It seems that every day someone is reporting about another bankrupt company and rising unemployment.

So instead of seeing the economic uncertainty from a negative perspective, let’s look at what you can do to make your employment more secure and the dairy you work at more profitable.

First things first, it is absolutely critical that you help the dairy you work for make money every day. You might be thinking, “Why should I care if my bosses and their dairy make money?” The answer is simple. What happens to companies that don’t make money? They go broke. And if a company goes broke, what happens to the workers at this company? They lose their jobs. So should you care when the number of mastitic cows increases and milk production decreases? Does it matter to you whether a cow gets up to be milked? Is your job affected if somebody hits a gate or a post with a skid loader? Yes, yes and yes.

Maybe you don’t get money deducted from your paycheck when these problems occur, but the money the dairy loses to pay for careless mistakes makes the dairy weaker every time. Instead of having healthy cows that produce a lot of milk and live in well-maintained facilities, the dairy’s expenses increase while its revenue decreases. And why should that matter to anyone other than the owner? Because your job security and future raises depend on these profits.

You see, all the milk that is harvested on the dairy costs money to produce. When it comes to mastitic cows for example, this treated milk either gets dumped or pasteurized and fed to the calves. It doesn’t get sold. Although the dairy spends money to feed the cow, milk her and clean up after her, the company doesn’t get any money in return for the product. And when the dairy spends money to pour milk down the drain or fix gates that were damaged while scraping pens, everyone loses. Instead of having more money to spend on employees’ raises and wages, a new microwave or quality bonuses, the dairy spends this money on treatments and repair bills.

So what do you need to do to make sure the dairy remains profitable? How do you ensure that you take care of your job and earn more money in the future? It’s actually very simple… work together and follow the policies and procedures exactly how you were told and shown.

Although no one is perfect, your bosses have many years of experience managing and operating a dairy. They are responsible for making sure all of the work gets done correctly every day so the company makes money. Your managers hired you to help them take care of the cows, making sure every animal is as healthy and productive as possible for the benefit of everyone. They count on you to work well with your co-workers and follow all of the protocols correctly, and not just when they are watching you!

As more and more companies are going broke, more people are applying for jobs at dairies than ever before. Although these new applicants might not have experience in the dairy industry, they are serious about taking care of their new job, themselves and their families. And it’s exactly that type of enthusiasm and dedication that dairy owners and managers are looking for from the people they count on to help operate their company.

Like many people in the dairy industry, I take my work very seriously. I’m committed to helping the dairies I work with operate as productively and profitably as they can. And hopefully you are too. The reality is that your family and all of your co-workers’ families depend on your team’s efforts and contributions every day. I’m certain that if you do your best to take care of the dairy, the dairy will take good care of you. Because when the dairy is successful, you will be too.  EL

Tom Wall, president of Language Links LLC, helps dairy producers throughout Wisconsin and Minnesota by teaching, training, and motivating their teams to focus on improving teamwork, herd health, and milk quality. Based out of Green Bay, WI, Language Links can be found online at www.golanguagelinks.com

Tom Wall
Language Links, LLC
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