The management of large dairy herds in the United States by.Izak Van Heerden (Farmers Club Charitable Trust Award 2007) The reasoning behind the investigation was that in my opinion, one way for farmers to secure their place in dairying and maximize the potential of current positive trend is expansion. With the rapid world population growth, economies like China’s and India’s strengthening and thus demanding more luxury foods, together with climate change and the influence it has had on countries like Australia’s milk production, there has never been a better time for the British Dairy farmer to expand and capitalize on these long term effects. The opportunity was truly a once in a lifetime chance, which took me to New York state, Wisconsin and California, a total of sixteen farms, looking at Black and Whites, Jerseys and Brown Swiss, on farms ranging from 160 to 8000 cows under a variety of systems, furthermore I managed to visit five technical colleges specialising in dairy (Modesto JC had 800 dairy students), and the most renowned Universities that specialise in Dairy: Cornell, Penstate, Wisconsin Uni. and CalPoly meeting such famous names as Drs. Michael O’Conner, Larry Muller, Leanne Berning, Larry Chase and others. Now is the time to make sure your next generation will still be milking cows when the wheel turns again. Without being negative in the current climate, but even if the good milk prices last for some time, due to the harsh deal that farmers has had in the past they are still under threat of survival and now is the time to make up some of the deficit they had to incur. So what can we learn? The main points of interest and ideas, we in British Dairy farming can draw from is summarized in the following paragraphs, some of these points will need a mindset change from farmers and their herdsmen and other employees in the industry. I do not expect that all these suggestions will be widely embraced, but I have seen it work on a great many farms on the other side of the pond, and if adapted to personal circumstance it could be greatly beneficial, and you don’t need to be optimistic to the point of annoyance, just a good positive attitude will do . Expansion: Although this seem increasingly more difficult with more rigorous regulations on Nutrient Management, but nutrient regulations is a reality for the United States as well and not an insurmountable problem. The perception (starting with the wording) should change from Slurry management to Nutrient Management. Dairy farmers MUST know the nutrient values of their slurry and for bigger operations they might have to invest capital in order to make their manure more manageable for application in the wetter seasons or in order for the nutrients (whether it be dried manure or compost) to travel to neighboring farms to be spread as fertilizer, at pre-agreed cost according to the nutrient value of the manure. . Expansion contrary to popular belief does not only make the running of the operation more economical but also eases the life of management and employees alike and will increase the health status of the herd and thus yield and profitability. This is only
achieved with good planning, the right scale of expansion and a definite timeframe to work too. By expansion I do not mean milking more cows through the same parlour with the same number of staff housed in the same housing at a tighter squeeze. Expansion is a well planned (always costly) project, and yes optimizing the current infrastructure is essential but if it come at the cost of herd health, whether through severe overcrowding, too many cows for staff to cope with, or moving your young stock into unsuitable buildings, it will cost you dearly in the long run Decide where you want to be going, plan how to get there, and take the step, work hard and fast to get there, DON’T try and creep up. So what aids can we use to achieve this and make the process as smooth as possible: Working in partnership: Firstly with other farmers: The main idea that came as a great inspiration from our Yank cousins is their willingness and ability to work in partnership with other farmers. Whether it is with arable neighbours to get them to take (and pay them for) their manure, and guarantee a supply of feedstuffs, even with the great lure of bio-fuels. Otherwise with other bigger operations, to draw from their knowledge and in a lot of cases go into partnership in order to gain the security for capital investment needed for expansion. Yes, that is a large dairy “adopting” a smaller farm, investing in that farm, farmer and his family, or two or more small farms getting together and pulling resources. That is with capital, advice, technical help, shared equipment, of course with a benefit both ways but the emphasis is on mutual benefits. Secondly with employees: This was probably the main point that struck me about the positive mentality about farmers in the States, they put tremendous importance in the welfare and future of their workers, and expect and do get the returns; Spanish satellite television and health care insurance for them and their families for the Hispanic work force. This together with explaining and showing the employees the bigger picture, even though specializing in a certain area, ensure that employees take ownership and pride in their area of the enterprise. More about this later. But especially so in their main Herdspersons, to the point where (and this is common practice) the herdspersons will receive shares in the business after 3-5 years loyalty. This is a saving for the farmer in wages, but more important give the employee a vested interest in the overall welfare of the farm, a sense of security. From my interviews amongst large herd farmers in the UK, there was only one farmer who would contemplate such a notion. The ultimate example of both a combination of both these modules described above is illustrated by Scipio Springs Dairy in the Finger Lakes area of New York state- Jon Gilbert and Bill Morgan met while working together at another dairy. In 2002, they left their jobs at that dairy, selling their shares back to the farm and started their own dairy, Scipio Springs by calving in 500 purchased heifers. Today Scipio Springs Dairy milks 750 cows, all this on only 40 odd acres owned, with about 880 acres leased on a long term contract with neighbours to supply them with their feeds. As an interesting aside, both Jon & Bill are quick to point out that neither one of them grew up on a dairy farm. Imagine two Townies owning a 750 cow herd by their forties from just milking cows. Interesting thought…… 2
Checks and balances Another striking feature is that any farmer could (and did) tell you at any point the exact figures, how much they were buying their straight for, what they were getting per litre, how many cases of metritis etc. On most farms the tracking of goals is important and lets all the employees see at any time where they are standing in relation to those goals. Every 6 months they have a meeting that all employees and heifer growers attend. They track stillborn rate, hutch mortality rate, ketosis and displaced abomasum rate, fresh cow cull rate and heat detection rate. The chart (see example) gives a brief explanation of each parameter and explains how the number is affected by each employee’s actions, in English and Spanish. Herd Managers, believes that this method gives everyone a sense of teamwork. In the words of Jen Minde the Herd Manger at Scipio Springs “It may be hard for an employee to understand that everything we do has a ripple effect on some other aspect of the dairy. When you take the time to explain that something that can seem as menial as dipping a calf ’s navel or getting colostrum into a calf soon after birth affects the health of the calf not only at the grower, but also the quality of adult animals coming back to us, it helps everyone understand the big picture and how they are a part of it.”
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The next generation I hope that the contacts made will allow opportunity for student exchanges and work placements. And already there is something in the pipeline with technical colleges in Wisconsin specialising in Dairy, in the form of possible “conference lectures�, where myself at Plumpton College and colleges from Wisconsin and possibly Canada all come online and have shared lectures on a pre-decided topic. If this can be made to work I believe it will be extremely beneficial and inspiring for our students.
I have had the opportunity of a lifetime through the Farmers Club Bursary, the people I met and contacts I made is proving a great inspiration, I hope that from this report farmers might pick up some useful new ideas or be re-inspired about dairy farming (though the milkprice has done more than any motivational speaker ever could in that respect), I know I have been reinvigorated by the positive outlook of the US farmers and hope I can transfer that to the students that cross my path.
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