May 7, 2024 • 40 mins
Stepping off the beaten path can lead to the most fascinating of destinations, a truth Chloe Kleinheinz knows all too well. From a moment of clarity in academia to her role steering the helm at Egg Innovations, Chloe's tale is one of passion, ethical advances, and the culinary delights of wild game. Join us as she unwraps the intricacies of fostering success through the bonds of trust with farmers and navigating the emotional landscapes wrought by avian influenza.
This episode weaves a narrative of progress amidst challenges, with Chloe spotlighting a humane leap forward in the egg industry. Imagine a world where the practice of culling male chicks is obsolete, thanks to pioneering technology that respects both animal welfare and the needs of smaller farms. We also take a solemn look at the toll of avian influenza, not only on the flocks but on the hearts of those who tend them, highlighting the pressing need for solutions to guard these communities.
Rounding off our discussion, we cast a light on the transformative power of mentorship and the crucible of personal growth in leadership. Chloe shares the profound impact of guiding figures in her life and the balancing act of mentoring those with more rings in their tree trunks. For the fledglings in the industry, she offers a pearl of wisdom: cherish the early chapters, for they are the foundation of tomorrow's expertise. Her story is a beacon for those navigating the rich tapestry of an agricultural career, illuminating the path with the collective wisdom she's gathered on her journey.
Hosted by Brandon Mulnix - Director of Commercial Accounts - Prism Controls
The Poultry Leadership Podcast is only possible because of its sponsor, Prism Controls
Find out more about them at www.prismcontrols.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Brandon Mulnix (00:29):
Welcome to the Poultry Leadership Podcast.
I am so glad you are here withus today.
Your growth as a leader isimportant to me and I am excited
to have you be here with ustoday.
On our show today I have one ofour first listeners.
Chloe Kleinheinz is a growingleader who reached out to me a
while back and shared how thePoultry Leadership Podcast has
(00:51):
helped her in her development asa farm manager for Ag
Innovations.
After hearing her story, Irealized just how much she has
to share with all of you, so Iinvited her on the show to share
about her journey.
Chloe, welcome to the show.
Chloe Kleinheinz (01:10):
Brandon, thanks for having me.
I definitely appreciate theopportunity and it was so
interesting to run across thispodcast.
I didn't realize that therewere poultry industry podcasts
and it's been a vital resource,especially over the last year.
Over the last six months,growing into a director level
role, it's really given me theopportunity to hear from other
leaders that I've seen and heardfrom out in the industry and
(01:30):
really humanize them and makethem more approachable when I'm
out at events.
So I really appreciate what youdo and I'm really excited to be
here.
Brandon Mulnix (01:39):
Thank you, Chloe .
Thank you for that feedback.
It's why I do this.
It's why I work late nights andsometimes early mornings and
sometimes weekends to recordthese podcasts.
So I appreciate that and it'sdefinitely for our listeners.
Chloe, can you share with theaudience a little bit about who
you are?
Chloe Kleinheinz (01:57):
Yeah, absolutely so.
I'm Chloe.
I'm the director of liveoperations for Egg Innovation,
based out of Warsaw, Indiana.
I grew up as the oldest ofthree sisters.
Even though I grew up in theheart of broiler country in the
beautiful Queen City,Gainesville, Georgia, I had no
background in agriculture orchicken Outside of work.
(02:20):
I love to hunt and I love tocook, and I fancy myself a
little bit of a wild game chef.
I love to cook beautiful mealsfor people and show people that
just because their food is wild,it doesn't mean it has to taste
wild.
Brandon Mulnix (02:34):
That is incredible.
There's a lot of wild game thatI've never experienced, so
hopefully at some point I canmaybe get a good recipe from you
.
Chloe Kleinheinz (02:44):
Squirrel hot legs is best.
Brandon Mulnix (02:46):
Squirrel hot legs that's very interesting.
I never really heard thatthere's hot wings, but hot legs
work too, that's exactly what itis.
Unless you find a flyingsquirrel somewhere, then maybe
they have wings.
How did you ever get into thepoultry industry?
Chloe Kleinheinz (03:00):
Yeah, I started.
I graduated high school in 2014and I enrolled at UGA no found
Poultry Science 1101.
Like, how hard can that classpossibly be?
(03:30):
And so I signed up for it.
And the first lecture so earlyon in the drop ad and a lot of
people talk about, especiallywomen.
You'll hear them talk about howeither they met their husband
or they tried on their weddinggown and they just knew they had
this moment where it was justthey were overcome with this
emotion and they just knew thatthey were the one or what.
(03:52):
I've never really had thatmoment, but sitting in that
lecture, without having anybackground in poultry or in
agriculture, never havingstepped foot in a chicken house,
I had this overwhelming senseand the thought passed through
my head that this is what I'mgoing to be doing for the rest
(04:13):
of my life.
And I walked out of thatlecture and sat down at lunch
and changed my major and I neverlooked back.
It's the best decision I'veever made.
I found that this was theperfect fit in terms of a career
and I absolutely love it.
I love the people.
I love that.
Every day is a differentadventure.
(04:34):
You never know when you comeinto work, especially in live
production what that day isgoing to hold, and I love that
it's an authentic career.
Growing up in Metro Atlanta,everything seems very
superficial and I love that Iget to be a part of feeding
people and making sure thateverybody has food on their
table.
Brandon Mulnix (04:54):
That's an incredible story, and so what is
your role now?
Chloe Kleinheinz (04:59):
So I'm the Director of Life Operations for
Egg Innovations.
So we've got about 60 familyfarms spread out across the
Midwest and into the Southeast.
So my role is I coach our liveoperations team.
So our service people, ourpullet managers, our pullet
crews and I serve as thego-between for our family
(05:20):
producers and the company.
My day can look very differentfrom one day to the next, but it
really offers me theopportunity not only to work
with the birds and be in thehouses and managing health
scenarios and really working ina bird management atmosphere,
but it also gives me theopportunity to manage people and
(05:41):
to liaise with people.
I love that.
I do have a team that I coach,but the majority of the folks
that I consider to be on my teamso our producers they don't
report to me and so it is a verycollaborative effort and it's
really a wonderful team to be apart of and this is my first
(06:01):
experience being a part of aproducer group.
My background is in inlinecommodity conventional
production, so I've got somecage-free experience, but this
is my first experience withoutside access, organic,
free-range pastured birds, soit's been a huge learning curve.
I oversee our day-to-dayoperations and increasing
(06:24):
capacity for organizations.
Brandon Mulnix (06:26):
That sounds like a lot, and one of the things
you mentioned in there that Ifind so challenging is when
you're coaching or leading folksthat don't always report to you
.
You don't have thatemployer-employee relationship,
and so that's really fascinatinghow you're able to do that.
(06:49):
That's cool.
Chloe Kleinheinz (06:51):
Yeah, I think with and I would say, most of us
in this business who work withcontract producers.
Of course, you're going to havethe ones that they're going to
be stubborn and they're going todo it their way, but my method
has always to just been to winthe hearts of the producers and
be their biggest cheerleader andknow that I've got their back
(07:14):
and that I'm there to supportthem.
And things tend to go prettywell to know that I'm.
I'm there as a sounding boardfor them and I'm there to help
them, not to beat them down.
That's what's worked for me andit's made way for a lot of
really fantastic relationships.
We have a very diverse group ofproducers, so we're about 50
(07:36):
percent of our producer group iseither Amish or horse and buggy
Mennonite, so that was ademographic that I had not
worked with at all before.
So it's been really eye-opening, especially as a female leader,
getting to collaborate withthese different communities and
be a part of this community thatI'd had no experience with
before, and I've learned so manydifferent ways of doing things
(07:59):
within the process of producingeggs that you would only learn
from somebody within an Amishcommunity.
Brandon Mulnix (08:11):
So it's been an awesome experience.
I can only imagine how muchexperience some of your
producers have, and to be young,a leader, a woman, all going
into having that relationshipthat you have with them that's
got to be a big challenge.
How do you feel you overcamethat?
Chloe Kleinheinz (08:28):
Yeah.
So I would say initiallythere's irregardless of whether
it's with contract producers orthe demographics you're dealing
with or in any atmosphere,especially as a young person
there's going to be a hump inthe beginning of trying to earn
that respect and for me I knoweverybody has their own way of
(08:51):
doing things I've learned thatrespect your collaboration
rather than fear Just alwaysbeing there.
They call at 1130 at night andthey just need a sounding board
answering the phone If they'rereally genuinely concerned about
something and it's.
It may be inconvenient to me ona weekend or in the evening
just going out to their farm tocheck, just even though I may
(09:12):
know, just based on myexperience, that it's nothing
building that trust by in myhead.
I may know that what they'reseeing isn't AI.
It builds trust that I went outthere anyway to put their mind
at ease.
For me that's what's worked bestand it has been challenging
over.
It's not like I've been in thisbusiness 40 years, but in the
(09:36):
years that I have been workingin this industry, working with
different types of people,different demographics.
It's definitely not aone-size-fits-all approach.
You definitely have to beadaptable and you have to be
flexible in your ways ofcoaching people and leading
people and getting everybodyunited under one objective, I
(09:58):
guess, is the best way to put it.
Brandon Mulnix (10:01):
And you've got 60 family farms that you do this
for, which is a lot ofdifferent personalities and a
lot of different dynamics thatgo into it.
How does Ag Innovations helpyou and tell me a little bit
more about them?
I hadn't heard much about themuntil I got to hear your story.
Chloe Kleinheinz (10:21):
Ag Innovations was originally founded back in
1999 by Dr John Bronkwell.
Our mission is chickens peopleplanet and we consider ourselves
to be the industry leader inanimal welfare and in
regenerative agriculture.
I have an incredible supportnetwork here of mentorship.
I've got a great sounding boardwithin leadership that if I've
(10:45):
got.
If I have any sort of problemor challenge or opportunity, I
have people that I can go to,that I know have my back and
they're behind me.
So that's been a really bighelp in this.
And then I've also been blessedto have an incredible team
working with me.
My service people are I'm alittle bit biased, but I would
(11:08):
say probably some of the best inthe business.
So it's really here at EI, itis the people.
This is one of those companiesthat when they say it's like
family, it really is like familyand that really helps.
And then I think also havingpeople here with a very high
level of knowledge and justbirds in general.
Having that technical knowledgegives me a leg up.
(11:30):
Also, if I genuinely don't know, then I have people within our
sphere that I can go to thatlikely have the answers or know
who do.
So that's how I've workedaround that.
But in terms of what we do hereat AgInnovation, so we are a
producer group, so we don't haveany in-line houses.
All of our birds have access tothe outdoors every single day.
(11:54):
So, depending on our differentproduction systems, all of our
farms have between five and 50acres that the birds have access
to across the amount of farmsthat thousands of acres of range
land that our birds arepastured on year round
throughout the US, our differentproduction systems.
So we have two five acre farmsthat are considered outside
(12:15):
access.
Really, those barns are notwhat we would.
They're not our ideal typesetup.
But one of the things I loveabout Ag Innovations is, even
though those barns are not idealto our business model, we keep
them because we're not gonnamake our growers go find another
home because they don't havethe acreage.
(12:37):
That really speaks to me aboutthe type of company that this is
in, that even though we wouldprefer for all of our firms to
be 10 acres or over.
Those growers are going to havea home with us as long as they
want a home with us, and that'sone of the things that really
drew me to this company.
And then we have what themajority of our farms are is a
(13:00):
10-acre farm, so this is goingto be free range.
So when you're looking at eggcartons, in terms of our
terminology, this is going to beyour free range bird and none
of these terms actually haveanything to do with organic.
So that's a completelydifferent set of terminology.
And then we have some 50-acrefarms, mostly in the closer to
the southeast, that are going tobe pastured farms.
(13:22):
So if you see pastured on acarton of eggs, those birds are
going to be raised on a muchlarger area of rangeland.
And then we do have a subset offarms within those different
acreages that participate inregenerative agriculture.
So those birds are rotationallygrazed on pasture throughout the
year so that we can make surethat we're doing our best to be
(13:44):
stewards of the environment,making sure that the soil is
healthy, we're not overgrazingpasture, but while doing that,
we still have areas set asidefor the birds to participate in
their natural behaviors, likedust bathing.
It's funny.
You wouldn't think a chickenwould be that destructive to a
pasture, but you put 20,000 ofthem outside and they can tear
pasture up pretty quick, lookingfor bugs and worms and finding
(14:07):
a spot to take a dust bath.
So all of our birds have theability to display their natural
behaviors every day and they'reso funny.
You can watch, especially asthe sun starts to go down, they
start jumping around and theystretch the wings and they run
around the pasture and even thebirds that choose not to go
outside.
So it is typical that a lot ofyour less dominant birds will
(14:29):
not go outside every day.
So what we do for them is weactually try to bring some of
the outside inside.
So we make sure that eveninside the house we give them
access to green forage yearround.
So we bring hay inside thebarns for them, which has
immense benefit just outside ofthe ethics of it.
(14:50):
It's one of the best tools toprevent feather pecking that
I've found.
So we really do put an emphasison creating the best life for
the bird that we possibly can.
Brandon Mulnix (15:00):
That is a lot of great information To learn more
about free range and organic itjust it warms my heart to see
these other opportunities and toknow that there's options out
there for customers that aredifferent than conventional or
cage-free Pretty exciting.
I just recently came across aNew York Times article that
(15:23):
mentions Egg Innovations andtalks about ova sexing.
What is that?
Chloe Kleinheinz (15:29):
Yeah, so just recently, egg Innovations became
the first company to publiclyannounce that we will be opting
into inovosexing, so that meansthat in the future, we will be
purchasing chicks that weresexed while they were still in
the egg.
The purpose of inovosexing is toend male culling egg.
(15:55):
The purpose of Innovo Sexing isto end male culling.
Male culling is a challengethat the egg industry has faced
and been working to eliminatefor a very long time.
Of course, this is somethingthat I don't think there's a
single egg company out therethat doesn't support, and we're
really proud to be among thefirst to take the opportunity
and go for it.
It's still a very new and veryemerging market, so there's
(16:16):
still a lot of learnings to behad and we're very excited about
it.
But the premise of it is thataround day 13 of incubation, the
technology will be able to tellwhether the embryo is male or
female, and so this willeliminate the need for culling
and maceration that day of hatch.
(16:36):
So hopefully, by us and a fewother producers taking a hold of
this early on, this will becomea much more widely available
and commercially scaled optionfor egg producers here in the US
.
Brandon Mulnix (16:50):
So you're saying this is still a relatively new
technology?
Chloe Kleinheinz (16:54):
For the US it is.
It has been around in Europefor several years, but the first
machines are just going live inthe US this fall, so we'll be
among the first to get thechance to purchase chicks from
those machines.
Brandon Mulnix (17:07):
That's pretty innovative and sustainable and
learned as I read that articleand I'll make sure I share that
article on the podcast shownotes just for our audience here
, because that is important tosee how companies like yours are
able to pivot and do thingsthat sometimes is easier to try
(17:30):
on us with 60 family farmsversus trying to do it with a
three to four million birdcomplex.
Chloe Kleinheinz (17:37):
Yeah, it's a lot easier.
Most of our all of our farmsare between 20 and 40,000 birds
per farm.
Of course, we do have a fewfarms that have more than one
house.
So 20,000 birds per flock,that's something you can pivot
and be flexible and be agilewith.
So it's a very excitingopportunity and we can't wait to
get started with it.
Brandon Mulnix (17:57):
Yeah, I can't wait to chat with you in the
future and find out how it'sgoing and to see you and your
team presenting at conferenceson the success and what you guys
have been able to accomplish.
Look forward to that.
Chloe Kleinheinz (18:10):
Yeah, absolutely.
Brandon Mulnix (18:11):
So over-sexing is a problem that you guys are
working on, but is there anyother industry problems that you
would really hope to get solvedin the future as it relates to
poultry?
Chloe Kleinheinz (18:23):
For me personally, I guess it's the
elephant in the room AI.
I came into this businessduring this unique brief hiatus
when AI kind of subsided between2015 and 2022.
And I was still getting my feetwet.
I was the low level farmsupervisor 10 employees under me
(18:46):
, really just responsible forkeeping the houses clean and
everything running day to day,and so I didn't really hear a
lot about it there in thebeginning and that's overnight
it's exploded, and so my entirelive production management
career has been full of AI andI've really never known an
(19:07):
industry without it.
And it's one of those thingsthat it's incredibly difficult
to watch this industry where wehave either mourned for our
colleagues who have gone throughthis or we've become victims of
it ourselves.
And I really believe that weare on a precipice with the
(19:33):
recent changes and developmentswith the mammalian detections,
that now is the time forresearch, now is the time to do
something about it so that thisindustry doesn't become
collateral damage.
I'm not a company owner.
I don't have the financiallyvested interest that some other
(19:54):
podcast listeners have, but thisindustry is my life and I don't
want to see it damaged anymorethis disease and I've been so
fortunate that none of mythoughts have been affected and
it's always working in an inlineenvironment.
It was always a it's always abig, heavy burden to shoulder to
(20:17):
try to make sure you're keepingthat massive flock healthy and
doing whatever you could toprevent that disease.
But it is a different animalentirely when you're working
with family producers who, yes,it's your job to keep the
disease out of the flock, butthe family that it's going to
(20:39):
affect directly If their flockgets sick for their names, their
children's names.
That's a different level ofpressure.
So for me, if I could make AIgo away with a snap of a finger,
I would For sure.
I'm glad there's people outthere that are a lot smarter
(20:59):
than me working on vaccines andresearch, because it's hard
stuff, it's scary stuff.
Brandon Mulnix (21:07):
Yeah, you mentioned the families up until
last week, hpai and for thoselisteners that are new to the
show, that are friends of familylistening, we're talking about
high path avian influenza and Ihave seen the tears of
co-workers that are grieving forour customers here in our
(21:31):
community.
We've, at Prism Controls, havebeen sheltered from HPAI.
We hear it when our customershave it and it's a state or two
away, but it's in our backyard.
In fact I know the person wherethe cattle landed in Michigan
and I personally know the farmshere in Michigan that have been
(21:55):
affected and I know theemployees that are dealing with
the AI and all of the thingsthat have to be done to secure
the farm from further virusspread and everything that they
have to go through.
And it's something that's justso hard because you can actually
look in their eyes.
It's not where, it's a stateaway and it's just a phone call
(22:19):
away and you hear it in theirvoices.
But we've had so many peoplefrom the US just reach out to us
this last week and say, hey,how are we doing?
And we're a technology companybut it does affect us.
Our original founding companywas affected and it's not
something I've ever experiencedbefore, even in the world of
being a paramedic, we talkedabout hazmat and we talked about
(22:40):
all the things that you had todo, but it was still.
Unless you experience it, youdon't truly know what it is.
And I still don't truly knowwhat it is because I haven't
been on that farm and been inthose barns.
But just seeing it in the eyesof people that we know it's so
powerful, and then to hear mywife talk about it as a nurse
that they're training for, whenthe virus changes and starts
(23:03):
spreading in humans faster andwhat that's going to do and I
don't want to do doom and gloomand the world is ending.
But these are viruses thatcontinue to mutate and change
and it was here in 2015,.
It was here before that and itjust continues to grow and
change.
But man is that tough and howis free range adapting to that?
How do you do biosecurity whenit comes to free range birds?
Chloe Kleinheinz (23:27):
Yeah, so of course you do the best that you
can, right.
So we have amped up all of ourbiosecurity protocols on all of
our farms, regardless of state.
And then, because of the waythat NPIP and some of the
biosecurity systems are set up,it's on a very state-by-state
basis.
For producer groups like us whohave farms in multiple states,
(23:51):
it's ultimately up to the statevet in each individual state to
direct what happens with outsideaccess birds.
Right now, for us, our birds inKentucky per se they're still
outside.
They're still allowed to gooutside and we would still be
indemnified if we were to catchAI, because that's the current
(24:14):
recommendation of the state vet.
However, in our other states,all of our other birds are under
an order of confinement.
So what that means is, under anorder of confinement, they're
required to be inside, and thenthere are other states that will
issue a confinementrecommendation.
They're not going to requireyou to keep birds inside, but
(24:37):
they do recommend that you keepbirds inside.
Depending on the state, it canbe a little bit of a gray area
and my position in the Divisionof Ag Innovations is to always
follow the advice of the statevet.
We're not going to go outsideof that and start to try to make
those decisions on our own.
I personally don't want thatblood on my hands.
There are people who have abunch of letters behind their
(24:58):
names for a reason and I'm notone of them for a reason
watching the detections and thatup until recently aside from,
of course, your backyard flocksthere haven't really been a
whole lot of pasture or outsideaccess detection.
It wasn't until the last fewweeks that we've really seen
(25:20):
that we're really learning justwith this, these recent changes,
what we can do a little bitdifferently to try to make our
outside access areas a littlebit more biosecure.
And we know that as thesituation with cattle and
mammals continues to change,that the recommendations may
change.
(25:40):
And it's just such a rapidlyevolving situation that hour by
hour things are changing.
For us, that's what we're doingnow and what we've been doing
for the past several months isjust following the state vet's
orders, and that has mostly beenan order of confinement.
So, on the one hand, is it whatwe prefer to do for our setup?
(26:01):
No, we would love for our birdsto go outside every day, but
unfortunately, or fortunately,this is what we can do to
protect our flock best and toprotect our other neighbors in
the poultry industry.
Brandon Mulnix (26:14):
I'm sure we could talk about HPAI for a long
time.
You're living it acrossmultiple states and even your
family farms are probably reallyin tune and worried about it.
Chloe, I can tell you'repassionate about the poultry
industry, absolutely.
What gives you that passion andthat purpose?
Chloe Kleinheinz (26:34):
For one, I really do enjoy the birds.
I really, I genuinely enjoybeing in the chicken house.
I enjoy working with my handsand, though I don't get to do
that a lot anymore at this pointin my career, the other thing
that I just I love this industry.
I love that it's small, I lovethat it's unified, I love that
(26:57):
it's collaborative and I lovethe people.
It's such a unique experienceto be in an industry where I'm
less than 10 years removed frommy undergraduate program and I
(27:17):
have a voice in the same roomwith industry leaders like JT
Dean and Bob Krause.
That is an honor, is anunderstatement.
And then, on the flip side ofthat, I have met some of the
best people through thisbusiness.
I've met my three best friendsthrough this business, two of
them as former employees and oneof the colleagues.
(27:39):
So the shout out to Arturo,bernice and Blake.
But it's really the people inthe community that this industry
provides that, not to bring AIback up, but that, even though
we're competitors when tragedystrikes.
This is one of the fewindustries that I really feel
stands together in solidarityrather than just looking for
(28:02):
that next bit of business, andthat's the type of industry I
want to be a part of.
Brandon Mulnix (28:08):
It gives you hope when you see farms work
with each other, the farms inIowa reaching out to the farms
in Michigan and saying, hey,this is what we've learned
through all of our experienceswith AI.
There's something that happenson the farm, farms, there's a
tragedy, people reach out, it'sa family and, yeah, even if
(28:32):
you're the obnoxious cousin,most of the time when something
happens, they they're there foryou they look past the woes of
the past and still are there foryou, and that is definitely
something cool that I'm glad youbrought up about our industry,
because it is our industry.
Chloe Kleinheinz (28:54):
That is awesome.
Brandon Mulnix (28:55):
As a young leader in the industry, what
resources have you utilized togrow and develop?
Chloe Kleinheinz (29:01):
It's really changed over the years.
Early on, I ate up every videorecording of every seminar,
everything I could find onYouTube.
I've read the textbook, andrecently it's turned into
podcasts.
I discovered the NutritionBlack Belt, the Poultry Podcast,
the Poultry Leadership Podcast,and my current role.
(29:24):
I do a lot of driving, I do alot of road time, and so it's
given me the opportunity to justto sit and absorb, and so over
the last six or eight months,it's really been these podcasts
and then within the workplace, Ihave been so blessed to have
had a couple incredible mentorsJason Wallace with Country Charm
(29:48):
Eggs, which is now part of MPS,and Brian Klepke, our COO here
at Ag Innovation.
The level of mentorship thatthey have provided has been
second to none, and I creditthem for my development as a
leader more than anything else,for my development as a leader
(30:13):
more than anything else.
And then the organizations thatI have had the opportunity to
work with.
I started out at Country CharmEggs and, though I wasn't, I had
no experience in this industryat the time, and so I didn't
really understand the gravity.
But I worked for Brent Bookerand at the time, though I didn't
really understand who he was,in the scheme of the industry?
Now I do, and so even now, ifI'm faced with a decision I need
(30:36):
to make for something I'llthink about, would this choice
make Brent proud?
And though I don't always makethe right choice, working for
individuals like him that Irespect so much, I think all of
those things combined havereally allowed me to develop as
a leader and grow professionallyas much as I have in such a
(31:00):
short time.
Brandon Mulnix (31:01):
The industry is not shy of great leaders.
Chloe Kleinheinz (31:05):
No, it's not.
Brandon Mulnix (31:06):
I have found so many of them willing to talk,
willing to chat, willing toshare their story not
necessarily on a podcast, butthey will share their story
one-on-one and there's so manygreat people to look up to, and
you've mentioned a few reallygood folks in your shout outs
there and I'm sure they'llappreciate that, knowing just
(31:27):
the leader that you're turninginto.
All great leaders overcomechallenges and I'm not
necessarily calling you greatyet.
You've got a career ahead ofyou.
Greatness always comes on theend of, basically in retrospect,
but all leaders overcomechallenges Along your journey.
What challenge have youovercome in your life and how
(31:49):
did you learn from it?
Chloe Kleinheinz (31:51):
Yeah, just on the flip side of having that
great mentorship, there havebeen periods where I haven't had
mentorship, and I think that'sbeen.
The biggest challenge I've hadto overcome is during those
voids, those periods where I wasthe mentor.
Those voids, those periods whereI was the mentor, trying to
find the tools to be the mentor,especially to people who are
(32:18):
sometimes twice my age, who havea lot more life experience than
I do and a lot moreprofessional experience than I
do, yet I'm charged withcoaching them.
That's been a huge challenge andfor me, what's worked is just
looking to my past andresourcing different sounding
boards whether that has been atone time hiring a professional
coach or reading tons and tonsof professional development
(32:42):
books and then learning to leaddifferent types of teams.
When in my first leadershiprole, I was lost to a great team
and I got into a rhythm andpeople talk about developing
their management style and whenI moved into my next role,
attempting to implement that Irealized was not going to work.
(33:02):
The team was so totallydifferent, the personalities
were so completely different,the personalities were so
completely different.
And then there's the dynamic ofgoing from leading hourly
personnel, like production levelpersonnel, to leading other
leaders was a huge challenge,and that's one that I am still
(33:23):
working through, something I'mstill learning and growing into,
for sure.
Brandon Mulnix (33:28):
You're a person that sounds like you're very
motivated and you plan thingsout a little bit too in your
life and you set goals.
What is one of those goals thatyou've set for yourself that
you're hoping to overcome in thenext few years?
Chloe Kleinheinz (33:44):
Yeah, so I've had the incredible opportunity,
just for the first time thisyear, to be on a UEP committee
which is just I feel like I'mliving a dream, but growing into
my voice and not being afraidto use my voice for good.
I think I spoke up once duringour meetings in January and I
(34:05):
referred to myself as the peonin the back.
Meetings in January and Ireferred to myself as the peon
in the back.
It's growing into that, notbeing afraid to talk just
because I'm not one of thelegacy families in the room, I'm
not an owner of one of thelarge egg companies.
Still, feeling like my voicehas a place in that room is
probably my biggest goal forright now.
I'm lucky that I'm in a placein my career where I'm very
(34:28):
happy.
So for me, my goals are just tocontinue to develop
professionally, continue to peelback the layers of being a
leader and develop thosedifferent management skills, and
using my voice is probably thebiggest part that I feel like I
have some opportunities in.
Brandon Mulnix (34:49):
Audience if you don't hear her voice on this
podcast and recognize the factthat in a few years she's going
to be leading this industry insome way.
She's going to, and it doesn'thave to be by title, it doesn't
have to be by position, butshe's making a difference just
by sharing her story with you,for the industry, and I look
(35:13):
forward to watching her growthand watching her develop as a
mentor, watching her be okay,asking the quote, quote, as I
call it, dumb question in theroom, when it's probably the
question that everybody wantsasked but everybody's too afraid
to ask.
And Chloe's going to be the oneasking that question because
(35:36):
that's what's going to lead tochange and I appreciate your
vulnerability and recognizingthat that's really cool.
As we wrap things up, any lastadvice that you would have for
anybody getting into the eggindustry?
Chloe Kleinheinz (35:51):
Gosh.
Brian, my current coach, isprobably going to completely
roll his eyes at me if he hearsthis, because I know a lot of
it's going to probably behypocritical.
It is advice that I try to liveby the best that I can.
The biggest thing is it'salways OK to say no or not.
Right now it's really easy as ayoung leader to try to take on
(36:15):
every opportunity presented toyou and you can become
overwhelmed and burnout veryquickly and you'll end up not
enjoying what you're doing.
And those early years,especially as a low to mid-level
manager, cherish those years.
They're fun.
Don't take on so much thatthey're no longer enjoyable.
(36:39):
And then the second part is andI'm just throwing numbers out
there but if you're 26, stoptrying to be 56.
It's okay to not knoweverything.
You're not expected to knoweverything.
It's okay to say I don't know.
It's okay to ask the dumbquestion.
(37:02):
No one expects you to have theknowledge of somebody that's
been in this business for 30years.
And if they do, then I guessthat's a different.
That's a different conversation.
But it's okay to be young andit's okay to learn.
We always have the right to getsmarter and then always, just
(37:22):
never be afraid to work.
It was less than a year ago.
I was waist deep in a floodedpit pumping out water.
Don't be afraid to get yourhands dirty.
Being willing to do that willget you further than a tidal
lever will, and you will learnmore from the folks under you.
(37:42):
You will learn more from themthan you will from the people
over you any day of the week.
I've learned more from healthcaretakers, truck drivers,
people who have been doing theirjobs for 30 years than I have
anyone else in this business.
Treat them with respect andthey are a wealth of knowledge.
(38:04):
No one knows their job betterthan they do.
Those are probably the bestpieces of advice I've ever been
given coming into this business,and I know.
The parts about being willingjust to say no or not right now
and not feeling like you got toknow everything are probably
hypocritical coming from me, butI think they're good pieces of
(38:25):
advice and good things to try tolook by.
Brandon Mulnix (38:29):
Chloe, that's great advice.
You're giving credit to othersthat have gone before, and our
responsibility is one to findour passion, and then the other
is to share that passion withothers, and that's a quote
someone shared with me this week.
Chloe, I want to say thank youfor sharing your story to the
(38:52):
Poultry Leadership Podcastaudience, and this show wouldn't
be possible without people likeyou as listeners.
I really appreciate youreaching out to me and sharing
your journey so that way, wecould then share and make this
podcast continue to grow andcontinue to evolve to help
(39:13):
leaders like yourself.
So thank you very much.
Chloe Kleinheinz (39:16):
Yeah, absolutely.
Thank you so much for having me, Brandon.
Brandon Mulnix (39:19):
Listeners, this podcast would not be possible
without our sponsor, PrismControls.
You've heard it weekend andweek out that Prism Controls is
a great company.
I'm pretty pretty fond of itmyself, but I want you to go to
our website, prismcontrolscomand just to learn more about us.
We were hatched in thisindustry.
(39:41):
Every one of us just loves thisindustry.
Check out our website, checkout our products and don't
hesitate to reach out to us andtell us what you want to see
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We're there to help support anddevelop the new technology for
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Please, like I say every week,like this podcast.
Like it on iTunes and Spotifyand iHeartRadio, Wherever you're
(40:05):
going to find this.
Please like it.
Share a rating, because that'show this podcast gets found by
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(40:25):
Share this with others and, asalways, I really do appreciate
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You are the reason I do thispodcast get found.
Share this with others and, asalways, I really do appreciate
you listeners.
You are the reason I do thispodcast.
So thank you from the PoultryLeadership Podcast.
Have a great day.
Welcome to the Poultry Leadership Podcast.
I am so glad you are here withus today.
Your growth as a leader isimportant to me and I am excited
to have you be here with ustoday.
On our show today I have one ofour first listeners.
Chloe Kleinheinz is a growingleader who reached out to me a
while back and shared how thePoultry Leadership Podcast has
(00:51):
helped her in her development asa farm manager for Ag
Innovations.
After hearing her story, Irealized just how much she has
to share with all of you, so Iinvited her on the show to share
about her journey.
Chloe, welcome to the show.
Chloe Kleinheinz (01:10):
Brandon, thanks for having me.
I definitely appreciate theopportunity and it was so
interesting to run across thispodcast.
I didn't realize that therewere poultry industry podcasts
and it's been a vital resource,especially over the last year.
Over the last six months,growing into a director level
role, it's really given me theopportunity to hear from other
leaders that I've seen and heardfrom out in the industry and
(01:30):
really humanize them and makethem more approachable when I'm
out at events.
So I really appreciate what youdo and I'm really excited to be
here.
Brandon Mulnix (01:39):
Thank you, Chloe .
Thank you for that feedback.
It's why I do this.
It's why I work late nights andsometimes early mornings and
sometimes weekends to recordthese podcasts.
So I appreciate that and it'sdefinitely for our listeners.
Chloe, can you share with theaudience a little bit about who
you are?
Chloe Kleinheinz (01:57):
Yeah, absolutely so.
I'm Chloe.
I'm the director of liveoperations for Egg Innovation,
based out of Warsaw, Indiana.
I grew up as the oldest ofthree sisters.
Even though I grew up in theheart of broiler country in the
beautiful Queen City,Gainesville, Georgia, I had no
background in agriculture orchicken Outside of work.
(02:20):
I love to hunt and I love tocook, and I fancy myself a
little bit of a wild game chef.
I love to cook beautiful mealsfor people and show people that
just because their food is wild,it doesn't mean it has to taste
wild.
Brandon Mulnix (02:34):
That is incredible.
There's a lot of wild game thatI've never experienced, so
hopefully at some point I canmaybe get a good recipe from you
.
Chloe Kleinheinz (02:44):
Squirrel hot legs is best.
Brandon Mulnix (02:46):
Squirrel hot legs that's very interesting.
I never really heard thatthere's hot wings, but hot legs
work too, that's exactly what itis.
Unless you find a flyingsquirrel somewhere, then maybe
they have wings.
How did you ever get into thepoultry industry?
Chloe Kleinheinz (03:00):
Yeah, I started.
I graduated high school in 2014and I enrolled at UGA no found
Poultry Science 1101.
Like, how hard can that classpossibly be?
(03:30):
And so I signed up for it.
And the first lecture so earlyon in the drop ad and a lot of
people talk about, especiallywomen.
You'll hear them talk about howeither they met their husband
or they tried on their weddinggown and they just knew they had
this moment where it was justthey were overcome with this
emotion and they just knew thatthey were the one or what.
(03:52):
I've never really had thatmoment, but sitting in that
lecture, without having anybackground in poultry or in
agriculture, never havingstepped foot in a chicken house,
I had this overwhelming senseand the thought passed through
my head that this is what I'mgoing to be doing for the rest
(04:13):
of my life.
And I walked out of thatlecture and sat down at lunch
and changed my major and I neverlooked back.
It's the best decision I'veever made.
I found that this was theperfect fit in terms of a career
and I absolutely love it.
I love the people.
I love that.
Every day is a differentadventure.
(04:34):
You never know when you comeinto work, especially in live
production what that day isgoing to hold, and I love that
it's an authentic career.
Growing up in Metro Atlanta,everything seems very
superficial and I love that Iget to be a part of feeding
people and making sure thateverybody has food on their
table.
Brandon Mulnix (04:54):
That's an incredible story, and so what is
your role now?
Chloe Kleinheinz (04:59):
So I'm the Director of Life Operations for
Egg Innovations.
So we've got about 60 familyfarms spread out across the
Midwest and into the Southeast.
So my role is I coach our liveoperations team.
So our service people, ourpullet managers, our pullet
crews and I serve as thego-between for our family
(05:20):
producers and the company.
My day can look very differentfrom one day to the next, but it
really offers me theopportunity not only to work
with the birds and be in thehouses and managing health
scenarios and really working ina bird management atmosphere,
but it also gives me theopportunity to manage people and
(05:41):
to liaise with people.
I love that.
I do have a team that I coach,but the majority of the folks
that I consider to be on my teamso our producers they don't
report to me and so it is a verycollaborative effort and it's
really a wonderful team to be apart of and this is my first
(06:01):
experience being a part of aproducer group.
My background is in inlinecommodity conventional
production, so I've got somecage-free experience, but this
is my first experience withoutside access, organic,
free-range pastured birds, soit's been a huge learning curve.
I oversee our day-to-dayoperations and increasing
(06:24):
capacity for organizations.
Brandon Mulnix (06:26):
That sounds like a lot, and one of the things
you mentioned in there that Ifind so challenging is when
you're coaching or leading folksthat don't always report to you
.
You don't have thatemployer-employee relationship,
and so that's really fascinatinghow you're able to do that.
(06:49):
That's cool.
Chloe Kleinheinz (06:51):
Yeah, I think with and I would say, most of us
in this business who work withcontract producers.
Of course, you're going to havethe ones that they're going to
be stubborn and they're going todo it their way, but my method
has always to just been to winthe hearts of the producers and
be their biggest cheerleader andknow that I've got their back
(07:14):
and that I'm there to supportthem.
And things tend to go prettywell to know that I'm.
I'm there as a sounding boardfor them and I'm there to help
them, not to beat them down.
That's what's worked for me andit's made way for a lot of
really fantastic relationships.
We have a very diverse group ofproducers, so we're about 50
(07:36):
percent of our producer group iseither Amish or horse and buggy
Mennonite, so that was ademographic that I had not
worked with at all before.
So it's been really eye-opening, especially as a female leader,
getting to collaborate withthese different communities and
be a part of this community thatI'd had no experience with
before, and I've learned so manydifferent ways of doing things
(07:59):
within the process of producingeggs that you would only learn
from somebody within an Amishcommunity.
Brandon Mulnix (08:11):
So it's been an awesome experience.
I can only imagine how muchexperience some of your
producers have, and to be young,a leader, a woman, all going
into having that relationshipthat you have with them that's
got to be a big challenge.
How do you feel you overcamethat?
Chloe Kleinheinz (08:28):
Yeah.
So I would say initiallythere's irregardless of whether
it's with contract producers orthe demographics you're dealing
with or in any atmosphere,especially as a young person
there's going to be a hump inthe beginning of trying to earn
that respect and for me I knoweverybody has their own way of
(08:51):
doing things I've learned thatrespect your collaboration
rather than fear Just alwaysbeing there.
They call at 1130 at night andthey just need a sounding board
answering the phone If they'rereally genuinely concerned about
something and it's.
It may be inconvenient to me ona weekend or in the evening
just going out to their farm tocheck, just even though I may
(09:12):
know, just based on myexperience, that it's nothing
building that trust by in myhead.
I may know that what they'reseeing isn't AI.
It builds trust that I went outthere anyway to put their mind
at ease.
For me that's what's worked bestand it has been challenging
over.
It's not like I've been in thisbusiness 40 years, but in the
(09:36):
years that I have been workingin this industry, working with
different types of people,different demographics.
It's definitely not aone-size-fits-all approach.
You definitely have to beadaptable and you have to be
flexible in your ways ofcoaching people and leading
people and getting everybodyunited under one objective, I
(09:58):
guess, is the best way to put it.
Brandon Mulnix (10:01):
And you've got 60 family farms that you do this
for, which is a lot ofdifferent personalities and a
lot of different dynamics thatgo into it.
How does Ag Innovations helpyou and tell me a little bit
more about them?
I hadn't heard much about themuntil I got to hear your story.
Chloe Kleinheinz (10:21):
Ag Innovations was originally founded back in
1999 by Dr John Bronkwell.
Our mission is chickens peopleplanet and we consider ourselves
to be the industry leader inanimal welfare and in
regenerative agriculture.
I have an incredible supportnetwork here of mentorship.
I've got a great sounding boardwithin leadership that if I've
(10:45):
got.
If I have any sort of problemor challenge or opportunity, I
have people that I can go to,that I know have my back and
they're behind me.
So that's been a really bighelp in this.
And then I've also been blessedto have an incredible team
working with me.
My service people are I'm alittle bit biased, but I would
(11:08):
say probably some of the best inthe business.
So it's really here at EI, itis the people.
This is one of those companiesthat when they say it's like
family, it really is like familyand that really helps.
And then I think also havingpeople here with a very high
level of knowledge and justbirds in general.
Having that technical knowledgegives me a leg up.
(11:30):
Also, if I genuinely don't know, then I have people within our
sphere that I can go to thatlikely have the answers or know
who do.
So that's how I've workedaround that.
But in terms of what we do hereat AgInnovation, so we are a
producer group, so we don't haveany in-line houses.
All of our birds have access tothe outdoors every single day.
(11:54):
So, depending on our differentproduction systems, all of our
farms have between five and 50acres that the birds have access
to across the amount of farmsthat thousands of acres of range
land that our birds arepastured on year round
throughout the US, our differentproduction systems.
So we have two five acre farmsthat are considered outside
(12:15):
access.
Really, those barns are notwhat we would.
They're not our ideal typesetup.
But one of the things I loveabout Ag Innovations is, even
though those barns are not idealto our business model, we keep
them because we're not gonnamake our growers go find another
home because they don't havethe acreage.
(12:37):
That really speaks to me aboutthe type of company that this is
in, that even though we wouldprefer for all of our firms to
be 10 acres or over.
Those growers are going to havea home with us as long as they
want a home with us, and that'sone of the things that really
drew me to this company.
And then we have what themajority of our farms are is a
(13:00):
10-acre farm, so this is goingto be free range.
So when you're looking at eggcartons, in terms of our
terminology, this is going to beyour free range bird and none
of these terms actually haveanything to do with organic.
So that's a completelydifferent set of terminology.
And then we have some 50-acrefarms, mostly in the closer to
the southeast, that are going tobe pastured farms.
(13:22):
So if you see pastured on acarton of eggs, those birds are
going to be raised on a muchlarger area of rangeland.
And then we do have a subset offarms within those different
acreages that participate inregenerative agriculture.
So those birds are rotationallygrazed on pasture throughout the
year so that we can make surethat we're doing our best to be
(13:44):
stewards of the environment,making sure that the soil is
healthy, we're not overgrazingpasture, but while doing that,
we still have areas set asidefor the birds to participate in
their natural behaviors, likedust bathing.
It's funny.
You wouldn't think a chickenwould be that destructive to a
pasture, but you put 20,000 ofthem outside and they can tear
pasture up pretty quick, lookingfor bugs and worms and finding
(14:07):
a spot to take a dust bath.
So all of our birds have theability to display their natural
behaviors every day and they'reso funny.
You can watch, especially asthe sun starts to go down, they
start jumping around and theystretch the wings and they run
around the pasture and even thebirds that choose not to go
outside.
So it is typical that a lot ofyour less dominant birds will
(14:29):
not go outside every day.
So what we do for them is weactually try to bring some of
the outside inside.
So we make sure that eveninside the house we give them
access to green forage yearround.
So we bring hay inside thebarns for them, which has
immense benefit just outside ofthe ethics of it.
(14:50):
It's one of the best tools toprevent feather pecking that
I've found.
So we really do put an emphasison creating the best life for
the bird that we possibly can.
Brandon Mulnix (15:00):
That is a lot of great information To learn more
about free range and organic itjust it warms my heart to see
these other opportunities and toknow that there's options out
there for customers that aredifferent than conventional or
cage-free Pretty exciting.
I just recently came across aNew York Times article that
(15:23):
mentions Egg Innovations andtalks about ova sexing.
What is that?
Chloe Kleinheinz (15:29):
Yeah, so just recently, egg Innovations became
the first company to publiclyannounce that we will be opting
into inovosexing, so that meansthat in the future, we will be
purchasing chicks that weresexed while they were still in
the egg.
The purpose of inovosexing is toend male culling egg.
(15:55):
The purpose of Innovo Sexing isto end male culling.
Male culling is a challengethat the egg industry has faced
and been working to eliminatefor a very long time.
Of course, this is somethingthat I don't think there's a
single egg company out therethat doesn't support, and we're
really proud to be among thefirst to take the opportunity
and go for it.
It's still a very new and veryemerging market, so there's
(16:16):
still a lot of learnings to behad and we're very excited about
it.
But the premise of it is thataround day 13 of incubation, the
technology will be able to tellwhether the embryo is male or
female, and so this willeliminate the need for culling
and maceration that day of hatch.
(16:36):
So hopefully, by us and a fewother producers taking a hold of
this early on, this will becomea much more widely available
and commercially scaled optionfor egg producers here in the US
.
Brandon Mulnix (16:50):
So you're saying this is still a relatively new
technology?
Chloe Kleinheinz (16:54):
For the US it is.
It has been around in Europefor several years, but the first
machines are just going live inthe US this fall, so we'll be
among the first to get thechance to purchase chicks from
those machines.
Brandon Mulnix (17:07):
That's pretty innovative and sustainable and
learned as I read that articleand I'll make sure I share that
article on the podcast shownotes just for our audience here
, because that is important tosee how companies like yours are
able to pivot and do thingsthat sometimes is easier to try
(17:30):
on us with 60 family farmsversus trying to do it with a
three to four million birdcomplex.
Chloe Kleinheinz (17:37):
Yeah, it's a lot easier.
Most of our all of our farmsare between 20 and 40,000 birds
per farm.
Of course, we do have a fewfarms that have more than one
house.
So 20,000 birds per flock,that's something you can pivot
and be flexible and be agilewith.
So it's a very excitingopportunity and we can't wait to
get started with it.
Brandon Mulnix (17:57):
Yeah, I can't wait to chat with you in the
future and find out how it'sgoing and to see you and your
team presenting at conferenceson the success and what you guys
have been able to accomplish.
Look forward to that.
Chloe Kleinheinz (18:10):
Yeah, absolutely.
Brandon Mulnix (18:11):
So over-sexing is a problem that you guys are
working on, but is there anyother industry problems that you
would really hope to get solvedin the future as it relates to
poultry?
Chloe Kleinheinz (18:23):
For me personally, I guess it's the
elephant in the room AI.
I came into this businessduring this unique brief hiatus
when AI kind of subsided between2015 and 2022.
And I was still getting my feetwet.
I was the low level farmsupervisor 10 employees under me
(18:46):
, really just responsible forkeeping the houses clean and
everything running day to day,and so I didn't really hear a
lot about it there in thebeginning and that's overnight
it's exploded, and so my entirelive production management
career has been full of AI andI've really never known an
(19:07):
industry without it.
And it's one of those thingsthat it's incredibly difficult
to watch this industry where wehave either mourned for our
colleagues who have gone throughthis or we've become victims of
it ourselves.
And I really believe that weare on a precipice with the
(19:33):
recent changes and developmentswith the mammalian detections,
that now is the time forresearch, now is the time to do
something about it so that thisindustry doesn't become
collateral damage.
I'm not a company owner.
I don't have the financiallyvested interest that some other
(19:54):
podcast listeners have, but thisindustry is my life and I don't
want to see it damaged anymorethis disease and I've been so
fortunate that none of mythoughts have been affected and
it's always working in an inlineenvironment.
It was always a it's always abig, heavy burden to shoulder to
(20:17):
try to make sure you're keepingthat massive flock healthy and
doing whatever you could toprevent that disease.
But it is a different animalentirely when you're working
with family producers who, yes,it's your job to keep the
disease out of the flock, butthe family that it's going to
(20:39):
affect directly If their flockgets sick for their names, their
children's names.
That's a different level ofpressure.
So for me, if I could make AIgo away with a snap of a finger,
I would For sure.
I'm glad there's people outthere that are a lot smarter
(20:59):
than me working on vaccines andresearch, because it's hard
stuff, it's scary stuff.
Brandon Mulnix (21:07):
Yeah, you mentioned the families up until
last week, hpai and for thoselisteners that are new to the
show, that are friends of familylistening, we're talking about
high path avian influenza and Ihave seen the tears of
co-workers that are grieving forour customers here in our
(21:31):
community.
We've, at Prism Controls, havebeen sheltered from HPAI.
We hear it when our customershave it and it's a state or two
away, but it's in our backyard.
In fact I know the person wherethe cattle landed in Michigan
and I personally know the farmshere in Michigan that have been
(21:55):
affected and I know theemployees that are dealing with
the AI and all of the thingsthat have to be done to secure
the farm from further virusspread and everything that they
have to go through.
And it's something that's justso hard because you can actually
look in their eyes.
It's not where, it's a stateaway and it's just a phone call
(22:19):
away and you hear it in theirvoices.
But we've had so many peoplefrom the US just reach out to us
this last week and say, hey,how are we doing?
And we're a technology companybut it does affect us.
Our original founding companywas affected and it's not
something I've ever experiencedbefore, even in the world of
being a paramedic, we talkedabout hazmat and we talked about
(22:40):
all the things that you had todo, but it was still.
Unless you experience it, youdon't truly know what it is.
And I still don't truly knowwhat it is because I haven't
been on that farm and been inthose barns.
But just seeing it in the eyesof people that we know it's so
powerful, and then to hear mywife talk about it as a nurse
that they're training for, whenthe virus changes and starts
(23:03):
spreading in humans faster andwhat that's going to do and I
don't want to do doom and gloomand the world is ending.
But these are viruses thatcontinue to mutate and change
and it was here in 2015,.
It was here before that and itjust continues to grow and
change.
But man is that tough and howis free range adapting to that?
How do you do biosecurity whenit comes to free range birds?
Chloe Kleinheinz (23:27):
Yeah, so of course you do the best that you
can, right.
So we have amped up all of ourbiosecurity protocols on all of
our farms, regardless of state.
And then, because of the waythat NPIP and some of the
biosecurity systems are set up,it's on a very state-by-state
basis.
For producer groups like us whohave farms in multiple states,
(23:51):
it's ultimately up to the statevet in each individual state to
direct what happens with outsideaccess birds.
Right now, for us, our birds inKentucky per se they're still
outside.
They're still allowed to gooutside and we would still be
indemnified if we were to catchAI, because that's the current
(24:14):
recommendation of the state vet.
However, in our other states,all of our other birds are under
an order of confinement.
So what that means is, under anorder of confinement, they're
required to be inside, and thenthere are other states that will
issue a confinementrecommendation.
They're not going to requireyou to keep birds inside, but
(24:37):
they do recommend that you keepbirds inside.
Depending on the state, it canbe a little bit of a gray area
and my position in the Divisionof Ag Innovations is to always
follow the advice of the statevet.
We're not going to go outsideof that and start to try to make
those decisions on our own.
I personally don't want thatblood on my hands.
There are people who have abunch of letters behind their
(24:58):
names for a reason and I'm notone of them for a reason
watching the detections and thatup until recently aside from,
of course, your backyard flocksthere haven't really been a
whole lot of pasture or outsideaccess detection.
It wasn't until the last fewweeks that we've really seen
(25:20):
that we're really learning justwith this, these recent changes,
what we can do a little bitdifferently to try to make our
outside access areas a littlebit more biosecure.
And we know that as thesituation with cattle and
mammals continues to change,that the recommendations may
change.
(25:40):
And it's just such a rapidlyevolving situation that hour by
hour things are changing.
For us, that's what we're doingnow and what we've been doing
for the past several months isjust following the state vet's
orders, and that has mostly beenan order of confinement.
So, on the one hand, is it whatwe prefer to do for our setup?
(26:01):
No, we would love for our birdsto go outside every day, but
unfortunately, or fortunately,this is what we can do to
protect our flock best and toprotect our other neighbors in
the poultry industry.
Brandon Mulnix (26:14):
I'm sure we could talk about HPAI for a long
time.
You're living it acrossmultiple states and even your
family farms are probably reallyin tune and worried about it.
Chloe, I can tell you'repassionate about the poultry
industry, absolutely.
What gives you that passion andthat purpose?
Chloe Kleinheinz (26:34):
For one, I really do enjoy the birds.
I really, I genuinely enjoybeing in the chicken house.
I enjoy working with my handsand, though I don't get to do
that a lot anymore at this pointin my career, the other thing
that I just I love this industry.
I love that it's small, I lovethat it's unified, I love that
(26:57):
it's collaborative and I lovethe people.
It's such a unique experienceto be in an industry where I'm
less than 10 years removed frommy undergraduate program and I
(27:17):
have a voice in the same roomwith industry leaders like JT
Dean and Bob Krause.
That is an honor, is anunderstatement.
And then, on the flip side ofthat, I have met some of the
best people through thisbusiness.
I've met my three best friendsthrough this business, two of
them as former employees and oneof the colleagues.
(27:39):
So the shout out to Arturo,bernice and Blake.
But it's really the people inthe community that this industry
provides that, not to bring AIback up, but that, even though
we're competitors when tragedystrikes.
This is one of the fewindustries that I really feel
stands together in solidarityrather than just looking for
(28:02):
that next bit of business, andthat's the type of industry I
want to be a part of.
Brandon Mulnix (28:08):
It gives you hope when you see farms work
with each other, the farms inIowa reaching out to the farms
in Michigan and saying, hey,this is what we've learned
through all of our experienceswith AI.
There's something that happenson the farm, farms, there's a
tragedy, people reach out, it'sa family and, yeah, even if
(28:32):
you're the obnoxious cousin,most of the time when something
happens, they they're there foryou they look past the woes of
the past and still are there foryou, and that is definitely
something cool that I'm glad youbrought up about our industry,
because it is our industry.
Chloe Kleinheinz (28:54):
That is awesome.
Brandon Mulnix (28:55):
As a young leader in the industry, what
resources have you utilized togrow and develop?
Chloe Kleinheinz (29:01):
It's really changed over the years.
Early on, I ate up every videorecording of every seminar,
everything I could find onYouTube.
I've read the textbook, andrecently it's turned into
podcasts.
I discovered the NutritionBlack Belt, the Poultry Podcast,
the Poultry Leadership Podcast,and my current role.
(29:24):
I do a lot of driving, I do alot of road time, and so it's
given me the opportunity to justto sit and absorb, and so over
the last six or eight months,it's really been these podcasts
and then within the workplace, Ihave been so blessed to have
had a couple incredible mentorsJason Wallace with Country Charm
(29:48):
Eggs, which is now part of MPS,and Brian Klepke, our COO here
at Ag Innovation.
The level of mentorship thatthey have provided has been
second to none, and I creditthem for my development as a
leader more than anything else,for my development as a leader
(30:13):
more than anything else.
And then the organizations thatI have had the opportunity to
work with.
I started out at Country CharmEggs and, though I wasn't, I had
no experience in this industryat the time, and so I didn't
really understand the gravity.
But I worked for Brent Bookerand at the time, though I didn't
really understand who he was,in the scheme of the industry?
Now I do, and so even now, ifI'm faced with a decision I need
(30:36):
to make for something I'llthink about, would this choice
make Brent proud?
And though I don't always makethe right choice, working for
individuals like him that Irespect so much, I think all of
those things combined havereally allowed me to develop as
a leader and grow professionallyas much as I have in such a
(31:00):
short time.
Brandon Mulnix (31:01):
The industry is not shy of great leaders.
Chloe Kleinheinz (31:05):
No, it's not.
Brandon Mulnix (31:06):
I have found so many of them willing to talk,
willing to chat, willing toshare their story not
necessarily on a podcast, butthey will share their story
one-on-one and there's so manygreat people to look up to, and
you've mentioned a few reallygood folks in your shout outs
there and I'm sure they'llappreciate that, knowing just
(31:27):
the leader that you're turninginto.
All great leaders overcomechallenges and I'm not
necessarily calling you greatyet.
You've got a career ahead ofyou.
Greatness always comes on theend of, basically in retrospect,
but all leaders overcomechallenges Along your journey.
What challenge have youovercome in your life and how
(31:49):
did you learn from it?
Chloe Kleinheinz (31:51):
Yeah, just on the flip side of having that
great mentorship, there havebeen periods where I haven't had
mentorship, and I think that'sbeen.
The biggest challenge I've hadto overcome is during those
voids, those periods where I wasthe mentor.
Those voids, those periods whereI was the mentor, trying to
find the tools to be the mentor,especially to people who are
(32:18):
sometimes twice my age, who havea lot more life experience than
I do and a lot moreprofessional experience than I
do, yet I'm charged withcoaching them.
That's been a huge challenge andfor me, what's worked is just
looking to my past andresourcing different sounding
boards whether that has been atone time hiring a professional
coach or reading tons and tonsof professional development
(32:42):
books and then learning to leaddifferent types of teams.
When in my first leadershiprole, I was lost to a great team
and I got into a rhythm andpeople talk about developing
their management style and whenI moved into my next role,
attempting to implement that Irealized was not going to work.
(33:02):
The team was so totallydifferent, the personalities
were so completely different,the personalities were so
completely different.
And then there's the dynamic ofgoing from leading hourly
personnel, like production levelpersonnel, to leading other
leaders was a huge challenge,and that's one that I am still
(33:23):
working through, something I'mstill learning and growing into,
for sure.
Brandon Mulnix (33:28):
You're a person that sounds like you're very
motivated and you plan thingsout a little bit too in your
life and you set goals.
What is one of those goals thatyou've set for yourself that
you're hoping to overcome in thenext few years?
Chloe Kleinheinz (33:44):
Yeah, so I've had the incredible opportunity,
just for the first time thisyear, to be on a UEP committee
which is just I feel like I'mliving a dream, but growing into
my voice and not being afraidto use my voice for good.
I think I spoke up once duringour meetings in January and I
(34:05):
referred to myself as the peonin the back.
Meetings in January and Ireferred to myself as the peon
in the back.
It's growing into that, notbeing afraid to talk just
because I'm not one of thelegacy families in the room, I'm
not an owner of one of thelarge egg companies.
Still, feeling like my voicehas a place in that room is
probably my biggest goal forright now.
I'm lucky that I'm in a placein my career where I'm very
(34:28):
happy.
So for me, my goals are just tocontinue to develop
professionally, continue to peelback the layers of being a
leader and develop thosedifferent management skills, and
using my voice is probably thebiggest part that I feel like I
have some opportunities in.
Brandon Mulnix (34:49):
Audience if you don't hear her voice on this
podcast and recognize the factthat in a few years she's going
to be leading this industry insome way.
She's going to, and it doesn'thave to be by title, it doesn't
have to be by position, butshe's making a difference just
by sharing her story with you,for the industry, and I look
(35:13):
forward to watching her growthand watching her develop as a
mentor, watching her be okay,asking the quote, quote, as I
call it, dumb question in theroom, when it's probably the
question that everybody wantsasked but everybody's too afraid
to ask.
And Chloe's going to be the oneasking that question because
(35:36):
that's what's going to lead tochange and I appreciate your
vulnerability and recognizingthat that's really cool.
As we wrap things up, any lastadvice that you would have for
anybody getting into the eggindustry?
Chloe Kleinheinz (35:51):
Gosh.
Brian, my current coach, isprobably going to completely
roll his eyes at me if he hearsthis, because I know a lot of
it's going to probably behypocritical.
It is advice that I try to liveby the best that I can.
The biggest thing is it'salways OK to say no or not.
Right now it's really easy as ayoung leader to try to take on
(36:15):
every opportunity presented toyou and you can become
overwhelmed and burnout veryquickly and you'll end up not
enjoying what you're doing.
And those early years,especially as a low to mid-level
manager, cherish those years.
They're fun.
Don't take on so much thatthey're no longer enjoyable.
(36:39):
And then the second part is andI'm just throwing numbers out
there but if you're 26, stoptrying to be 56.
It's okay to not knoweverything.
You're not expected to knoweverything.
It's okay to say I don't know.
It's okay to ask the dumbquestion.
(37:02):
No one expects you to have theknowledge of somebody that's
been in this business for 30years.
And if they do, then I guessthat's a different.
That's a different conversation.
But it's okay to be young andit's okay to learn.
We always have the right to getsmarter and then always, just
(37:22):
never be afraid to work.
It was less than a year ago.
I was waist deep in a floodedpit pumping out water.
Don't be afraid to get yourhands dirty.
Being willing to do that willget you further than a tidal
lever will, and you will learnmore from the folks under you.
(37:42):
You will learn more from themthan you will from the people
over you any day of the week.
I've learned more from healthcaretakers, truck drivers,
people who have been doing theirjobs for 30 years than I have
anyone else in this business.
Treat them with respect andthey are a wealth of knowledge.
(38:04):
No one knows their job betterthan they do.
Those are probably the bestpieces of advice I've ever been
given coming into this business,and I know.
The parts about being willingjust to say no or not right now
and not feeling like you got toknow everything are probably
hypocritical coming from me, butI think they're good pieces of
(38:25):
advice and good things to try tolook by.
Brandon Mulnix (38:29):
Chloe, that's great advice.
You're giving credit to othersthat have gone before, and our
responsibility is one to findour passion, and then the other
is to share that passion withothers, and that's a quote
someone shared with me this week.
Chloe, I want to say thank youfor sharing your story to the
(38:52):
Poultry Leadership Podcastaudience, and this show wouldn't
be possible without people likeyou as listeners.
I really appreciate youreaching out to me and sharing
your journey so that way, wecould then share and make this
podcast continue to grow andcontinue to evolve to help
(39:13):
leaders like yourself.
So thank you very much.
Chloe Kleinheinz (39:16):
Yeah, absolutely.
Thank you so much for having me, Brandon.
Brandon Mulnix (39:19):
Listeners, this podcast would not be possible
without our sponsor, PrismControls.
You've heard it weekend andweek out that Prism Controls is
a great company.
I'm pretty pretty fond of itmyself, but I want you to go to
our website, prismcontrolscomand just to learn more about us.
We were hatched in thisindustry.
(39:41):
Every one of us just loves thisindustry.
Check out our website, checkout our products and don't
hesitate to reach out to us andtell us what you want to see
from your controls.
We're there to help support anddevelop the new technology for
the industry.
Please, like I say every week,like this podcast.
Like it on iTunes and Spotifyand iHeartRadio, Wherever you're
(40:05):
going to find this.
Please like it.
Share a rating, because that'show this podcast gets found by
the Chloe's of the industry orthe John's of the industry the
folks that are looking to grow,and by just simply taking the
time and putting a five-starrating, it really does help this
podcast get found.
(40:25):
Share this with others and, asalways, I really do appreciate
you listeners.
You are the reason I do thispodcast get found.
Share this with others and, asalways, I really do appreciate
you listeners.
You are the reason I do thispodcast.
So thank you from the PoultryLeadership Podcast.
Have a great day.
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