Animal Welfare Auditor - Christensen Farms

Christensen Farms is one of the largest, family-owned pork producers in the United States, marketing approximately 3 million hogs per year. Headquartered in Sleepy Eye, Minnesota, the company operates throughout the Midwest with facilities in Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Illinois and South Dakota. Christensen Farms owns four feed mills, manages 145,000 sows on 44 farms, and oversees more than 350 nurseries and grow-finish sites. The company employees nearly 1,000 people and maintains 1,500 contract partnerships.

The company is vertically integrated with a strong presence across the pork value chain - from farm to fork. Christensen Farms is the largest shareholder of Triumph Foods LLC, a producer-owned primary pork processing plant in St. Joseph, Missouri. In turn, Triumph Food members own 50 percent of Daily's Premium Meats, a specialty pork processor bacon and other premium pork products. Triumph Foods also holds a 50 percent partnership in Seaboard Triumph Foods, LLC of Sioux City, Iowa, a primary pork processing plant.

Position Overview & Responsibilities:

This position involves collaborating with production leadership to support farms by ensuring quality controls that uphold CF and regulatory standards. The Animal Welfare Auditor will deliver training to animal caretakers related to animal wellbeing, conduct on-farm assessments and audits, develop corrective action plans, and ensure the resolution of identified non-compliances. Individuals in this role will be expected to cultivate strong working relationships with leaders and caretakers to effectively implement solutions and ensure compliance.

Major Areas of Accountability:

• Responsible for management of audits in line with biosecurity standards.
• Effectively organize and prioritize tasks, take full ownership of scheduling and independently meet deadlines.
• Demonstrate proficiency in adhering to audit standards, ensuring compliance with established guidelines and procedures, in so doing upholding the integrity and accuracy of audit processes and reports.
• Conduct, document, and communicate outcome of assessments related to animal wellbeing, environmental safety, and other critical areas throughout the system.
• Accurately input and manage data into multiple designated systems and promptly communicate findings to relevant stakeholders to ensure corrective actions are taken in a timely manner.
• Conduct CF Annual Certification for both Contract and Employee locations (fulfills PQA Plus requirement.)
• Support farms by providing specialized training as requested/needed regarding animal welfare practices.
• Support departments as needed during external 3rd party audits.
• Identify and effectively communicate areas of opportunity beyond the scope of the audit, contributing to continuous systemic enhancement.

Education, Training, and Experience Requirements:

• Education: Professional, two or four-year degree or equivalent experience.
• Livestock and/or relevant industry experience preferred.
• TQA, PQA Plus Advisor Certification preferred.
• PAACO Swine Auditor Certification preferred.
• Bilingual proficiency in Spanish is preferred.

Other Skills:

• Individual must demonstrate strong communication and presentation skills to engage caretakers, ensuring comprehension and ultimately influencing behaviors. A successful individual will exercise sound judgement to appropriately identify and escalate issues to ensure compliance at all times.
• Exhibit strong communication skills, both verbal and written, to facilitate clear and concise exchange of information within the team and across departments, fostering collaboration and ensuring mutual understanding of tasks and objectives
• Must have the ability to work within a team-oriented atmosphere.
• Must possess strong interpersonal skills with the ability to build and maintain effective working relationships with a variety of people, both internal and external of the organization.
• Individual must possess personal organization and time management skills with the ability to adapt and function effectively in a fast paced, changing environment.

Travel Requirements:

Position requires occasional overnight travel to accomplish training and audit requirements for all live animal operations. Additional travel to achieve certification or continuing education may also be required. The estimated overnight travel is 5 nights per month.

Benefits Package

Christensen Farms offers a comprehensive benefits package including health, dental, vision, a flexible spending account (FSA), life insurance, short-term disability, long-term disability, a 401(k) plan, paid holidays, paid time off bank, an employee assistance program (EAP), and more.

Specialized or Motorized Equipment and/or Tools:

This position will require operating a company vehicle, or occasional mileage reimbursement. Any employment offer for this position is contingent upon the review of your motor vehicle record (MVR). The MVR will be reviewed to determine insurability based on CFF's insurance carrier and company policy.

Vehicle Licensing Requirements: Class D and proof of insurance