They say time heals all wounds, but the wounds endured during last spring will linger on for longer than normal. And not just in the memory. While the blistering heat of the last three weeks has helped to replenish mind and body, the scars remain.

Fields that were poached in the spring are hard and rough and the grass has gone stemmy. Milk collections are lower than normal, even with an increase in cow numbers, and farmers and employees are still tired after putting in a massive shift this spring.

There are two things that need to happen over the next few months. Firstly, farmers and workers need to recover physically and mentally – it was hard to do this up to now as cows were being inseminated.

Secondly, and just as importantly, you need to take stock of what happened last spring and put plans in place to prevent it happening again, or to at least mitigate the risks to your farm business. It’s all about facilities, contingencies and people.

Marion Beecher is a research officer in Moorepark dealing with labour on dairy farms. Last month, she conducted a survey of over 300 farmers on their experiences of the spring.

These farmers were mainly in discussion groups, so they should be more organised than the typical farmer and the herd size was larger than the national average. That said, there are lessons in the findings for all farmers.

In terms of facilities, only 73% said that calf rearing and calving facilities were adequate. On average, the number of cubicles per cow was slightly below target at 0.96 cubicles per cow on the farm. Interestingly, the farmers themselves said that the target should be 1.1 cubicles per cow. When it comes to milking, the average number of rows being milked was 10. The main management issues that concerned the farmers were mastitis and calf scour – both linked in some way to facilities and housing.

Poor facilities – whether they be milking parlours, handling units, roadways or basic fencing – slow down the job, increase workload and are demoralising for everyone

When it came to labour-saving practices, 37% of the farmers surveyed practised night time feeding. Thirty-four per cent milked once a day in February and 37% fed calves once a day. Only 6% got a contractor to feed silage, while 38% got a contractor to spread fertiliser and 74% got a contractor to spread slurry.

As for labour, the average hours worked per day in March was 12.4 with only 0.7 days off during the whole month. This is just the farmer’s own working time. Less than half of the farmers surveyed (48%) weren’t looking to hire anyone. Of those who were looking to hire someone, just 25% had no problem in finding labour but 60% said it was difficult or very difficult, while 15% were unable to hire somebody.

A few weeks ago (31 May), we looked at investment ideas around the farmyard to make life easier.

There is no doubt about it but that’s one aspect to improving the labour situation on farms. Poor facilities – whether they be milking parlours, handling units, roadways or basic fencing – slow down the job, increase workload and are demoralising for everyone.

The difficulties 75% of farmers surveyed found with hiring labour are not going away. As the economy approaches full employment, there will be even more opportunities for the workforce in other sectors and industries. Dairy farmers are competing with these sectors for employees and they are competing with us for employees.

The figures presented above are not good reading. Yes, they are from a specific point in time but not enough time off and inadequate facilities are enough to tip the balance and cause extra work and stress. Yet, the physical things are only half of the story. They are the ‘‘hard topics’’ that can be changed relatively easily by throwing money at the problem.

Negative effects

It’s the ‘‘softer topics’’ that are more worrying in the long term. Another, much smaller, survey of farm staff was conducted recently. These employees were working on farms of various sizes and were asked to give personal but anonymous answers on a series of questions relating to how they were being managed.

When asked what it was that made them really enjoy being an employee on a farm, their answers all revolved around getting responsibility, being appreciated for their work, developing new skills, working as part of a progressive team, achieving goals and milestones and being outdoors during the summer.

When asked for examples about negative experiences and how they could have been avoided, the respondents had this to say:

  • Being overworked, particularly during calving time. They said that they need at least one day a week off in spring. Working 12 days on and two days off or 11 on and three off is too much in the spring. One comment was that everything is more difficult when you are tired.
  • Being micro-managed. This causes the respondents who are capable of doing the job huge frustration and undermines their confidence.
  • Negativity: the respondents said that when things are tough they need someone (the manager/farm owner) to be solution-focused and not caught up in the negativity.
  • Feeling undervalued for their work. This can either be financial, where they are not being paid enough, or verbal where they don’t get told how much they are appreciated.
  • Unfairness: it demoralised employees to be doing jobs that the farmer wouldn’t do because it was beneath him or her. Also, being held accountable for things that are outside of the employee’s control is unfair.
  • Poor organisation, such as not getting proper notice of days off or having to change days at short notice, can upset people’s plans.
  • Poor working conditions such as inadequate facilities or machinery that won’t start or lights that don’t work reduces efficiency and the ability to do a good job.
  • Nearly all of the above issues are related to behaviour and as we know, people are slow to change their behaviour. But the above behaviours upset, annoy and demotivate employees making them more likely to move on from their current employment. Employees moving on can be a good thing, provided that they are moving on for the right reasons such as for a progressive career move.

    Not being able to attract employees or employees moving on because they are annoyed with the current situation is what needs to be avoided. As we have seen from both surveys, there is cause to be concerned about the facilities and the way people are managed on a good few farms.

    Pay

    Interestingly, the rate of pay did not come up as a big issue for the farm employees. In terms of incentives, pay is rarely ever high up on the list of priorities.

    According to the people experts, showing a genuine interest in employee’s lives and helping them to achieve their goals is more important than just money. In many cases, it is spending time training, teaching and passing on your knowledge that is appreciated as much as anything.

    Read more

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