Chuck Schwartau, Regional Extension Educator

December 9, 2005

More and more dairy farms utilize non-family employees today. Perhaps more farms, even relatively small ones, should consider increasing that practice. Having the right employees (family and non-family) has several economic benefits including:

• Increased operational efficiency
• More owner/manager time for marketing, pricing and financial activities
• An increased likelihood of completing tasks on time
• More efficient use of capital and overhead
• Increased production for profit
• More opportunities for growth

There are also non-economic benefits that many more dairy families are now considering:

• Reduced stress and pressure
• Increased flexibility of time for leisure, health, family activities, etc.
• A safer work environment often created by better trained and skilled workers

Achieving any or all of those goals depends on having the right people for the tasks at hand. Having the wrong person, just to fill the position, may actually create more work or stress rather than create a smoother, more profitable operation.

There are a few key questions to ask yourself that may help to not only hire the right person if you hire from outside, but may also help have the people already on the farm doing the right jobs. Here are some of those key questions:

1. What type of help do I need?

• Short-term for a specific project?
• Part-time for specific tasks on a regular basis?
• Full-time seasonal to meet the needs of heavy work load periods?
• Permanent full-time for specific or various tasks as fit the farm situation?

2. Is there sufficient cash flow from the farm to support the type of employee (or family member) I think fits the need?

• Will this job attract and keep the interest of a highly motivated person?

3. What will be the benefit to this farm if we hire additional labor? Will this free up someone else’s time for a more valuable job? Will this provide me time for other personal or business activities?

• Do I have the necessary skills to train, supervise and evaluate an employee?
• What type of employee is best suited for the job at hand?

These questions and how they are asked on any farm usually center on hired employees. The same questions can be asked, however, as farms look at how they are utilizing the available family labor. Family labor is often not structured with assignments that fit knowledge, skills and interest, but rather on who is available.

Making labor decisions without asking these or similar questions are more likely to result in hiring the wrong people for what you really want to get done, or hiring the wrong category of employee to meet the real needs of your farm. If the decisions revolve around family labor, they can still result in the wrong person doing a job when someone else may be a better choice for the good of the business.

A careful task analysis will help determine specific skills or attitudes necessary to complete a job successfully. Such a task analysis should include both physical and knowledge or skill attributes. The analysis considers:

• The amount of time necessary for a task and whether there are schedules or sequences that must be followed in order to keep a flow of work going on the farm.
• The degree of skill is necessary to perform the tasks. Some tasks require only basic knowledge and physical ability while others require a higher level of skills and knowledge (complex machinery operations or livestock management).
• The level of responsibility goes with this job. Does this job require one to follow orders with very few if any decisions necessary, or does the employee on this task have to make decisions that may have significant impact on the rest of the operation?
• The value of the task to the operation. If a task can have a significant impact on the productivity of the farm, or the safety of people or animals on the farm, the task has a high value and should not be left in the hands of the least prepared person on the farm, regardless of any other attachment on the farm.

Putting the right person in the right job goes all the way from the farm owner to the most recent person to enter the operation. All staff on the farm need to be working as a team, recognize their role on the farm and contribute to achieving high expectations on the farm.

“The Right Person for the Right Job” is just one of two dairy farm labor management topics that will be covered at the nine University of Minnesota Dairy Days to be held around Minnesota from January 6-20, 2006 . Other topics will include housing and cow comfort, feed efficiency, minimizing process variation to enhance profitability, managing for control of Johnes Disease, reproductive management, National Animal Identification System, and an industry forum conducted by the Minnesota Milk Producers Association.

For details of the program, locations and registration information, go to the University of Minnesota Dairy Team web page on Dairy Days.

[Sources of information for this article include the U of MN Extension Service curriculum, “Employment Skills for Today”, 1998; and the “Employers’ Handbook for Owners, Managers and Supervisors in Agriculture and Horticulture”, Ontario Agricultural Human Resources Committee, 1996]