From compliance to culture

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. — Michelle Schack, DVM, is passionate about making sure farms have a program in place for employees to receive well-documented, effective training.

“How do we make sure that the farm employees know what the values of the farmers are?” Schack said. “How do we know that they know how to use this technology we’re implementing, that they know how to care for the animals? Training is really the key to that.”

Schack presented “Technology + Training: DairyKind” June 18 to attendees of the Precision Dairy Conference held in Bloomington. Schack presented on the importance of training and the three hallmarks of a good training program: culture, consistency and effective documentation.

Schack is one of seven veterinarians who helped develop DairyKind in 2020. DairyKind is an online training resource for dairy farmers with over 40 training courses in English and Spanish. The trainings cover both required trainings for the National Dairy Farmers Assuring Responsible Management program as well as other topics.

Employee training is important for several reasons, Schack said. First of all, proof of training is required for various farm audits, such as the FARM program, some insurance policies, and milk processors and retailers.

“Well-trained employees are really key to a successful farm in any aspect of the dairy,” Schack said. “The consumer knows this. They’re looking for more and more accountability on farms.”

Schack said employee retention is another reason training is important. She cited data that said employees who are onboarded with a structured program are 69% more likely to stay at their job. However, 80% of those considering quitting their jobs feel that they were undertrained in onboarding.

“We can’t wait around to see if somebody is going to stick around before we provide them any official training,” Schack said.

When it comes to effective training programs, Schack said the most important aspect is culture.

“We need to implement training into the normal part of everyday life on the farm,” Schack said. “Training should be a standard of practice and not an afterthought.”

Though various farm audits require training plans to be in place, Schack said this should not be what drives the training program. Training should not be about checking a box.

“We’re looking to move from compliance to a culture,” Schack said. “You shouldn’t be doing training just because you’re going to get audited. It should validate that (existing) training program.”

Consistency is the second key to a proper training program, Schack said.

“Our employees, the people actually working with the cows every day, need consistency,” Schack said. “Training should be the same across all shifts, night shift and day shift, (and it) should be the same across all locations.”

Training begins with onboarding.

“Setting those expectations from Day 1 is what’s going to prevent problems from arising,” Schack said. “It needs to be job specific. Immediate training reduces confusion.”

Once employees are trained in, training should continue on an annual basis. She also said training should be robust, with FARM program required training as the minimum start point.

Training should extend across various topics, Schack said, including the technology used on the dairy.

“If you’re using some increased technology, you’re using wearables, you’re using all of the things that we’ve talked about here, we need training that goes with that,” Schack said. “Data is nothing if we don’t know what to do with it.”

She said training should also go beyond the use of hypothetical, flawless circumstances.

“Flight zones and balance points are important stockmanship principles, but when all we’re teaching is the ideal situation, what happens when you have to load that cow on the trailer?” Schack said. “What happens when you have to put those first-calf heifers into the milking barn for the first time?”

She said mistakes are made when employees do not know what to do, feel rushed, or do not have proper equipment.

“People need to know how to do their job in order to do it well,” she said.

Finally, Schack said it is not enough to do the training; it must also be tracked. Within this, she said, paper records can be cumbersome for tracking and retaining records. Digital platforms, such as DairyKind, can offer ease of access to records and can quickly show what training employees have received.

“Proactive training is going to lead to better animal care,” Schack said. “It’s going to lead to less stress, smoother audits and better care on farm.”