Management

I first taught about mission statements almost 40 years ago when we developed the Pro-Dairy program in New York state. Over time, my thinking has continued to evolve and, hopefully, improve by including vision and values.

Annual goals, whether outlined at a company’s annual meeting or a personal New Year’s resolution, all have the same challenges. With a full year allotted to accomplish them, the sense of urgency is diminished, and those involved become complacent.

With all of the bad news and market challenges dairy farmers have been contending with during the past year, Michael Hosterman, agricultural business consultant with AgChoice Farm Credit, has a bit of positive information for producers looking to make improvements to their dairy business during 2019 and beyond.

Consumers of dairy products are the people who make the dairy industry an industry. Without the consumer buying that chunk of cheese or gallon of milk, eating a pizza, having a dish of ice cream or purchasing bakery products which use nonfat dry milk powder or whey as an ingredient, there would not be a commercial dairy industry.

Making any major change in your dairy operation demands a team approach, and moving from a traditional stall or parlor milking system to a robotic milking system is certainly a major change.

Current commodity prices have some dairy farmers looking to capture additional revenue by feeding out dairy steers or the growing number of dairy-beef calves that are more common due to herd breeding decisions.