Recently I worked with a family in Wisconsin who had a cost of production of $19 per hundredweight (cwt), and they were getting paid a lot less than that.

Recently, my team finished a research project on stress sources for dairy farm employees. The majority of the U.S. dairy farm workforce is Latino or has Latino heritage, and their main concern as it relates to stress is the inability to communicate in English.

“I wasn’t able to talk for over two years about what happened with my grandfather,” a young farmer confides as he describes a bitter battle over the transition of land titles from his father’s father to him.

If you have not heard of K’iche’ (or Quiché), chances are, you will soon. No, it’s not a pastry-crusted egg bake. In fact, it’s not even in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary … yet.

Your best employee should be in charge of feeding your herd, including weighing, mixing, delivery and monitoring rations. This individual can make or break the feeding program, rumen health and profitability.

As farmers, it’s inevitable we will all one day retire. With that comes the emotional aspect of leaving the lifestyle, people, equipment and community that have supported you.

As farm ownership progresses through generations, it becomes more and more likely that owners may have one or more children or heirs that are not actively involved in the business.

As farmers, we face challenges and feel stress every day. It is when it becomes unrelenting and overwhelming we begin to experience negative side effects. Dairy farmers are some of the smartest, most innovative, problem-solving, optimistic people in the world. It is good to take a moment to be reminded of this fact.

Think of a recent time when someone – employee, colleague, partner, family member, friend – was not listening when you had something important to say. Now think about how you felt, and describe your feelings in one word.

A team is a group of people with different skills who perform different tasks and work together toward a common goal. All dairy workers, regardless of their roles in the farm, are team members. However, just being part of a team is not the same as working as a team player. You must be intentional about adopting the mindset of a team player; these are some of a team player’s characteristics.