How one California dairy transformed its workforce, its SCC levels and its bottom line.
How do you normally respond to a milk quality challenge on your dairy? By retraining milkers? Changing procedures? Changing teat dip or mastitis treatment? These might be good temporary fixes, but they often aren’t a solution to the problem. Real, lasting change comes from an engaged workforce motivated to execute protocols consistently.
That’s exactly what happened when I worked with a dairy in California. The manager participated in the PeopleFirst™ Supervisory Certificate program. Before implementing a successful management approach on their farm, managers constantly struggled with the common issues of employee engagement and effectiveness.
Meanwhile, the dairy was stuck in mediocrity with somatic cell counts over 300,000. With smart investments into workplace culture and better delegation and management strategies, they were able to transform their team into one that was more engaged and worked well together. The results: reducing somatic cell counts, decreasing clinical mastitis by 25%, increasing milk production and quality, as well as saving a projected $236,220* in mastitis costs.1,2
They did it by:
• Raising their standards
• Changing the culture of the entire operation
• Modifying how tasks are completed at every level
• Completing a successful manager training program
For employees, the difference was noticeable. Not only did each employee improve, but so did teamwork, which made positive changes possible for the dairy. Through improved engagement and morale, delegation of job responsibilities, empowerment and accountability, milk quality improved for the dairy. This team’s effectiveness was developed by:
• Retraining workers
• Understanding protocols and the value of adherence
• Improving communication
• Encouraging respectful and calm interaction
• Implementing new standard operating procedures, most notably clinical mastitis treatment protocols
From my experiences working with dairies, I’ve learned substantial positive changes come from establishing sound procedures and having a team dedicated to ensuring procedures are carried out properly. These ingredients are essential for success.
When you have a problem on your dairy, the signs aren’t always obvious, and neither is the solution. Each challenge should be evaluated as an opportunity to assess both the people as well as the practices in place to find the true root of the problem. The key to success for any business is having engaged employees who understand how their work makes a difference.
Employees need a leader who builds trust with them, sets S.M.A.R.T. (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely) goals with them, communicates often and gives feedback, keeps them accountable to their goals and recognizes contributions. Make management and manager training important on your dairy so you don’t end up stuck in mediocrity.
Jorge Estrada is an organizational development consultant and executive coach for PeopleFirst™ from Zoetis. He works with dairy producers to meet their human resources, training, development and leadership needs. PeopleFirst is the industry’s first comprehensive human capital and business management solutions program. These services were created in direct response to challenges customers expressed with managing today’s complex agricultural businesses. For more ways to help develop your employees, contact Jorge at Jorge.Estrada@GrowPeopleFirst.com or visit GrowPeopleFirst.com.
*Costs are based on a conservative cost estimate that every clinical mastitis case costs a dairy about $155 on average (a conservative estimate only accounting for loss in milk yield, treatment costs and mortality; other economic factors such as milk quality and culling rates are not included).2
1 Data on file, Study Report No. 13ORSERV03, Zoetis Inc.
2 Cha E, Bar D, Hertl JA, et al. The cost and management of different types of clinical mastitis in dairy cows estimated by dynamic programming. J Dairy Sci 2011;94:4476-4487.
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