In fact, I’d say the dairy industry leads the way in many aspects of using measurement tools to make decisions. However, there is one area where we can learn from other industries: tracking our own learning and development.

As a nation that depends on immigrants and foreign labor to work in agriculture, the diversity of this population and their languages bring new challenges to the dairy industry.

Feeding cows is one of the most important jobs on the farm. First, feed is the largest expense on dairy farms. Feeders handle large quantities of pricey ingredients every day, so any mistakes they make can be costly.

One of the biggest differences between farmers who struggle to be progressive and make changes and those who possess the agility to tackle change boils down to structure and clarity.

In this episode of the Progressive Dairy Podcast, host Kimmi Devaney visits with Kansas dairy producer Lee Holtmeier from Linn Willow Creek Dairy about their employee culture, what they do to mentor and empower employees, and how they keep employee turnover low. 

“The only thing worse than training your employees and having them leave is not training them and having them stay.” Since this quote is from Henry Ford, it is approximately a century old. If this was true for his assembly line workers, it certainly is even more true today.

“The process of ensuring the new employee has a great start, becomes engaged and stays is called onboarding.” Onboarding is more than just the orientation and training that have traditionally been our focus for new employees.