MANAGEMENT

Most family businesses – farms, local agribusinesses, restaurants, etc. – are started by an individual owner. As they grow, the businesses (farms) often transition to multiple owners. The new owners (partners) are often, but not always, family members.

This change, like all business transitions, is crucial to farm business success. The decision to enter into a partnership should be made with great care and planning.

Would anyone doubt that a successful dairy farm requires a team effort? Silly question? Not at all. Most dairy farms have groups of people or collections of individuals rather than teams. Success does not demand a team approach. A farm manager who prefers a team approach faces a tough test of patience, people skills and communication.

Team basics
A dairy farm can have a team of people, a group or just a collection of individuals. The differences among the three are important:

Let’s consider for a moment what can happen when technology is either abused or not applied on your dairy. You can have all the knowledge in the world about certain cow topics and yet not get your point across. How is this possible? Let’s look at some examples to see how good technology can go awry.

‘More practice please’
Like many of you, I have enjoyed attending certain university- sponsored “Dairy Days”. Some great labor [labour]-saving devices have been designed that can mean more dollars for your dairy when applied properly.