Our #BillionPounds journey is on the road again… this time quite literally! As RAGBRAI riders made the hot, hilly 58.5-mile trek from Creston to Leon, we found ourselves along the route in Kellerton handing out water to tired bikers seeking refuge from the blistery summer heat. With several farms in nearby towns of Mt. Ayr, Diagonal, Murray and Thayer, farm managers and employees in the area volunteered to distribute bottles of water and talk about our journey to produce one billion pounds of pork (and show off some of their great dance moves!).
Stephanie Hosfield, a farrowing technician at Sow 28, spent the day in the shade with riders stopping for a break. “A guy sat down next to me for what I thought would be a quick drink of water.” She continued, “The next thing I know, 15 minutes later he’s still there and we were talking about farrowing, breeding and all of the different things we do on our farms to take care of our pigs. It was fun to tell him about my job and what we do as a company.”
Another one of our employees, Logan Goff, also had the chance to talk about pork production with curious riders. “A gentleman from Colorado asked me how we keep our pigs cool in this tough summer heat. I talked to him about our technologically-advanced barns that rely on excellent insulation, ventilation and even cool cells, which is basically corrugated cardboard with water running down it, to keep our pigs cool. I might have also mentioned that a lot of our employees get to work at 4:30 AM right now to beat the heat to make sure the animals are comfortable at all times. He thought I was kidding!”
After handing out more than 4,000 bottles of water, we packed up our bags and headed home but based on the number of great people that stopped to talk with us, it’s safe to say that the #BillionPounds story is going to continue on the rest of the RAGBRAI route. We hope that everyone stays safe, cool and enjoys the remainder of your trip through Iowa!
