Labor shortages are certainly not new to the dairy industry. The challenge to attract and retain employees on U.S. dairy farms has been a constant struggle for the past few years. Stan Moore with Michigan State University Dairy Extension says that farmers need to take a fresh look at how they put together a workforce for their farm to better attract employees.
- Offer More Flexibility. More flexibility and shorter work hours will certainly mean more W-2s, but those that adapt will have access to some great co-workers.
- Improve People Management Skills. This will be a must if you plan to attract and retain this new workforce.
- Track Productivity. Farmers will need to take a close look at their cost of production, and how to use co-workers in the most productive way that they can. Tracking measurements like production/hour of labor or production/dollars of labor will need to be watched carefully and fine-tuned. Also, bring co-workers to the table to see if they can help make the operation more efficient and help the dairy remain competitive in the future.
Jorge Delgado, an on-farm specialist with Alltech, says that keeping employees motivated is a big problem.
“Milking is one of the most labor-intense areas on the farm,” he says. “Keeping these guys motivated is a big problem. This challenge is the number-one problem not only in the dairy industry, but agriculture in general.”
Jennifer Bentley, a dairy field specialist with the Iowa State University Extension and Outreach program, concurs with Delgado and adds that labor shortages intensify with more generations removed from working on agricultural farms.
“It takes that motivation and training to get those employees engaged and to stay on these farms,” she says.
According to Delgado, approximately 60% of the milk produced in this country depends on immigrant labor.
5 Tips to Retain Employees
- Education Matters. Through education, workers see the dairy industry as a place where they can be listened to and where they will be taken care of.
- Visual and Hands-on. Immigrants typically come from Mexico and Central America, but more and more are coming from Nicaragua, Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. These countries tend to have lower reading comprehension. Visual materials, such as posters, videos, aminations and a lot of hands-on training and practices are ideal for training.
- Language Barriers. In many cases, the guys from Guatemala or even Central America don’t speak Spanish as their first language. “They speak a dialect,” Delgado shares. “Those dialects can be really hard to understand and really hard to translate, so more visuals are needed to communicate.”
- Online Training. “I think we’re seeing a very high need for additional resources in training employees, whether they’re Spanish-speaking or English-speaking,” Bentley says. A partnership between the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Alltech and Iowa State University Extension and Outreach has developed multiple online training videos available to producers to help employees understand their ‘hows and ‘whys.’ “We know that when employees understand the ‘whys’ of their job, they’ll more than likely perform their job at increased efficiency and have a more motivated ability to do their job.”
- Take Care of Employees. Provide the needed tools to set the employees up for success. For example, well-maintained equipment as well as a comfortable temperature to milk the cows in the parlor. Also, show signs of appreciation, like pizza parties. Remember these guys on Christmas or their birthdays. “It’s very important for their culture,” Delgado notes. “I think we need to work with the employees and take care of them first because they are the ones behind the cows,” Delgado says.
“If we treat these guys right, then these guys will feel that they are part of the business, and then they will come with feedback and solutions with ideas that will improve all these things,” Delgado adds.
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