Top tips for on-farm wellbeing

WORDS BY ANITA BODY

SUCCESSFUL ON-FARM WELLBEING CAN BE TRICKY TO ALWAYS GET RIGHT GIVEN STAFF DIVERSITY AND THE NATURE OF FARMING, BUT DUNSANDEL DAIRY FARMER DANA CARVER BELIEVES THERE ARE THREE MAIN AREAS WHERE POSITIVE DIFFERENCES CAN BE ACHIEVED—HOUSING, ROSTERS AND FOOD.

Dana and Tony Coltman are equity partners in Canlac Holdings and farm 800 effective hectares with three platforms (two 50 bale and one 60 bale rotaries) and a herd of 3,300 cows. The pair also won the 2020 Canterbury Ballance Farm Environment Supreme Award. With a background in personal development, human resources and wellbeing, Dana plays an active part in these aspects of the farming operation. “It’s really hard to consider everyone’s wellbeing and get it right. We all know wellbeing matters but farming doesn’t make it easy with its early morning starts and weekend work. We try and mitigate this where we can, but with 12–16 staff from 8 different countries, speaking six different languages, it can be difficult to meet all of their needs.” One area of wellbeing which is proving successful is making sure staff have good housing. “Staff need to be well rested and warm. We have found that they don’t always want to share their homes with the people they work with, so we are trying to work towards solutions but it is slow progress,” she said. Where possible, new builds have been constructed to meet these needs, and as time and budget allow, existing premises have been converted to accommodate one or two staff members instead of larger homes where multiple staff shared accommodation. Another important step towards improved wellbeing has been modifying rosters. “When we started here, it was 11 and three (11 days on and three days off). Over time we have worked on these and now we have seasonal rosters—five and two in the winter, six and two during calving and seven and two for the rest of the year.” While acknowledging the rosters can’t be the same all year round, having seasonal rosters can certainly help provide much needed down time on a more regular basis. In addition to the main or macro roster, Dana said they also work a micro roster which sees staff share early starts and milking rosters so everyone gets a sleep-in from time to time. “It means no one person has all of the early starts or a particular milking roster.” Food is another vital component to successful wellbeing and Dana said they try and ensure everyone is well fed, especially during calving time. Some years this has seen one hot meal provided each day or a steady supply of fresh fruit and muesli bars. “It’s not always easy to find someone on-farm to cook, but it certainly adds value.” In addition to these three top tips, Canlac also ensures its staff take part in team building exercises prior to calving. It is a great way for the staff to understand each other and appreciate their differences. “We use the bird personality test to show the differences between us and it helps to understand that you can’t expect everyone to be the same.” As a result of the personality profiling, the team start to use the same language and can identify the different personality categories within their team, whether it be dove, owl, peacock or eagle. This team building time is also a great way to revisit current health and safety practices, Dana Caver with staff having the chance to match a selection of on-farm risks and mitigations and to also identify and make decisions on what could or should be done differently. The previous year’s results are compared so the team can see progress and ensure all identified issues have been addressed. On a lighter note, there is also an ‘Amazing Race’ type event with clues and tasks, such as pricing on-farm goods and supplies. Dana said this is always successful and has the added bonus of staff gaining further understanding and perspective about farm expenditure. Prizes are made up of sponsored and branded goods collected on-farm throughout the year and then shared amongst the staff at the conclusion of this event.