As a nation that depends on immigrants and foreign labor to work in agriculture, the diversity of this population and their languages bring new challenges to the dairy industry.

Feeding cows is one of the most important jobs on the farm. First, feed is the largest expense on dairy farms. Feeders handle large quantities of pricey ingredients every day, so any mistakes they make can be costly.

One of the biggest differences between farmers who struggle to be progressive and make changes and those who possess the agility to tackle change boils down to structure and clarity.

In this episode of the Progressive Dairy Podcast, host Kimmi Devaney visits with Kansas dairy producer Lee Holtmeier from Linn Willow Creek Dairy about their employee culture, what they do to mentor and empower employees, and how they keep employee turnover low. 

“The only thing worse than training your employees and having them leave is not training them and having them stay.” Since this quote is from Henry Ford, it is approximately a century old. If this was true for his assembly line workers, it certainly is even more true today.

“The process of ensuring the new employee has a great start, becomes engaged and stays is called onboarding.” Onboarding is more than just the orientation and training that have traditionally been our focus for new employees.

“When we talk about raising a dairy replacement heifer, it’s going to ultimately make a milk cow,” said John Robison, a consultant at JDR Livestock Consulting Management Services, during a session of the 2023 Dairy Calf and Heifer Association annual meeting.

Studies have also determined that some 50% of feedyard workers are Latino. Combining the inherent risks of a feedyard with a language barrier that significantly hampers communication can set the stage for serious incidents and injuries.