We’re proud of all of our farms, and we’re especially proud of what a new sow farm brings to Iowa. It’s no secret what 18 brand new jobs means to a rural community, what a market for 188,130 more bushels of corn and 30,512 more bushels of soybean meal means to Iowa’s grain farmers, or what having a living and breathing business means for area service providers, gas stations and restaurants.
This is why we are full of enthusiasm as we celebrate the opening of Derby Sow Farm, another Homegrown Iowa project. Packed within an eight-month time period, hundreds upon hundreds of people helped us move dirt, pour 11,000 yards of concrete, erect frames and trusses, engineer the farm for filtration and install equipment, electrical, feed systems and technology.
The farm is a 7,500 head sow farm, designed for pen gestation and positive filtration. And while we’re excited about the official opening of this state-of-the-art farm, the 96 loads of bred gilts that will come out of the “breeding project” farms, and ultimately the 4,300 piglets that will be weaned each week, we the most proud of—our people.
We are human powered, and we’re incredibly proud of our construction team, all of our sub-contractors and local suppliers, the training team at Sow 32, the new management team at Derby Sow Farm and all of our new employees who recently joined Iowa Select Farms—welcome to the family! Stay tuned as we share more stories and photo albums of our new farm.
