Word of Mouth is how Aurelius Morris heard about an available position at White Oak Pastures. The specific opportunity was in the poultry processing department, a field in which he had prior experience. But even though Aurelius had experience with chickens, he describes White Oak Pastures as “educational”. There is a world of information to learn here at White Oak Pastures. A farm raising animals in the most humane manner while continually acquiring new land to regenerate, all the while adhering to our no-waste tenet has an extensive amount of diverse information that our employees need to know. It sounds as if Aurelius is interested. Proud of earning the title of Employee Of The Month, Aurelius may have received this honor not only for his work performance but perhaps because he enjoys the comradery and teamwork between his coworkers. He is definitely a “people person”. It takes a team player to recognize and appreciate that quality in others and that is exactly who Aurelius is.
Even though Aurelius’ favorite duty is hanging up the chickens, it is the biggest challenge. There are a certain number of chickens that have to be hung and it has to be done very quickly. On the day we process chickens, our plant processes one thousand of them. Other days are designated for processing ducks, guineas, geese, and turkeys; however, these species are not processed in such large quantities. While one thousand birds in one day sounds like a lot of birds, industrial companies process hundreds of thousands of birds every day. When the holidays roll around, we do process turkeys more than one day a week. That is quite a rush and Aurelius states “The funniest thing I’ve ever seen on the farm is someone running to catch a chicken.” It happens and they are fast!
If Aurelius could trade roles with someone for a day, he would like to trade places with Cedric Jones. We are committed to the well being of our animals and we honor that commitment by treating our animals with dignity and respect from the day they are born until the day they are slaughtered. Cedric is responsible for administering a captive bolt to the head of the cattle which render the animals senseless to prevent suffering. This procedure is performed by hand, one cow at a time and the process is taken very seriously.
Aurelius describes his family as “hard workers and fun to be around”. That comes as no surprise as Aurelius is certainly a hard worker and does his job well, but he is going to try and make others laugh and enjoy their day! I wasn't in the chicken plant five minutes before he had me laughing! While the weather is the worst part of South Georgia in Aurelius’ opinion, he won’t let that stop him from working out, which is his hobby. He is a hard worker with a sense of humor which are two reasons why he fits in so well at White Oak Pastures!
