On a winter day at an Ontario dairy, a vet arrived to perform a regular herd health visit. He noted that the farm had ordered more medication than usual and asked why. The dairy manager checked the farm’s records and found an increase in metritis cases among fresh cows. What had caused this?
After discussing the issue with the team, they discovered that the water for the cows had not been cleaned regularly due to construction, making access difficult. This led to dirty water, reducing the cows' water consumption, which in turn decreased their eating time. The activity monitors confirmed this drop. The cows' weakened immune systems led to more retained placentas after calving, necessitating more medication.
They soon realized no one felt responsible for cleaning the water troughs, nor did staff understand the task's importance. The process had not been written down, assigned and tracked, or adapted to the current situation.
On a Canadian dairy farm, protocols are too often tucked away in a farmer’s mind or in a dusty binder, typed up and then forgotten. We don’t always consider how responsive, flexible, well-communicated protocols help to prevent big problems. They can also support more profits, better animal health or simply streamline operations. Here are 10 easy ways to make your protocols work for you.
1. Regularly review and update protocols
In collaboration with your veterinarian, nutritionist and key staff, review your protocols annually to ensure they still make sense for your dairy. Protocols should evolve based on current conditions and insights, allowing for options based on changing conditions, incidences of disease, or the needs of a specific animal, ages and stages. Digitally tracking your protocol adherence makes it easier to measure the effectiveness of different choices, making your operation more cost-effective and resilient.
2. Establish and track preventative protocols
Preventative protocols, like cleaning out water troughs and equipment maintenance, are crucial – not just for detailing how the job is done, but also for scheduling and tracking. In keeping with the old adage, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure," tools that help schedule and complete tasks, provide reminders and report on missed deadlines are helpful in any business.
3. Never blindly copy a protocol
Tailor your protocols to your farm's specific needs. For example, navel dips might not be necessary if you have clean, generous straw in your calving pens and calf hutches. Similarly, dry-off treatments might be unnecessary if you don’t have issues with new infections during the dry period. Understanding your unique issues allows you to create a custom plan that makes sense for your farm, potentially saving you time and money while achieving superior outcomes.
4. Perform a cost-benefit analysis
Always weigh the cost of a problem against the cost of its solution. For example, when evaluating your dry-off treatment protocol, consider the cost of dry treatment drugs, the time involved, and the effectiveness and skill level of your staff in comparison to the cost of the disease. Some protocols, like vaccinations, have long-term impacts that are hard to quantify, so include both long-term and short-term costs and consequences.
5. Engage your staff in the process
Involve your staff in developing protocols to foster buy-in and take their insights into account. Being on the front lines, they might suggest ways of doing things that are more efficient or effective. Documenting your expectations helps staff manage their daily tasks and helps you assess their performance, making it easier to recognize problems and take appropriate action. Even if you don’t have staff, digital records and reporting can help you keep on track with farm goals and succession planning.
6. Be realistic
Assess your team’s strengths and weaknesses, and design protocols that play to your strengths. For example, some complex OvSynch protocols could theoretically be more effective and profitable on paper, but if your staff has a hard time executing highly detailed programs, then it could end up costing you more in the end. A 20-step protocol might not be perfectly executed even by the most diligent employee; simplifying such protocols with fewer steps could improve staff compliance.
7. Understand your data
Focus on significant issues rather than cases that consume time and energy with minimal impact. Often the biggest headaches have to do with staff communications, bottlenecks and inefficiencies. Using digital tools to understand where your time is going is a practical way to quantify, track and resolve these issues. It also helps to identify and resolve issues not on the radar for your staff, like the water quality problem described earlier.
8. Set goals for continuous improvement
Are you a better driver today than you were five years ago? Most of us increase our skills and then plateau once we can operate reasonably effectively. This is where data can help. By using SMART goals (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound) and tying them to your protocols, you can integrate your long-term goals into the daily operations of your dairy.
9. Don't put lipstick on a pig
The power of protocols to support your business goals is only as robust as the quality, accuracy and completeness of the data you collect. Bad data leads to ineffective implementation, tracking and analytics. While the burden of regulatory reporting may tempt some farmers to fudge the numbers to paint a rosy picture, or to rush through reports with rough guesses rather than accurate data, these practices can hurt your operation by concealing issues that may have a significant impact on the health of your animals or on your farm’s economics. Be diligent about collecting and recording accurate farm information on a daily basis to make reporting easier and to help prevent bigger headaches later.
10. Foster open discussion
Meet with your veterinarian regularly, as well as farmers you respect, to discuss and compare protocols. This encourages proactive information sharing and ensures your protocols remain modern, relevant and effective. Some veterinarians may be reluctant to share new ideas and valuable insights with clients who seem resistant to change. Providing an opportunity for them to share the latest research with you helps to ensure you’re kept up to date on advances in dairy science and animal health.
Protocols on a dairy farm are essential for a smooth, organized workflow, ensuring safety and efficiency for cows and farm staff. They maintain high health and well-being standards by supporting proper animal care and management. Digital protocols offer easy distribution and compliance tracking, can be updated and shared efficiently, enhance communication and streamline operations. By implementing these strategies, you will be able to address a simple issue like dirty drinking water before the problem impacts your bottom line so that you can increase productivity while decreasing operating expenses.
