Learning in this New Era

By Jenny Hanson, Communications Manager, GENEX

Since 1995, you’ve routinely received the Dairy Horizons magazine in your mailbox. The magazine has been a valuable source of cooperative membership news, sire information and herd management strategies for the past two and a half decades.

Times are Changing, and GENEX is too.

Cooperatives – and businesses of any type – adapt and change over time. Technology, economics, member and customer needs, new research and more lead to changes and advancements. While change is often difficult, there’s also a lot to be gained. And so, this is the last printed issue of Horizons to grace your mailbox. This change, however, is a sign of progress as there are new and exciting ways for you to learn, improve your herd management skills and stay up to date on your co-op.

Cars and Cows

In that very first issue of Horizons was an article by Dr. Robert Bower. His points from 1995 are perhaps more applicable today than they were then. Here’s how the story went:

“I bought my first car in the mid-50s. The car, a 1931 Ford Model A coupe, was older than I was, but it ran and was cheap. Driving with the wind, it would go over 50 miles per hour, although you’d be reluctant to go too fast as its mechanical brakes had only a small influence in slowing you down. There was no fuel pump; the gas was delivered to the four-cylinder engine by gravity.

Maintenance was a poor man’s dream. A screwdriver, pliers and crescent wrench were the only tools needed for common repairs. I remember resolving a carburetor problem by replacing the old one with a rebuilt one bought from Montgomery Ward for $3.75.

Contrast that old Model A with a contemporary automobile, such as the Ford Taurus SHO. The SHO will go twice as fast as you can legally drive anywhere in North America, has electronic fuel injection, antilock brakes, climate control and other engineering marvels not even dreamed about when the Model A was built.

While even a child could identify both the Model A and the SHO as ‘cars,’ no one with even modest experience would fail to recognize the functional differences.

The dairy cow has undergone similar changes over the decades. We can easily identify cows of past years as cows but also need to recognize the dairy cow of today is quite a different beast. The productive capability of dairy cows today is significantly higher. As a result, today’s cows require more sophisticated management to realize their performance potential. We cannot expect to get it done with ‘screwdriver and pliers’ skills.

There are two ways you can develop your management skills to optimize performance of your high potential cows. They are to 1) never stop learning and 2) rely on specialists.”

Never Stop Learning

Cars have changed, cows have changed and where you get your information is changing. You’ve increased your knowledge and skills while reading the printed Horizons magazine for decades. In the decades to come, GENEX will provide you with new ways to learn. After all, education, training and information are among the core principles and practices of a cooperative business.

One new educational opportunity is through dairylearning.com, the progressive dairy knowledge hub featured on the back cover of this Horizons. Through this hub, you and your employees can enroll in online courses about reproduction, understanding dairy proofs, newborn calves and colostrum, DairyComp and more. Courses are also available in Spanish at spanish.dairylearning.com.

The journal on the GENEX website (www.genex.coop) features cooperative news and herd management articles. It’s a great source of information easily sortable by topic. Many of these articles are shared on social media as well, so follow GENEX on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or YouTube to keep your learning curve on the up and up.

Count on GENEX to provide educational and sire highlights delivered directly to your email inbox monthly. Visit the GENEX website and sign up to receive the GENEX Holstein or Jersey e-newsletters.

The GENEX Dairy Bull Search app is the talk of the industry, enabling you to sort and compare sires at the touch of a finger. In the future, as more features are released, the knowledge and value delivered through this technology will only increase.

Download the GENEX Dairy Bull Search App on your Apple, Android or Windows device.

Cooperative involvement and events can be the ultimate source for knowledge and networking. Annually, all GENEX members are invited to a local member appreciation event. The events usually feature great food, educational presentations and time for networking with your fellow members and the local GENEX team.

Nominating yourself for co-op involvement as a GENEX delegate means further opportunity for personal growth. Delegates attend a fall input meeting and the annual meeting. GENEX delegate Aimee Moehring, of Wisconsin, shares her viewpoint on this co-opportunity, “Delegate meetings keep me up to date on what is happening in the cooperative and where GENEX is heading. I enjoy giving opinions on issues facing the co-op and the industry. The annual meeting has enabled me to make connections with producers from across the USA. I love hearing how their operations work. Beef, dairy, large, small, registered, grade – all aspects are represented.”

Rely on Specialists

As Dr. Bower cited in his article, “No matter how dedicated a learner you may be, you need to rely on specialists for specific management inputs. Use of specialists is a way to leverage your management time and skills. They bring a depth of knowledge and skill that is the result of a full-time commitment to their field of expertise.”

Put another way, your connections make you stronger. Just as GENEX representatives have done for years, they deliver value to your operation. Working with your local GENEX reproduction specialist, consultant or A.I. trainer means new ideas, expertise and perspectives are brought to your operation. These well-educated and knowledgeable professionals are serving you – the co-op’s members and customers – to deliver solutions that help you meet your goals.

While this may be the last issue of Dairy Horizons delivered to your mailbox, count on GENEX to continue helping you develop the management skills needed to optimize herd performance. Utilize the new and exciting educational opportunities to improve your herd management skills and stay up to date. Count on GENEX to help you never stop learning and provide you with knowledgeable, friendly and dependable specialists.

Read the Virtual Horizons!

Find future issues of the digital Horizons magazine online at issuu.com/genexcooperative, shared on GENEX social media or through the GENEX website at www.genex.coop!

While no longer being printed, continue to find the GENEX Horizons available online!