Farm Management

I had the recent opportunity to team up with a milk cooperative adviser to provide assistance to a member farm. As I finished up and returned home, I sent a short text thanking her for the support. She followed up with a reply that said “Progress, not perfection, makes me happy.”

I’ve ruminated on that phrase lately, and it carries a lot of truth. Dairy farm life is full of daily, weekly, and yearly challenges. Often, these challenges are out of our immediate control.

Mark E. Fox D.V.M

If you are managing your dairy herd solely from the farm’s financial statements, you may be missing opportunities to maximize profitability.

“Dairy farm finances come as a result of managing the biology of the dairy cow well,” explains Mike Lormore, head of U.S. cattle technical services for Zoetis. “That doesn’t mean you don’t need to have a good financial plan. In today’s market, you absolutely need to understand how to use risk management tools. Ultimately, your financial outcome is going to be the result of the performance of your herd.”

With near-record milk prices this spring, it certainly appears to be a good time to be a dairy producer. The long over-due market turnaround has dairy farmers across the country smiling, but financial experts advise producers to sit down and look through their profit and loss statements to truly understand the strength of their farm’s financial portfolio.

Summer is a great time to do a mid-year check on your financial and business goals.

Its suggested to do mid-year planning in June or July.  You can review the overall performance of your company, progress of your strategies, team development, and plan for a good year end.

The MSU Extension dairy team has multiple employee training programs available for dairy farms in Michigan.

Employee development and education are key components of successful farm management. Training is necessary so new employees learn how to perform their jobs, but re-training of more experienced employees also has benefits, such as preventing protocol drift. Additionally, providing training opportunities for employees can improve the work environment and reduce employee turnover.

I am a sports fan. We have season tickets to three University of Minnesota sports (oops, not this year). In addition to enjoying the games, I have the occupational hazard of studying how the coaches are leading the teams.