Employee Spotlight - Dr. Alex Strauch

Dr. Alex, Alex or one of the Chicken Whisperers…..however you refer to him if you work with the hens, visit one of our facilities, or have attended one of our Organic seminars you may have met or heard from him. But what do we know about him and why he chose to join the Herbruck’s family nearly 4 years ago? Besides his passion for our birds, biosecurity, and making sure things are done right most of us only get to glimpse that side of him (and the annual Christmas suit of course!)

Like most of us, Alex was a big fan of eggs and consumed them daily with scrambled being his favorite recipe. What a better way to say “thank you” to the animal that has given so much to him and his family than to become a chicken doctor!

None of us would have met Alex had it not been for that fateful field trip during Veterinary School at Michigan State University. On that trip, he had a chance to validate the recommendations, meet his future mentor and understand how he could leverage his medical and scientific skills to create the largest impact possible on animals, the environment, and our food supply as possible.

What lay ahead for Dr. Alex, as our first staff veterinarian, after graduation was how to apply his education and passion to the roughly 8 million patients, producing nearly 2.7 billion eggs annually, while driving continuous improvement that is at the heart and soul of Herbruck’s.

While his job description is the Veterinarian & Biosecurity Manager for all HPR laying hen farms in Michigan & Indiana, this does not accurately describe what he and the rest of the team do to care for our hens. While continually working to ensure that our hens get the best care while maximizing production, they are also working to bring that expertise into the new cage-free settings that will soon become the new standard in the industry.

Besides being loved and appreciated by his supervisor and team, the most satisfying part of his career is being able to see daily results with steadily improving performance, and the knowledge that it will only continue to get better. When the opportunity to educate other team members to arise, he jumps in and guides them. But when he sees that new knowledge used it not only makes his day but reaffirms his career choice.

What Alex won’t tell you are some of the things that he does while not at work. Ever notice the occasional cuts, bruises, and general signs of a bad day or sheer clumsiness? Those would be from Rugby. The look of satisfaction on a Monday? That would either be from his working a pet clinic for the disadvantaged that weekend, or from serenading the cows with his violin. Of course, it also could be from visiting his mother and being able to tell her that he is doing the right thing, for the right reason while doing the work he was born to do, all of this not possible without her support along the way.

What could be a better way to show your Mother how you feel about her? Make her breakfast, of course, scrambled eggs would be my guess.

….Meet Dr. Alex Strauch