Vanessa Arndorfer

Background

About Vanessa Arndorfer

I remember being as young as 4 years old, Dad had his Diet Mountain Dew in one hand and my hand in the other. I never missed an opportunity to follow him everywhere he went as he started morning chores. My "job" was to watch as he let the sows out of their farrowing stalls, and be sure none of her babies tried to follow. As I grew older, my responsibilities became more important - and as expected, my questions became more in depth. I started helping count wean pigs, do daily chores in the finishers, and load out. You could say I was destined from the start to be in the hog industry. When my interest in horses grew, I started following pedigrees. I remember asking how our hogs were bred, and Dad replied that the genetics were PIC. In college, I branched out into the world of Meat Science. I knew what it took to make a market pig, but I didn't know how they were judged on the rail. With this new knowledge, I applied for an internship with Burke Corporation (Hormel) close to Ames in Neveda, IA. After accepting the offer for this internship, I fell in love. I learned so much beyond the classroom, that I stayed for over two years. As my college career ended, I knew I enjoyed the research I did at Burke Corp, but I wanted a more active roll in the hog industry. Thus, PIC came back around into my life. Since then, I have enjoyed every moment with PIC as we continue to pioneer our genetics to enhance customer growth.