Owners and managers should have a job description, and there are differences in what should be in that job description. The first item should be putting a title on your job and getting key elements included in the description. For many dairy operators, this may involve making a significant attitude change in their thinking. Most consider themselves “farmers.” Historically, farmers think of themselves as “doers.” Farmers do things. The change needs to include the idea that farmers also manage.
Most dairy farmers are in the business because they like cows. There is another important aspect that needs to move up the priority ladder, though, and that is managing the business. A manager is responsible for the health of the business, and for generating wealth to sustain the business. Those management tasks cannot afford to be put off to the end of the day or when time happens to come along. Management time needs to be given a high priority and become part of the work routine.
Dairy farms have a significant investment in cattle and facilities. They also have a tremendous production capacity in the value of milk produced. Managing cannot be done by the “seat of your pants” anymore. Management needs to be a deliberate part of the owner or manager’s daily routine.
The trouble comes when the owner thinks he or she has to spend the entire day doing physical work on the farm to show value to the farm. New Zealand dairyman, Owen Grieg, made the following statement, “Not feeling guilty when you are not doing physical farm work is a hard skill to learn.”
Management tasks are important to the health and wealth of the farm. They are as important as physical work. If sufficient, quality time is not devoted to management, decisions are more likely made because they are quick, not because they are the right decisions.
Others involved in the farm also need to realize the value of the right person having time to manage. If others do not see the value of the manager spending time maintaining and analyzing records, visiting with consultants or attending industry seminars, they may become critical of the manager who appears in their minds to be slacking off and not holding up his or her end of the business.
Take time to list the necessary tasks on the farm only you can perform as the owner or manager. Consider such tasks as working with lenders, marketing, purchasing, dealing with regulatory agencies, planning for routine maintenance as well as major improvements or expansions, visiting with nutritionists and veterinarians for health management, hiring employees, staff meetings, performance evaluations, attending seminars and workshops, training other staff and endless other tasks. Larger farms may distribute some of the duties among other partners or even key employees.
All of those tasks are important to the success of a dairy farm and not one of them relates directly to working with a cow. That is not to say owners and managers shouldn’t work with cattle, but it points out that there are many important tasks that need to be done to support the farm having cattle.
Once you have completed that management list for your job description, share it with others on the farm. They need to know the important tasks you perform for the farm, even when they don’t see you in the barn working side by side with them.
If you look at the list and think, “I don’t have time for all that,” maybe you need to look at the workload on your farm and determine how to better balance the load and the labor supply. Hiring labor is never an easy decision, but it might be a good investment, freeing up the owner or manager to do a better job of managing. The gains on the farm by devoting adequate and quality time to management may well pay more than the cost of the hired labor.
What’s in your job description? Take a look. Update it. Then follow it to make your dairy business more successful. PD
—From University of Minnesota Dairy Extension website
