this? Who can do it? So I thought it was a really good opportunity to get them on to talk about their new sponsorship program. Enrollments for that are open to anyone and it's open until February 1st, so we'll learn more about that from him. And then we also have Barrett Carlisle on from Essential Feeds. Again, he's going to talk about essentials in the creep pen, different products from Essential Feeds that you can use. Let's go right into that. Well, Barrett, thanks for joining us today. I think now is a great time to go over a lot of things that several of us breeders think about this time of year in terms of essentials we need in our creep pen or when we're getting those babies ready for sales and starting to get. Weaning on them. Let's go over kind of some of the essential things from Essential Feeds that you think breeders need to have in mind.
- [04:39]
Barrett Carlisle
Yeah, I think anytime you're getting babies ready to sell or market, whether it be private treaty or online or at live sale events, we believe that, you know, the shape and condition that they're in starts with a good base creep feed. At Essential, we've got multiple textured options with multiple medication options, as well as a pelleted option with decox or rumensin medication option. So think it starts with a base feed, but think there's some things that you can do in addition to that to make sure they're set up for success. When it comes to selling time, one thing we recommend is our uniform product would be a fat, really highly palatable liquid supplement that's probably a little more syringe friendly than some other fat supplements that people may be familiar with. Recommend putting that in their water. Also recommend offering foundation, which would be our daily top dress gut health trace mineral type supplement. And then as an added bonus, some people have gone to offering our Chubb product free choice, a little closer to sale time to kind of bulk them up, get a little more flush on them.
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Steve
So on the uniform water, are you taking and putting it just in like a small bucket and putting that in their creeps then? Or how do you recommend when you say put it in their water?
- [06:06]
Barrett Carlisle
Depending on group size, kind of a two and a half gallon or five gallon bucket depending on how many sheep there are. Putting a few pumps of uniform in the bottom before you fill it up. That way you're not offering too big of a water bucket to where if they don't drink it and it gets dirty, you're not wasting too much product. But normally those sheep will really go to that product because it is highly palatable. So you get them drinking more and can help kind of add some more condition to them.
- [06:35]
Steve
At what age or stage are you recommending adding that in?
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Barrett Carlisle
You know, I think any time at that kind of 30 day old mark, kind of normally when we start seeing them drink a little more, 30 to 45 days of age is kind of where I'd recommend.
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Steve
And then you mentioned the product Chub. Is that something you're just putting in like the side of the feed? Are you mixing it in with the feed? What do you recommend or what do you see people doing?
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Barrett Carlisle
I normally recommend having it off to the side, a pelleted kind of crumble, small pellet kind of a crumble type product. It's got some extra protein but real high in omega fatty acids. Really, really does a good job of getting them bulked up. I'd put it offer it free choice and kind of the side of a feeder and they'll nibble on it kind of as they want. They normally don't hit it too hard. As you get closer to sale time, you will see an advantage in terms of bloom and bulk.
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Steve
I think the one other thing to note too is like these products can be used throughout like 417, 418 Chub foundation uniform. Like those are products that can be used all the way through sale season.
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Barrett Carlisle
Yep, correct. You can, you know, a lot of people are creep feeding with 417, 418. Just keep them rolling on that. Once they're weaned again, you can go to adding more, more Chub or uniform as you see fit perfect.
- [07:52]
Steve
And then I know we've talked before in some of the other product spotlights, we can kind of do a deep dive if you're wanting to on the Product Spotlight page on Champion Drive. But past that, how would someone order any of the Essential products?
- [08:05]
Barrett Carlisle
Recommend going to the Essential Feeds website. It's freshly redone. You can find all those those supplements on there as well as get on our dealer locator and find somebody near you that can handle the base feeds.
- [08:21]
Steve
Well, thanks for joining us and thanks for being a sponsor of our man of the Year contest once again. And like Barrett said, you can get on the Essential website, which you can find on Champion drive or@essentialshowfeeds.com Like I mentioned, you can find more information on all of those products that we talked about on that creep Essentials on the Product Spotlight page on Champion Drive. And then you can also find a link to Essential show feeds there as well. Let's go right into Luke Snyder's. His is pretty quick. It'll kind of give you the details of the BIG program and how you can maybe become a part of it. Hey all, today I'm here with Luke Snyder who represents one of the new up and coming groups out of the state of Ohio. It's called big And I'm excited to have Luke on here today to tell us a little bit about it because I know myself and several other breeders have seen it before and had some questions on it. So thanks for joining us. Luke, do you want to give us a little bit of background about yourself and then also maybe the group that's behind this?
- [09:19]
Luke Snyder
Yeah. First off, Steve, thanks for having us on. I'm excited to Share what we think is a really exciting opportunity for the sheep exhibitors in the state of Ohio at the Ohio State Fair this year. And our group formed is big as you said, and that's an acronym for Breeders Impacting Generations. And basically we are a breeder focused and sponsored and then also some other sponsor supported group with a 501C3 status that basically our goal is we want to raise more funds and have more prizes and awards to reward the kids in the state of Ohio at the Ohio State Fair for, for their work and what they've put into their projects. And it was a group of us that have formed and kind of put together and started this and we're just starting to launch it and we're really excited about where we think it'll go.
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Steve
Perfect. Where did the idea come from?
- [10:15]
Luke Snyder
Well, a small group of us started talking about it within the last year and I guess the premise of the idea is nothing new to other states in the country as far as maybe other species that have done something similar. So we kind of just discussed ways and I guess at first we identified a need and there, there definitely is a need at the Ohio State Fair to, to make sure these kids leaving the sheep barn have more in their pockets at the end of the state fair. And we wanted to do whatever we could to help with that. We've discussed a lot of different things and what we're doing is we're, we're focusing it starting with the Junior show and that that's where the breeders impacting generations comes from. And we have a buy in, if you would, for the breeders open throughout the whole country, any breeder in the country. And it's a 500 buy in and that is for the Junior Fair weather show only at the state Fair. And what we're going to do is at the end of every class, the highest placing sponsored exhibitor will receive $300 and the second highest placing sponsored exhibitor will receive 200. So if they're first second in the class, that's easy to cut. If they're seventh and tenth in the class, that they will be rewarded as well. So like I said, there's some other states that do something similar, but this is something that we're going to base it off of that. So then that was kind of the premise of what we started this program on. And then the feedback, the sponsorship interest, what we've gathered and what we have pledged, a lot of other money will be raised from this beyond just that Junior Market weather show. So therefore we're Going to be able to distribute funds and prizes to every other show throughout the weeks of the Ohio State Fair in both the market and the breeding sheep shows.
- [12:10]
Steve
Oh, excellent. I looked last night when I was looking at kind of some questions I wanted to ask. Right now you can sign up on SC to become a sponsor, correct?
- [12:18]
Luke Snyder
Yes. Our the sale link is open and live every day on SC online sales and it will be until February 1st and you can just go on there and the first two are to enroll in the the big program. As far as a breeder level goes, lot one is for the market, lot two is for the breeding and then the breeder just goes on there. And just the one five hundred dollar donation sponsorship covers any sheep with your ear tag in it that you sell into O. And then as I said, beyond that, the excess funds will go and be distributed throughout all the other shows. So regardless if you end up selling Minnie to Ohio or not, you know, it's a pretty low entry fee to get in there and support one of the bigger state fair sheep shows in the country.
- [13:07]
Steve
As a breeder, I sell market lambs and commercial use. Are commercial use under the breeding sheep one or are those omitted and the breeding sheep is more for like the frame type sheep?
- [13:18]
Luke Snyder
Yeah, breeding sheep, breeding sheep. The ewes I guess is market week, if you would. And then the breeding sheep is the following week at Ohio. But the commercial you show is what we call it weather dams. Have you or what have you and other places. But that is one of the shows that falls under our umbrella that we will be working on. But like I said, the market weathers is the only one where you have to be from a sponsored breeder. All the other show we will just be awarding prizes and awards based on a criteria that we come up with once we know how much funds we have raised.
- [13:58]
Steve
Okay, that makes sense. Do you guys have a goal in mind for 2026? Like what's the targeted goal in terms of either number of breeder sponsors or. I mean where, where are we trying to get you to?
- [14:08]
Luke Snyder
Yeah, with being an initial or our first year in this, I mean our goal is pretty simple. It's just trying to secure as many resources as possible to give back to the exhibitors. You know, I think once we get year one belts, kind of see where we were, how we did, I'm sure there'll be things we want to change. There'll probably be things we want to change right up till day of the first show. But once we get the first year under our belt, then I think we'll be able to set different goals going forward year to year. One thing I didn't mention earlier in our program, it's very important. There's eight of us on this committee and we are all eight very business minded people and we do not want this to be a one and done or a short term program. We have actually enlisted the help of a financial planner and we have created an endowment fund that a small portion of the dollar received is going to go into and then we are going to use that money to build an endowment in hopes that at some point down the road this program would be able to take care and fund itself. Itself. So we want to make sure this is a long term solution. We will make sure this is something that sticks around kind of in the name for generations to help these kids out.
- [15:33]
Steve
Yeah, I know. Trey Miller was the one that told me about it after he had been on the last podcast episode. He had mentioned it to me, had reached out to me on it and when I kind of started digging into it, there's definitely some movers and shakers on there and like you said, a lot of business minded people. So I think that's really encouraging to like that there's, you know, it's not just a one and done deal. I think it's great that it's got some long term legs on it. One thing that you touched on that I know has been the kind of the conversations come up amongst like my circle of people is do you have to be an Ohio breeder? And I know you touched on this before, but I want to make sure that all of our listeners were clear on it. What are the requirements to be a breeder sponsor?
- [16:10]
Luke Snyder
Yep. Nope, it is open to any breeder in the country. You know we would welcome anybody. We have had great turnout so far as far as enrollment goes and we're looking to just keep stacking them and adding them. So any breeder in the country is more than welcome to get on there and enroll and we would be glad to have you. Also on the SC online sales, there is a place lots 3 through 5 are for friends and family. You know, we have some small businesses, relatives, so on and so forth that want to contribute but obviously don't raise sheep. Therefore they don't need to be enrolled in the program as sponsor for a breeder, but they can get on there any place at lots three through five and support our program even if they're not a breeder.
- [16:57]
Steve
Awesome. Well, thanks for joining us today and for explaining more about the program. And thanks for putting the time in. I know that committees like this are kind of a thankless job at times and you guys all have plenty you could be doing but are choosing to invest in the kids. So I think that's really good. Like you mentioned, you can hop on by February 1st and sign up as a breeder sponsor or as a business sponsor. Thanks for joining us today.
- [17:20]
Luke Snyder
All right, thanks for having us, Steven. If anybody has any questions, feel free to reach out at any time.
- [17:27]
Steve
Let's go right into the main part of today's podcast with Jennifer Slagle. Like I said, she's from Winmore Farms. I've always had a ton of respect for Jennifer and how they are just very business savvy and kind of portray their business and they definitely are hard workers and get after it and have always been very customer focused. I've always kind of liked her tone marketing wise and I've really enjoyed especially as the longer I've in the industry, I've really enjoyed seeing how they value their female base. So and then like we talked about, the football aspect is interesting as well. So without further ado, here's Jennifer Slagle. Hey all, I'm here today with Jennifer Slagle of Win More Farms. And even though we've done a lot of she focused podcast segments, I wanted to bring Jennifer on. She's been a longtime customer of Novel Designs with Windmore Farm. She has a really good career story that I think will be interesting to a lot of you. And then her son Will is also one of the top football recruits in the state of Iowa. So that's been a pretty, pretty popular conversation in the livestock industry. And her daughter Anna also shows sheep. So she brings a lot to the table and I thought she'd be a great guest for a lot of our listeners. So thanks for joining us today. Jennifer, why don't you go ahead and tell our listeners a little bit about yourself. A lot of these people would be sheep focused people, so kind of give them the whole in case they've never met you.
- [18:53]
Jennifer Slagle
Okay, well, thank you for the opportunity to be here and yeah, like, like you had done in your intro. My name is Jennifer Slagle. I live in Grinnell, Iowa with my husband don and my two kids, Will, who's 17 and Anna is almost 16. We've, we've been in the Showpick business since 20067 but probably expanded into it in a more recognizable way in 2010, 2011. Our Showpeg operation actually got a start in Wisconsin, which is probably some of the connection to you, Steva, because I think you've been helping us with our advertising ever since we, we got started. We, we moved the Showpeg operation to Iowa in 2014 and our family was actually living in the Des Moines, Iowa area at the time and we made the move over to Grinnell then in 2017. So my dad moved with the Showpeg operation from Wisconsin to Iowa in 2014 and then three years later we joined him in Grinnell and we've been here ever since.
- [20:08]
Steve
We have a lot to talk about today. So let's talk first about your professional career away from Winmore. Tell us a little bit about like your college path and your career path and then what you do.
- [20:17]
Jennifer Slagle
Currently I went to school at Iowa State. I was an ag business major in high school. We had a wonderful Spanish program. So I took four years of Spanish and as it turned out, by the time I got to Iowa State, it only took a few other classes to get a minor in Spanish. So I'm an agribusiness, agribusiness major with a minor in Spanish. I graduated in December of 99 and immediately started with John Deere and they initially placed me just south of the Twin Cities up in Minnesota. And so we lived there for about five years and then. And a lot of folks at John Deere forget about this or don't know this, but Don was actually relocated for, for his work when I was five years into John Deere and so I ended up working for Wells Fargo for a couple years and then had the opportunity to come back to John Deere. So I'm, I'm 25 years in to my professional career. But with John Deere It's 25 minus two and a half years that I worked for Wells Fargo. So I found myself at John Deere Financial. I've never considered myself really a finance person. Hugely into the numbers. I've always been on the sales and marketing side at John Deere Financial, but I really enjoy whether it's John Deere dealers or now I'm working in the crop input financing side of John Deere Financial. I love the psychology of utilizing financing to sell more to customers and to make it easier for customers to buy products using financing. And so I love the marketing aspect of it and selling financing and teaching dealers and retailers how to utilize financing to enhance their sales strategy. So I've been doing that for the majority of my career.
- [22:31]
Steve
So what does your current day to day role look like now? John Deere, because you've had a Couple different positions. What does your current career look like?
- [22:39]
Jennifer Slagle
Yeah, so there's no standard day. I've had different roles within John Deere Financial. I started out in the field working with John Deere dealers, supporting, supporting their financing of equipment. Over time, I, I switched into account management on our crop input financing side. So that was working with the large seed and chemical manufacturers and helping them develop programs through John Deere Financial. And I've actually done that role two different times. I was placed into a different role right at the start of COVID working with some of our very largest equipment customers, our top 1% of equipment buyers at John Deere. The only snag was with COVID We had travel restrictions and we weren't able to meet those customers face to face. But we still had relationships to manage on the crop input side, seed and chemical relationships and financing was pretty important back in that Covid timeframe like it is, you know, even today. And so I was asked to help out and we brought on some new chemical manufacturer and seed manufacturer relationships into John Deere Financial. So I found myself into that account manager role again when working directly with customers on the farm wasn't as possible with travel restrictions. And then in 2022, we did some reorganization at John Deere Financial and we changed our map essentially. We created a western region and an eastern sales region with nine to 10 sales reps on each side. And I ended up with the western sales region for John Deere Financial. So that was basically the, the region west of the Mississippi River. And then just this past fall, I, I took a new position and I'm now managing the sales division for John Deere Financial. So I have, I have two of those regions. Regional sales managers with, with, with nine to ten area sales managers each. And then our account management team now is what I'm responsible for. So those account managers that work with our seed and chemical manufacturers. So that's new as of this fall. So it's, it's more responsibility, but maybe just a little less travel. So that's, that's a nice trade off. And I still get to work from home. I've been working from home predominantly since, since we moved to Grinnell, but also since COVID So that's a, that's an added perk when we have the farm as well.
- [25:27]
Steve
Yeah. How do you balance doing both the show pig and having a career with John Deere? How do you balance that? And then maybe we touch more on this at the end too, after we get to know more about like your family and everything. Else you have going on. But how do you suggest to maybe listeners like, like about balancing raising show livestock and having a career?
- [25:47]
Jennifer Slagle
You find that a lot of your vacation time is invested in the farm. So. So it's. It's sometimes difficult if there's. If there's one trade off as a family. You know, we go to a lot of livestock shows, like I'm sure a lot of your listeners can relate to. We don't spend maybe as much time on beaches or in exotic vacation destinations as maybe we'll land, look back on and wish that we had. Because a lot of my vacation time is invested in the farrowing house. That's one of the responsibilities that I have, and I have to make sure that I'm here during our farrowing season. But my dad works with the operation full time. We've been fortunate. He's going to be 73 in March, but he's one of those super seniors. He's out and active every single day. And so we couldn't do it without him. And we've also always had really good help, and we do. Even today, the kids are older. They're 16 or almost 16 and 17. And so it's kind of a trade off because as they got older, they could definitely take on more. And that became really nice for me and my husband, Don. But we're also at that point where they're not going to be here much longer. We're realizing that we're another year or two and they're going to be going. Going on to college. So. So that's going to present new challenges as far as the. The child labor here at Windmore Farms.
- [27:22]
Steve
Absolutely. I feel the same way about Braden. When people start asking where is he going to go to college or whatnot, I'm like, holy smokes. Who's going to help around here? It'll be a change. Let's go into the win more side of things. Okay. So we talked about it kind of started in 2006, 2007, I guess. How did you get into show pigs in. In the kind of your start in agriculture. And then how did Winmore start?
- [27:47]
Jennifer Slagle
Well, I. Growing up, I grew up in western Iowa. I grew up in Atlantic, and it was. It was a diversified corn and soybean farm. We fed cattle. My dad raised breeding stock. You know, he. He sold commercial gilts and. And bores to customers and probably the late 80s and through the 90s. And as show pigs got more popular, he found himself, you know, in the show pig business. So as I Was, I don't know, maybe junior high, high school. He was raising show pigs. And, and that was in the mid-90s, maybe early to mid-90s, late-90s. It was kind of a time where we laugh about it. Like show pigs weren't as cool as, as they are today and probably not as understood as they are today. And so that was the start of it. But when I graduated from, right. When I graduated from college, my parents got divorced and my dad moved from western Iowa. He had a friend and business partner up in Wisconsin. And so he ended up moving to Wisconsin and working for a larger swine unit in Wisconsin. And he was managing their commercial boar studio for a few years. And then I started working at John Deere and John Deere Financial up in Minnesota. And so, you know, we took probably a five to six year break of, of not raising pigs. And, and then it was about the time that we were moving back to the Des Moines area. And I remember my dad, you know, settling in Wisconsin on an acreage and he kind of threw out the idea, you know, what if we just got a handful of sows? Like nothing, nothing big. It was just going to be a side project or a hobby. We had no, we had no inkling that we were going to actually be in a show pig business selling, selling pigs to customers. It was just kind of a what if we grabbed, you know, some guilts here or there and tried to put something together. And I remember dad saying, you know, just give him something to do every day. You know, I think he just missed the, you know, having, you know, an animal to take care of every day. And so that's, that's where it started. And you know, I think it was late 2006, going into 2007. We bought two or three Yorkshire Gilts from Steve Cobb at the time to get us to get a start. And, and then from there we, we added some crosses. We added, we added a blue crossbred female that we called Hollywood at the time. Can't quite remember what the year was if it 2008. It was bred by Ryan Wagee. We bought her at Expo and she was that really unique blue that is more common today, but it wasn't common at the time. And so that's how we kind of got identified with, with blue females. We've kind of kept that through over the years as we've been raising animals. But again, I feel like it was, you know, it was around the time, you know, when Anna was, was born, when she was about a year old. So that 2010, 2011 time frame is where we really started to realize that, you know, whether we intended to or not, we were, we were in the show pig business and we had customers knocking on the door and then we started to increase the herd, I guess, to, to meet the demand of, of the pigs that we could sell.
- [31:16]
Steve
Yeah, like we talked before we got on the recording, like I thought, one thing that has been interesting in this podcast is a lot of times the conversation goes to female lines. And so I immediately thought of win more that if you talk about female marketing, you guys have really kind of had the, you know, kind of the tagline of the nation's most talked about females. Can you kind of describe where that come came from or kind of what that means to you? And like, I know we've done like the walk of fame female sale ads and everything, I guess. What's your outlook on the importance of the female side and why did you kind of take the nation's most talked about females is kind of your tagline?
- [31:54]
Jennifer Slagle
Well, I think that when we started, you know, we, we were building the sow herd by, by buying females. And you know, we weren't necessarily, you know, going out to necessarily buy the champion of a show. I mean, we were, we were looking for females that, you know, fit the key criterias that we were looking for. But sometimes they ended up being, you know, a champion female at a show. And you know, and I think that's what, what got some attention on our farm, you know, early on is people were following the females into our operation and following the litters that they had and you know, coming specifically to, to buy a guilt or a barrow, you know, out of those specific females. And we always had the attitude that in the mindset that, you know, we weren't looking to be the biggest show pig herd, but we wanted to try to, to put together the best set of females we could. And I guess that's always been, you know, I think my dad would even say that's probably always been a key criteria for him, you know, his entire life. You know, raising livestock is, is really putting an emphasis on the quality of females. And you know, in today's, in, in today's show pig industry, everybody's got access to the same bores. Anybody can buy semen, you know, from any boar that, that they want to. But it really, I think the females are what really differentiates a herd. And so, you know, we really strive to, to make sure that we've got females that are functional and sound the type of females that you can breed to a variety of, of different bores. And, and we do our best to, to try to maintain that the maternal qualities in the, in the females as well. And, and that becomes, you know, challenging. You know, show pigs today, you know, aren't necessarily conducive to always being the, the most maternal on, on the female side. But you know, we, we do our best to try to increase our odds and, and our advantages in the, in the farrowing crate. And so that's, that's, that's just always something. The female side is just something that we've been, we've been known for our, our bred female sales sale or sales that we have in the winter, depending on numbers, you know, have always been kind of a highlight of our farm. And you know, and we always keep our fingers crossed. I mean things can happen. But by and large, you know, we've, we've been really successful selling bred females to customers. And I think customers have some confidence when they, when they buy a bred female that, you know, it's a female that's, that's going to produce for them, that's going to be successful for them. And if it's not, then it's something that will stand behind.
- [34:42]
Steve
One of the things I've always admired about Win More is you always have a really good customer service attitude. And I guess can you talk a little bit about how you feel the importance of that is. And that's probably a topic we haven't talked about a ton, but I feel like you guys do a great job of just being like very authentic and really have good relationships with your customers.
- [35:01]
Jennifer Slagle
Well, you know, I think, you know, I think if you're going to stay in business long term, you know, your reputation is, is really, really important. And so we, we do, we do have a focus on customers. We, we want good outcomes for our customers. We want customers to have a good experience. And you know, we've always been willing to stand behind, you know, what we sell. And maybe some of that, you know, is the corporate mindset that my husband and I have, you know, working for John Deere. I mean, John Deere is much the same. You know, we treat customers at John Deere with respect and we do our best to make sure that they're having a good experience with our products and services and always taken that into our show pig operation is as well. And you know, and I've, we've said for a long time, I mean, our bred female sales, our show pig, our baby pig sales are largely supported by Repeat customers. And you know, as our, as our herd is has changed over time and you know, one of the big changes that we've made it has been in our summer litters and our fall show pig sales because with Will being more involved, our son being more involved in football, we've become a lot less willing to want to make trips down south on the, on the fall weekends. And so it's required customers to work with us, make trips to Iowa to, to view pigs in person or just trust us to send pigs down south on a trailer that they haven't seen. And while we're not doing as many summer litters because our fall business has changed around Wills football, we've been able to to still have a fall business with show pigs thanks to repeat customers.
- [36:59]
Steve
Let's talk a little bit more on your bread female sales. If any of you guys buffalo win more's social media, you will know that there is quite a bit of back and forth between Jennifer and her dad on how many get sold, what gets sold. Do you want to kind of. I'm going to let you explain your side because I feel like if your dad was on here, he would have a very different take on this. I've always enjoyed kind of the banter back and forth between the two of you on it. Can you kind of share some insights of where each of you guys are at? Maybe like one of your favorite stories of passion out what gets sold or what doesn't?
- [37:34]
Jennifer Slagle
Yeah. That is not an easy process and it usually takes, usually takes a few months of lead time. And I know going into any bred female season, the ones that are going to be harder to bargain or negotiate than maybe some of the others and dad's philosophy, and I'm not going to say that we follow this perfectly because the shipping process isn't perfect, but if we end up with a litter of really elite guilts or, or two, you know, his, his philosophy is probably keeping all of the females in, in that litter. His, his belief has always been that pigs produce to an average of a litter. And so, and so he'll. We had a litter, you know, even going into our bred female sale this winter where, you know, I think we kept four or five females. But then when it, by the time you breed them and you're looking at filling crates and you only have so many crates, then you have to make decisions. And so that might be where we part with, with certain litter mates. Maybe we keep, maybe we keep a guilt or two out of that litter. Maybe we sell guilt number three. And four out of that litter. And you know, the other thing that we do just because we have been conscious to keep a certain size is, you know, we try to, we try to turn females fairly quick. So if we've got a guilt we're really excited about and we've got that first litter, you know, we'll keep the guilts out of her. Maybe we sell her the next time around. And that doesn't always prove to be smart. We've, we've sold females, believe me, that, that even I've regretted. But we, we do have some sows that, that stick around for a long time. In fact, just our last farrowing in mid December. We've, we've got, we've got females that are, you know, reaching five or six years and of age, but for the most part, you know, we like to keep the gilts, farrow out the gilts as much as possible here and then we'll sell. A lot of times in our bred female sale, we'll part with a sow that might be second or third parity. And then that's better for our customers too. They're not farrowing out gilts as much from the bred female sales. And, and, and we've got a better read on, you know, how many pigs per litter have they had? How did they do in the crates, how did they milk? And that's, that's always nice to be able to pass on to a potential buyer as well. But it's, it's, it's not an easy process, you know, and it starts from the time that those babies are in crates and he's picking out Dad's, you know, already picking out certain females that, you know, he's projecting, you know, will be great sows or, you know, we've got, we've got pigs in the viewing pen and, and you know, he'll say, well, you know, you certainly don't want to sell that one or we better be keeping that one. So it's, it's an ongoing process, an ongoing battle.
- [40:40]
Steve
Yeah, it's definitely fun to keep up with on your socials. You will put up the list and there'll be like, there weren't supposed to be this many in the keeper pen or whatnot. So it always makes me chuckle because I know you're kind of on. He'd keep them all if he could.
- [40:54]
Jennifer Slagle
Yes. Yes, he would.
- [40:56]
Steve
So, okay, so let's talk a little bit. We've talked about how one more got started. What is current when more, how many sows do you run when are kind of your farrowing groups and your sales. You talked about how you kind of changed a little bit as your kids have gotten older to, you know, adapt to their schedules. But what does current one win more look like?
- [41:15]
Jennifer Slagle
Yeah, so the bred female sales, you know, have certainly impacted, you know, what we end up keeping and, and farrowing here. And that's just a discipline that has honestly been really good for our operation especially the last four or five years. Everything that we breed, we breed with the intention of farrowing here and keeping and so then the decisions become tougher. But I think it also makes us better to be able to make those decisions. Numbers always a challenge here for, for reasons that we had just discussed with my, with my dad loving to keep females, but I would say we always have, you know, we always have 60 to 70 plus females in the barn and some of them will be young gilts that we're growing out and some will be, some will be gilts that maybe are bred for their first litter sows that, that have had quite a few. As far as numbers, it does depend on how many bred females we sell in the winter, but will still Pharaoh 30 to 40 litters from, from November to, to January here and, and sometimes those numbers are a little higher. I think this year, you know, we're probably going to be more in the 35 to 40 litter range and then in the summer, you know, maybe, maybe only 15 to 20 litters and, and maybe just two groups in the summer. I with, with the way I feel like the show pig industry has changed in the fall. It's really important if, if you're going to sell pigs, you pretty much have to be invested in going to Texas and Oklahoma and attending sales. And, and that was something. Going into Will's freshman year of football, we didn't, we didn't necessarily plan or think that he was going to be starting as a freshman on our, our high school team in football and he did. And, and we probably had more pigs to puddle and market and more sales that we committed to than, than we probably should have. And, and that was one thing that my husband had said early on because he's often our, our trailer driver, you know, back and forth from, from Iowa down south. And he's gone with me to a lot of sales, he's gone with my dad to a lot of sales. And, and he kind of put us on notice and said I am, I am not going to be going south when Will is playing football on Friday nights. I am not going to be gone. There's only so many varsity football games in a season. There's only so many varsity football games in a high school kids career and I'm not missing one of them. Now. That hasn't been entirely true because Anna also does like to show livestock and so we may miss a football game for a fall show that she's involved in. But that was a conscious decision that we made as a family that, you know what, we have jobs off the farm. We're not reliant on income from show pigs. Yes, it's fun, yes, we enjoy doing it, but now we have to make some decisions about where priorities need to be. And unfortunately, if it means that to really be active in the show pig business in the fall, if travel is required down to Oklahoma and Texas, then we're not going to do it. And that's okay. You kind of have to get over the fear of missing out and, you know, and place the priority on the kids. And we didn't regret it for a single minute. And dad was really supportive of it as well. And it didn't make sense to send him alone and make those long drives himself. I mean, those are tiring drives. And it's. You might have a sale in Texas and Oklahoma that's on Saturday or Sunday. But you know, what a lot of folks don't appreciate is breeders have to be on the road a lot of times on Wednesday or at least Thursday, and then they may not get back Sunday or Monday. And it doesn't leave a lot of time at home in between those trips. And so we made the decision that we just weren't going to play that game anymore. And you know, if, if things change and we're not as consumed with football, which I'm not seeing that on the horizon right now, but if something changes, then maybe we make a different decision and get more engaged in the fall market. But now it just makes it that much more important that we show up and participate in the winter and spring market. And so that's what we're gearing up to do right now.
- [45:53]
Steve
Well, I feel like everything's gotten so much earlier too, because pigs have to be so much more mature. Like, I mean, now there's sales that are during Midwest State fair season where it didn't used to start that early. And, you know, Duncan's moved where it's earlier in the year and everything. So I think the whole landscape of the industry's changed as well. Wouldn't you agree?
- [46:12]
Jennifer Slagle
Oh, I definitely agree. And it changed fast. You know, I remember when, and a lot of folks will remember that there weren't a lot of pigs sold until after the 1st of March. Now you feel like everybody's bought pigs by the 1st of March, which is just crazy. But the thing that I've noticed as well is I don't overly stress over birth dates on pigs. We definitely try to, to raise pigs that we think, you know, will be the most popular for the shows that we're gunning for, whether it's expo or state fair season. But you know, even if you have, you know, you always have that one favorite female that repeats on you and you're faced with, you know, do we breed her for an age that you know, maybe isn't going to be, you know, as, as right on? You know, for certain shows you find that people are looking for pigs of every age. You know, every, every pig has a home, every pig has a, a has a fit. So we, we do our best to, to shoot for the right, the right dates and ages, but we, we also know that regardless of the age, there's going to be a show for the pig.
- [47:31]
Steve
Yeah, I feel like that's the same way in the sheep industry. And it's happened fast too. Like now Fallborns are more popular. Their sales that are in February, the first sale always used to be like Midwest Elite which is always the end of March or 1st of April and now that's almost the last one and their sales starting all the way up right away. In February there were fall born sales. It's kind of a year round thing and that's kind of a conversation a lot of us have had in the sheep deal of, you know, like what's the value of the off age ones or the off age flushes and anymore with the maturity, like there's always, you know, someone looking for something. It seems so.
- [48:05]
Jennifer Slagle
And I think in the, in the fall, you know, I used to also say, you know, we didn't see a lot of traffic until you know, from Texas and Oklahoma on the farm until end of September and October was always a big month and Duncan used to be in November and you know, now there's, there's showpick sales starting in the month of August. And, and we went to one, we, we went to one down in Texas in, in August or later August. And, and you know, I've never experienced worrying about keeping baby pigs cool before because when you think about a lot of our baby pig sales, you know, they're, they're in the winter, they're in the, the early spring, they're in the fall. You know, you can always keep them a good temperature. But we struggled to keep those baby pigs cool both on the trailer going down and, and at the sale itself. You know, with going into Texas in August, it didn't seem like the smartest plan once we were in the middle of it, but we tried it once before Will's football season hit.
- [49:12]
Steve
Yeah, normally you're worried about heat lamps for Duncan and you kind of worry about fans. Let's talk about your kids involvement in the operation because I think you've done a really good job of kind of giving them their own responsibilities and where they feel as though they have ownership in it and are invested in it, I guess. How have you kind of incorporated them into your operation and what do each of them do?
- [49:34]
Jennifer Slagle
Yeah, so they, they have been, they have been with us since they, they could walk. They have been in the operation just out of necessity, you know, and I think a lot of folks can, can relate to having to have your, your kids in the barn at, at young ages and, and both of the kids were very helpful in the farrowing house when they were young. As the kids got older, they grabbed onto different interests. And Will is definitely, he's our 17 year old. He's a junior this year. He is very mechanically inclined. He loves to be around anything with an engine. He wanted to drive tractors and trucks and, and pickups at a young age when he shouldn't have been and has always been really fascinated with, with motors. His, his idea of a good time is being in our shop and changing oil in a tractor or figuring out, you know, how to, how to install something or how to service something. He's, he's very mechanically minded. He asked me one time if he could go to John Deere technically school just for fun, which unfortunately is not how John Deere tech school works. But we, we are, we love having Will on the farm because he is a huge asset to us, you know, in figuring something out. And it doesn't, he's happy if it takes him four hours to figure out how to fix something in the shop. So he, he has really spent a lot of his time reorganizing our shop up, furnishing our shop with furniture that he finds in Facebook Marketplace to create a living area. He's got a TV in there. It's kind of like his, his second home. And he, he loves that, that side of the business. And he's also really good on a power washer, you know, likes to, to wash vehicles, wash Anything. And he's very neat and orderly and, and very def. Disciplined as far as his work and his work ethic. And Anna is much more hands on with the animals. That's the difference between my kids and those differences probably started to come out when I think Will was maybe we always knew that Will wasn't, you know, entirely passionate about being hands on with the animals, but he showed pigs up until he was 13, 14, and, and like I said, when he was younger, enjoyed being in the farrowing house. And Anna has always had a soft, tender heart for animals and, and she's very in tune to animals. And that's one of the things that I would say is probably the difference between my two kids. You know, we joke about it. You know, if. If we had animals, if we had the show barn full, we could have an animal struggling to breathe or half dead and Will would walk right by it. But, you know, Anna would definitely notice it. And so they definitely have. They definitely have a different level of, of passion about being hands on with animals. But when Will was, I think he was seventh grade going into eighth grade, and he was still showing pigs that year, but he let us know that this just wasn't going to be where he wanted to spend his time going forward. I think he's kind of felt the pull towards sports and knew that he needed to be spending more time in the summer in the weight room and training. And he really had a goal going into his freshman year of starting varsity football. And we didn't know if that was going to happen, but we agreed that if that was his goal, then that summer, going into his freshman year, he needed to be more focused on in the weight room and, you know, and in getting, you know, ready physically for. For that sport. And so he gave up pigs that, that summer. We already knew going into that, that spring summer that he wasn't going to be showing pigs, so, so that was fine. We supported that. I've joked that my barn has become a lot more peaceful with one child in it and with the extra, with the extra space in the barn. Anna added sheep to the mix a couple years ago in addition to the pigs. So that's been. That's been a fun challenge for her, you know, with, with Anna. Like I said, she's hugely helpful with the farrowing. Anna's a kid that, you know, maybe a little unlike Will that can be a little more stubborn. You know, Anna will never tell you no, you know, if we need a job done, no matter how dirty it is, Anna's is always willing to step in and pitch in. And she's. She's great with the animals. She's. She's got a sixth sense with animals. She's even enjoyed some challenges here or there. You know, if she's got a friend that has a challenge getting a pig broke, you know, we've. We've sometimes had those stubborn animals in our barn for a short period of time, and she enjoys the challenge of trying to break the unbreakable animal. And she loves the skin and hair process, which, God bless her, that she does, because I don't enjoy that. That's that step as much. But she'll spend hours with her animals in the wash rack and, and getting the skin and hair just right and keeping the pens clean and keeping the barn organized. And. And she's our. She's our little planner. So I can. That's the nice thing that she's taken off of my plate when it comes to packing up for shows or making sure the trailer tack room is in order for the next show. She's very reliable about making sure all of the boxes are checked, which is great.
- [55:31]
Steve
One of the questions I wanted to ask was you mentioned that when will quit showing pigs there's more room. And is that how you guys got into the sheep deal, or have you been in the sheep before or is it completely new?
- [55:42]
Jennifer Slagle
Well, my husband grew up raising lamb, so. So as part of his farming background, he grew up on a farm close to here in Grinnell. In fact, he's taken over the row crop side of his family farm, you know, here in the last probably 17, 18 years, he's. He's had the reins on the row crop side and took over the leases from his parents and. But when he was growing up, they had, I think a couple hundred sows for commercial hog production, but they also had 200 ewes. And even at the time, Don and I will be married for 25 years this summer or this coming summer. And when I first met him and when we were first married, his parents still had 200 ewes. They also ran a restaurant here in town. So when they. In the late 80s, they had the opportunity to buy a sandwich ice cream shop that was open from the spring to the fall, and it's still in business here in Grinnell today. Don's cousin now runs it. But when they had the opportunity to buy the restaurant, they sold the sows. So only, only farm families that have had 200 sows and 200 ewes would trade the sows for a restaurant business. You know, work wise, I, I don't know if it was a, it was probably a pretty even trade, but they kept the use for a long time. And so Don always grew up, he said, you know, from, from working in the commercial pig side of things, the lambs to him were always fun. But we hadn't been around lambs for a long time. It was something we talked about and Anna always had the interest to try something different. And so it was something we talked about for a while. But I mean, as you well know, it's like you're set up with your show barn for one species and you know, you need. We needed different pens, we needed, you know, different equipments and, and obviously needed to make some changes to the, to the show barn. So we've got a show barn that's split into two sides. One side has always been for the, the pigs. The other side, we've always parked our trailer. And so we had to, we had to of redesign that side, add some pens. We added some pens the first year. It was kind of a year of okay, let's jump in and see if she likes it. And she loved it. And to my husband's delight, she loved the lambs because he really enjoys it too, as it turns out. So then the next year, of course, we had to go get more pens because we had more lambs on feed. And so, yeah, that's, that's something fun. And that's the great thing with the show pig side of things. I've probably always taken more of the lead with the kids because I grew up with it. It's what I knew with the lamb side. I don't know anything about lambs. I'm learning right along with, with Anna. But Don's got a little more knowledge base, you know, around the lambs and we get a lot of support from the breeder of the, of our lambs. And fortunately, fortunately our support is only about five minutes away from our house, so, so we've relied quite a bit on Troy Childer on a day to day basis to help Anna with the lambs and kind of retrained on. And it's been fun, it's just, it's been fun and new, of course, with Anna loving, you know, all things skin and hair and wash rack. Like the, the lamb thing is just right up her alley. And so, and she has really taken to it. You know, we've, we've gotten some, we've also gotten some support on the showmanship side because that was something new that she had to learn. She's a tall girl. She's almost six foot tall herself. You know, we always thought of her as being the short one in the family, but actually as she's, you know, gotten here into middle school, now high school, she has really shot up in height and, and so showing lambs isn't, you know, maybe always the easiest thing for a tall girl like her, but she has really taken to it and she, she does a nice job. So I think the lambs are probably here to stay.
- [59:59]
Steve
Well, good. We're excited to hear that. So, yeah, and she's definitely take. Like you said, she's really shot up. I, I think it was at Exarban maybe. I couldn't believe how much she'd grown. So. And it is a huge challenge when they grow because you kind of have to relearn everything showmanship wise. Let's talk a little bit about the. It's kind of unique that you have one of the top football recruits in the state of Iowa as your son Will. Let's talk about the recruiting process. It's been kind of fun, like you said, it's kind of the talk of a lot of us in the livestock community. We've been excited to kind of follow his journey. What has the recruiting process been like? Because for most of us, that's not something we'll ever experience.
- [60:40]
Jennifer Slagle
Well, you know, and I, I joke with friends that I have experienced so much in a short period of time. I think I could write a book and I'm never going to need this experience again. So if there's anybody that, that finds themselves going through it, I would, I would definitely say both Don and myself would be really happy to, to walk other parents through this process because we've had to learn a lot of, a lot of it as we've, as we've gone along and there's been ups and downs and it's been quite a roller coaster even the last, last 30 days. But I would say, you know, Will probably didn't, didn't get a lot of interest from coaches of other colleges until his sophomore year. He just got through his junior year. He had a really good sophomore season and his first offer came in about a year ago from Iowa State and shortly after that it was Iowa. And then over, over the past year, he actually got up to 14 different offers from, from different colleges and which is, is really a blessing. He's, he's a big kid at 6 foot 4, 300 pounds. But he's not the biggest at Grinnell. He plays left tackle on our football team because he is the biggest kid on, on the football team. So they often find themselves in the left tackle position. At the college level, he will probably play more interior offensive line and he really has an interest in the center position. He hasn't played center for high school and probably won't get a chance at our high school to do that. But that's, that's a position that he's been trying to learn in the off season and one that he would be really interested in at the collegiate level. So we have found ourselves, we have found ourselves at a lot of football stadiums this last fall, getting to experience what game day is like at some of the different schools that he's received offers from. Last spring we attended a lot of what colleges called junior days, which it feels like class. You go in on a Saturday and you could be there from 8am to 4pm you meet a lot of the different coaches. You get a tour of the football field and the sports facilities and sometimes where the athletes will live. And so it's a long tour. You spend a lot of time in classrooms. You hear about the academic programs, it's the schools and how they support the athletes, what the nutrition looks like, what the weight program looks like, what the, what the day to day is. I think, you know, from, from that experience, you know, my huge takeaway, you know, going into it, being a naive mom, you know, I thought of, you know, the football, the athletes at college, you know, being, you know, really tied down, you know, maybe in that August, December, January timeframe, if they're fortunate enough to get to a bottle. I didn't have an appreciation for how year round, the year round time commitments for, for these college athletes, you know, is, and you know, how little time they have off. So wherever he ends up going, we will not see him, you know, much unless we go to visit him. They get, you know, maybe a week off in the summer, maybe a couple weeks off in January and, and the rest of the year they're, they're pretty tied down with, with either training for the football season or in the football season itself.
- [64:28]
Steve
What have been kind of the differences from all the different ones? Like you went to some SEC schools, some Big Ten schools, like, did you see a huge difference in just the atmospheres or anything like that or like between the Big 12 and the Big 10? Or was it pretty similar across the board or were they kind of polar opposites in some regards?
- [64:46]
Jennifer Slagle
You know, the, there are definitely differences, you know, in, in the schools and, and maybe some differences in the conferences that's been, you know, and if anybody knows, you know, what we've been through in the last 30 days, you know, this is really where the, the blunder or the roller coaster, you know, has been. But I would say, I would say we probably got a preview for, as we visited the different schools in terms of their interest, in their interest and enthusiasm around high school athletes versus, you know, do they rely on, on high school athletes to come in and fill roster spots? Are, is the school more interested in buying athletes out of the transfer portal? You feel that when you go to different schools and, and you feel their culture. Some schools are, some schools and coaching staffs are more interested in, in bringing in boys that are, that are similar similar in background and work ethic. That's, that's probably been the one thing that Will has, has had as an asset in the recruiting. They like that he's a farm kid. They like that he's got some farm, you know, work ethic in addition to, you know, passion for, for playing football. Some, some coaching staffs really value that. Others, you don't know if they even recognize that maybe as much. I remember there was one sec school that Will and I visited this fall and, and of all of the visits, because all of the visits really have been very, very good. Will and I did travel to Ole Miss. I'll, I'll even, I'll throw out the name. Um, at the end of September, Don wasn't able, was at Exarbin with Anna and that was a different feeling. They, they put on a really nice event for the, for the high school athletes, but we didn't have as much direct contact with the coaches and, and honestly at all of the visits, you know, they, they have students maybe assigned two year child, you know, and they're shepherding you through everywhere, all of the tours, everywhere you go, they make sure you're not lost. Ole Miss had a little different feel. You know, we could have walked away from there and nobody would have even noticed. And, and they also. Parents usually get to go with the athlete through all of the tours. They get to see all of the things at that school. I, they took me because I was the only parent there took me, you know, to the stadium and I, I was seated with the other parents. They took the athletes separately, did different tours with them and that was a tour where Will walked away. And he didn't really talk to me about it until we were flying back from, from Mississippi or from Memphis the next day. And he said, you know, mom, he goes all of the Athletes, they introduced me to this school was like their second or third stop, and they would introduce me to football players in the locker room, and they would say, you know, this. This guy just decommitted from Michigan, or we got this guy to flip from Tennessee. And. And that. That was a moment where Will had kind of put a line in the sand. And he said, you know, he was. I'm hoping that I. I can go to a school where the emblem of my helmet means something, because I just don't know that I got the feeling from the school with these players coming in from all of these different places and this is their second or third stop, that this is the right environment. And so that was a good line in the sand as we made other visits through the fall, because he was looking for more of that culture, the players that want to play for that particular school. And it probably accelerated his decision because he. He committed. He committed to Iowa State at the end of November at the last home football game of the season. And I think it was kind of a. This has been a crazy ride. You know, I feel like I know where I want to be, I know who I want to play for, and I'm ready to stop. And Don and I both asked, you know, are you sure? Because there's still so much. There's. There's so many more opportunities, you know, for visits, official visits at schools where he's had offers. We wanted to make sure he was sure. And. And at the time, you know, he really felt, you know, these are the coaches, particularly, that I want to play for. This is an ag school that fits me. Mom and dad went here. Dad played here. This. This is where I want to be. And so we. We had a tailgate party where he made his commitment and made his decision. And. And it was just the. The weekend before Thanksgiving. And then two weeks later, the. The bottom kind of fell out, because the coaches that he wanted to play for and that he was excited to play for ended up moving on to Penn State. And so that was. That was a really, really tough few days, and certainly tough on Will. Probably one of the only times I've seen Will struggle to eat, struggle to eat, struggle to sleep. Really, really difficult time. Now, the interesting thing is the coach that comes into Iowa State, Jimmy Rogers, was actually one of the very first collegiate coaches to ever reach out to Will. And I think it was maybe his freshman year when he was still at South Dakota State. And so Will had some familiarity, or he has some familiarity with him, interestingly enough. But the process we find, you know, starts over and Will has experienced this quite a bit. There's a number of schools where he had offers, but head coaches have left, which means o line coaches often leave and then you're not, you're not sure if you still have that offer. And that's happened a lot to him this fall. We didn't, we certainly didn't think that that was going to happen to him at Iowa State. And so we, we spent a lot of time as a family just on the couch, just talking about, you know, options, you know, what do we want to do, you know, what does the landscape look now with different colleges? You know, we've, some coaches have left, some new coaches are coming in. You know, where do you feel, where do you feel comfortable, you know, taking another look? And so, you know, he's still, Iowa State is still. For all of the same reasons as before, other than the coaching changes. And, and that's a big one, you know, because for somebody like Will, who's an offensive line player, they have to live or die by that position coach. Head coach is important. It's maybe not as important as position coach, but they often go together. And so that's where a lot of the decisions get made as to where, where he wants to play. And, and now it's kind of been fruit basket upset and, you know, different coaches changing all across the board. I know it's always crazy this time of year with college football coach changes, but I feel like this year has been an even, maybe even to a greater degree, or maybe it's just because we have more of a front row seat to it. But, but he's still very much considering Iowa State. He needs to establish new relationships with new coaches that are coming in and get a feel for that. He's, you know, still, he's still got connections with University of Iowa and so we're going to take a closer look at University of Iowa. That was probably a really close second for him in terms of a college decision. And it wasn't long after the Iowa State coaching staff went to Penn State, it was maybe five days after they got settled out in Pennsylvania that they made Will an offer out there as well. So we have a visit coming up the last weekend of January, and we're going to be going to State College, Pennsylvania to see that and see what Will thinks. It seems like an awfully long ways away to this mom to think about Will playing football, but those relationships with the coaches out there are still, you know, very strong. And so we're going to give Penn State a chance to. Even though I never imagined myself potentially traveling back and forth to Pennsylvania to watch him play football. But we're just taking a. Taking a little step back and saying he's got time. He's. Which. That's the, I guess, of all of this happening. He. He committed early. He's got. He's really got a full year before he has to make a decision. And so he's in a good position to just take a step back and reevaluate things again this spring and. And see where he ultimately wants to. Wants to go. Interestingly enough, Wisconsin's O line coach was the same O line coach from Arkansas that had made Will an offer from Arkansas. So. So he's already reached out to Will, and I know getting. Getting re. Established there, too. So Wisconsin will be another one that will take another visit, too. But. But yeah, it's just been. It's been a crazy ride. And, you know, at the end of the day, you know, it's. It's important. It's obviously important to him, but it's just college football. And so we're. We're trying to keep that and in perspective as well. And whatever happens, he will make the right decision. And it's been too bad that what we thought was the right decision ended up kind of turning into a whirlwind fast.
- [74:57]
Steve
Yeah. I feel like you're like, we're very efficient. People like to get stuff done. So now we just went through this whole process, and we're starting over again. Would be very frustrating. But Braden will be pumped to hear the Wisconsin mention, because I asked him this morning. I said, I'm going to record with Jennifer. Do you have any questions? Questions? And, you know, Braden is really. He likes the pig deal. He's similar to Anna. He likes the pigs, probably because it's different than what we've done with the sheep here. I said, well, do you want me to ask anything to Jennifer, assuming that it would be a win. More question. He's like, what do we got to do to get that kid to Wisconsin? So big question. So. And I remember the day, like, you guys did an Instagram live when he was gonna commit or whatever, and Braden even said he like, hey, they're gonna go live. Where do you think he's gonna go? And Braden had said, he's like, I bet she goes to Iowa State. So I'm gonna hope Wisconsin just is a. You know, he texted me as soon as it was over. He picked Iowa State. I was right. So. But it's interesting to hear because, like you said, you know, like, there's been a ton of coaching changes, more so this year than ever. And all of us are football fans for the most part, at least my friend circles, so we talk about it a lot. But it's interesting to hear your perspective as someone who's kind of right in the middle of it it with their kids. So I really appreciate all the insight and we're excited to, you know, cheer him on wherever he decides to go. So, moving on the first or the last couple questions, I have advice to young professionals wanting to get into a similar career that you did, or advice to people, maybe our younger listeners, that are just getting out of college. Like, what do you, what's your advice to them from a professional standpoint, like with your John Deere career experience?
- [76:32]
Jennifer Slagle
Well, I would say, and I get an opportunity, you know, at, in my current work to work with folks that are, you know, earlier in their careers or just coming out of college. And, you know, and I would say college itself is about finding your fit. I have a nephew that just graduated actually, from the graduate program at University of Wisconsin after doing four years at Iowa, Iowa State. And I know what a struggle it is to find that first job and try to figure out that first job. And college itself is about, you know, finding your fit. And there's a lot of kids that end up switching majors because they get into it, and it's like, boy, this just isn't what I'm feeling. And, and that's okay. And I tell parents all the time, like, that's okay. That's what college is for. Like, don't stress out if the, the first major or the first, first, first path doesn't work out. You know, let your kids find their fit. And, and the other thing I would say is, and I say this a lot, I think that, you know, kids really stress about what is my major versus what am I applying for. And I think that major and the connection of that major to the first job probably is valid. You know, there's certain companies that are looking for the animal science majors or they're looking for the agribusiness majors, and they're looking for, you know, certain, certain experiences. But beyond that, I can tell you I have had people from all walks of life. I've had education majors. I've had elementary education majors. I have somebody working for me today that she laughs. She didn't get through the student teaching portion of elementary school and realized that wasn't a fit for her. And she's she's working for me selling financing at John Deere Financial. Today I've had pre med majors work for me in this field. The majors don't matter over the course of the career. It's really about finding the fit. I do find, and I think this is a change from when I came out of college. I feel like my generation was really looking for a company to work for the rest of their lives. That's what our parents did. Our parents had a long career a lot of times, you know, at one particular company and there was pride in that. And I've had to get used to the fact that kids coming out of school today don't necessarily, they're not necessarily looking for that. And I'm not saying all aren't, but it is surprising how kids are more content to jump from a position or a company, you know, every year or two. And, and I think that they've, they've probably had good reasons. Sometimes they're financial reasons, you know, for making those changes. But that's just, that's a trend that I've noticed. And you know, and maybe, you know, maybe they're not looking for that longer term that company that I want to spend my entire career with and, and retire. But I'm looking for these, you know, certain experiences. And the other thing I would say, and we talk about this a lot at work, and I even have some regrets in my past career that I didn't do this more. There's a lot of value to taking lateral positions and experiences at the same pay. I work with a lot of folks that, you know, they're just focused on getting to the next salary grade level, the next pay increase, the next higher position. And I, I find as a manager I value diversity of experiences. And I think there's a point in that, that career that makes a lot of sense for people to maybe take a lateral pay position multiple times to gain certain experiences or more experiences before they go on to the next level and manage people. So that's a piece of advice that I would give to my younger self if I could do things over again as well.
- [80:31]
Steve
While we're on the advice train. What about for someone wanting to get started raising show animals, what are kind of the key things you'd suggest to them from a business standpoint?
- [80:41]
Jennifer Slagle
Yeah, so I think, I think that's a great. Whether that's a, whether that's a side hobby, you know, like it's kind of been for us, or whether that's, that's something that somebody aspires to do full time. I think that that's great. I think follow your passion, whatever your passion is. And you know, if you can, you know, if you can balance, balance both, you know, a career and in the show pig business, I, I think there's some advantages to, I think there's some advantages to that as well. I would say, you know, expect that it's, it's going to be hard work and you know, it's going to be a lot of sacrifice of time and sleep and there's going to be disappointments and you know, people see certain, people sometimes see certain aspects of the shopig world. You know, we all like to, to see the, the shows and the sales and the backdrop pictures, but only the folks that have walked in the business can appreciate, you know, what actually goes in behind the scenes to get to those backdrops. And there's a lot of, there's a lot of disappointment, there's a lot of failure. There's a lot of sweat, blood and tears, you know, that go into that. And so if, if that's something that you're willing to sign up for, you know, then, you know, by all means. But you know, just know that, that that's going to be the case. And you know, that's, that's one of the things that I, I think about a lot is, you know, I've, I've never wanted to sacrifice care or management for our animals. And so we've had to juggle, you know, enough time to make sure that, you know, nothing is. Nothing falls through the cracks at home. You know, we've always got things monitored, you know, animals cared for, animals fed, pens clean. That's a really important thing to us. And, and so if you're going to do all of that, then, you know, sometimes family vacations get shortened. Sometimes, you know, we can't go to the football or basketball game that we want to on the weekend because we've got to stay back and watch a sow that's about to farrow or, or, you know, we've got baby pigs that need to be vaccinated. And so, you know, so just know that, you know, there's going to be a lot of fun and a lot of, you know, a lot of passion and energy around the show pig business. But there's also a lot of sacrifice to it too.
- [83:10]
Steve
Absolutely. I think that's really good advice. I've got one last question for you. It's kind of a fun one. I'm interested to hear your answer on this one, which is more stressful deciding which guilt to sell on a bread guilt sale with your dad or Will's recruiting process.
- [83:28]
Jennifer Slagle
Both. Both have been very stressful. Honestly though, Steva, I would tell you the recruiting process in the last 30 days was a lot more stressful. The, the bread female sale honestly seemed like a breeze to pull together this, this fall. They almost overlapped. You know, it's there at the end of November but you know, it's, it's short term stress on the recruiting side because we will get to calmer waters, you know, here soon on the recruiting side and we will know what direction Will Will is going to go. Will's going to graduate early from high school next year. Like a lot of this is also a nuance for me. I didn't realize how many college athletes, especially in the football program and particularly offensive line, graduate in December from high school and start college in January. And it gives him a few extra months in the weight room and, and, and for training before football season. So Will's going to be doing that. So he will have a decision soon and we will know where he's going to move. However, the, the bred female trauma and stress over selections there will be ongoing for me. So, so in the short term I would say the recruiting but I can't overlook that long term stress will be more bred female sales. How about that?
- [84:51]
Steve
Fair enough. So, well, thanks for joining us. I really appreciate you taking the time. I know you've got a lot going on and I was excited to get you on here and I think it'll be really good for our listeners. So thanks again. Have a happy new year and we will be rooting on. We'll learn what our new favorite football team is here soon. So.