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Welcome to a special episode of Coffee in the Barn, where we discuss exclusive content featuring our captivating guest speakers. Today, prepare to be enthralled as we dive deep into the minds and hearts of our extraordinary guests. From pioneer figures in the world of agriculture to trailblazers pushing the boundaries of innovation, each speaker brings a unique perspective and a wealth of insight to share.
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So grab your coffee and settle in to learn more about our incredible
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guests.
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Welcome to this exclusive episode of Coffee in the Barn. I'm here today with Dr. Stewart Galloway, who recently retired after 35 years as a swine nutritionist for the swine industry with his last 20 years at Hubbard as a swine nutritionist working as a technical support with dealers and customers. Hi, Stewart. Welcome.
Stewart
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Thank you, Morgan. It's really good to be here today.
Morgan
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I'm really glad that you allowed us to kind of highlight your career in this exclusive episode. Today we're just going to highlight a few of Stewart's accolades through his tremendous career and all of the individuals that he has helped. So with that, Stewart, what initially drew you to the field of swine nutrition and how did your career kind of evolve over time?
Stewart
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Well, you know, I remember in sixth grade thinking, I want to be a scientist. I really liked math and I like science. And then along the way, I loved agriculture. I grew up on a diversified crop and livestock farm, so I liked agriculture. I decided I wanted to work with animals instead of plants. And along the way, I got a master's degree in swine nutrition, a PhD in nutritional physiology,
Stewart
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and went out into the swine industry as tech support in the feed industry. I really knew nothing about the feed industry at that point, so I learned as I went along the way. And it's been a great career. I started with Vigourton Ag Products and was there several years, and then with Consolidated Nutrition, ADM for several years, and then the last 20 years with Hubbard. It really started in 1990 when I got done with grad school. Tech support was different, is today.
Stewart
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We were used for training, product development, and then we tended to be brought in at the end of a sale. Helped support, helped set up what's needed. And that has really evolved over time to being much, much more involved in the sales process, even to the point of cold calling
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or first calls with salespeople.
Morgan
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We've really moved to a consultative sales team approach and that has been been great. I've loved it. That's awesome. I know I've had the privilege of working with you for the last couple years and you know you were my formal trainer when I started working at Hubbard and you know everything that I've learned as a swine nutritionist up to this point I say thank you for everything that you've taught me over the last couple years. Who are some of
Morgan
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the most influential people who have helped you through your career? You know I'd like to give credit to
Stewart
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two of them. One would be Dr. Donald Bytes. He's in the nutritional physiology department at Iowa State. He's still working into his 80s there. You know as an example of God's guidance in my life, I was looking for a work-study job as an undergrad. Picked a job off the job board and ended up being in Dr. Bytes' lab. And then when I was going to return to grad school after working a couple years. I contacted Dr. Bites. He set up a series of interviews at Iowa State.
Stewart
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I chose swine nutrition for my master's degree, but he recruited me over to nutritional physiology for a PhD because he had a series of swine projects that had been funded and needed some swine people on his team. So I did my PhD with him. He was a really good mentor. He was an especially good counselor.
Stewart
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You know, there are a lot of challenges in grad school, things that want to pull you away from school, challenges with coursework and research and things like that. And he really helped me through all of that. The second one would be Dr. Dennis Wilson. And Dennis was the vice president of tech service at Vigortown. And Dennis was a very logical and structured person. And he taught me how to be logical and structured in the field of nutrition and tech service. And I'd say the main thing he taught me that I remember
Stewart
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is he helped me to learn to discern the difference between sense and nonsense. When we're working with a situation with farmers, you know, the call comes in, the email comes in, and you're given a bunch of information. Some of it's relevant, some of it's not.
Stewart
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And oftentimes you really don't have everything you need to solve the situation or to put together an action. And so Dennis really helped me think about what's important, what's not important, and what else do we need, and let's go help that producer. So I give those two guys a lot of credit for, especially my early development in the career.
Morgan
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Well, I can imagine that there's probably quite a few people that you're one of their most influential people who has helped them through their career, me included. I know you've worked a lot with different customers and companies and different sizes of operations, but do you have a most memorable moment throughout your career that kind of stuck out to you?
Stewart
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You know, for me, I think in a bigger picture, one is just daily learning and transferring information, whether it's to people in sales, whether it's to the customers. You never know what that call is going to be about. The phone rings, you know, it could be everything from a simple question about a product to a very complex situation that's going to have to involve a veterinarian, some people in management, nutrition, all of that together in order to prepare an action plan. I really enjoyed helping salespeople and dealers grow in their consultative sales skills,
Stewart
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and that helps us really work together as a team to solve problems on farms. And then, you know, helping farmers increase their profits, improve their competitive advantage, decrease their risk, and if at all possible, help them make their work easier or their lives easier. And that has become a more and more important aspect through the years.
Morgan
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That's wonderful. And this kind of, this next question kind of ties into that same response, but are there any like key lessons that you've learned throughout your career that you've either carried into your like personal or professional life?
Stewart
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I would say there are three of them. One is treat every person and every situation as important, regardless of their size, because it's important to them. You know, I've worked with people that have 10 or fewer pigs, and I've worked with people that have tens of thousands of sows and sell well over a million pigs a year. On each end, everybody in the middle, everything's important to them when they get in touch with us, so we need to treat them that way. We also have to be flexible and creative. You know, I'm surprised sometimes when I see what a farm is currently doing. They show me
Stewart
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a sheet with information on it from their current supplier and it's exactly the same as what the next farm down the road has or the one in another state. They just change the name at the top. And everybody's farm is a little bit different and we really have worked hard to tailor each program to that specific farm and what they need. And it really requires some out-of-the-box So out of the box thinking. The third thing I would say is have integrity,
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be professional. It is a small industry and you will cross paths with people multiple times and then for various capacities throughout your career. You know, a good reputation is really a valuable asset.
Morgan
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Most definitely. You know, the industry has changed a lot, even over the last five or 10 years. I can't imagine how it's changed over the last 35, but what has been kind of the main things that have stuck out to you on how the industry has changed since you first started, as well as different like trends and developments that you've found are
Morgan
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most significant within the industry?
Stewart
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Sure, you know we've gone from a lot of producers to a lot fewer producers, and with that we've gone from smaller farms to much larger farms. And as we move to those much larger farms, the needs have become more complex. The challenges have, in some cases, become certainly more complex or convoluted
Stewart
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or interrelated to each other. So it just takes a lot more thinking about how to assist those situations. You know, pigs were traditionally called the mortgage lifters, but today with the higher costs, with the lower profit margins, even a small incorrect
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decision can have a really negative effect on a farm or a small real positive decision can have a big impact on the future of a farm. So really thinking about the importance of every decision is something that we need to do all the time. On the other side, it's really exciting to see the young producers coming back. My original plan was to be back on the farm.
Stewart
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That became not available to me. And so I'm really glad to see the younger generation coming back, the sons and the daughters. You know, for the most part, they've had good training. They've had good internships. They're interested in the business.
Stewart
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They're interested in production. And so it's great to see them coming back. They ask such good questions when we meet with them. I know that they're going to be successful doing that.
Morgan
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For those students that are currently in grad school or just coming up on graduation, as I think we're in graduation week, what advice would you give to someone just starting out in this field?
Stewart
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Well, I'd say, first of all, agriculture is a fantastic and far-reaching field and of almost unlimited possibilities. I mean, when I was going to undergrad in ag and then even back in grad school, it just seemed so limited. I mean, there was the professor, there was the tech service,
Stewart
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but there is so much that you can do with agriculture, whether it's animal or plant. So, you know, keep looking. Agriculture is an exciting field. Let's see if you like pigs, if you like science, if you like helping others with their goals, and if you enjoy a daily stream of story problems to work through, soy nutrition can be an extremely satisfying career. I have loved it. It has been a true joy every day to do the various things that we get to do and especially all the people I've gotten to work with and all the farmers I've gotten to work with and help through the years. Yeah, that's definitely one
Morgan
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thing I've learned throughout being in the industry for the last couple years is you just every day is different and you never know what you're going to get. That is for sure. And so one final question that we have for you is, what is your favorite pork item to either eat or cook?
Stewart
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Well, like all of my other answers, there is more than one. So I would say, first of all, it would be an Iowa chop that I marinate and grill myself because I don't overcook it. I get it just right, and that is great.
Stewart
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The second one, I brought something that might surprise you here to show you. Especially if you're in Iowa, you can conquer the Iowa tenderloin trail as I have done. So breaded tenderloins are my favorite. I love going to restaurants, trying them. If they make them there themselves, if they bread them themselves, that's great. If they don't, I don't eat them that way, but if they make them, I'll give it a try. That's my favorite.
Morgan
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Oh, that's awesome. Well, I really appreciate you taking the time today out of your first week of retirement to kind of speak with us about your career and provide some advice for those up-and-coming within the spine industry. So I wish you the best of luck within the coming weeks and years as you continue to enjoy your retirement and your time with family and Darlene.
Stewart
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Thank you very much Morgan, it's been a lot of fun talking to you today and Thank you very much Morgan, it's been a lot of fun talking to you today and thinking back through those years.
Transcribed with Cockatoo
