There’s been a lot of discussion within the dairy industry regarding milk quality and the European Union recently. As the EU deadline for more stringent milk quality requirements nears, it seems some people are getting a little nervous about how it will affect their product’s market value. And although the extra pressure will surely make already tough times a little more stressful, is there really a problem with being expected to deliver better quality? When you think of yourself as a customer or a consumer, you’d probably agree that you expect a certain degree of quality from the items you purchase, right? So what role does quality play in your company’s operations?

Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures. What a fitting way to describe our current scenario. Corn prices have achieved fall price levels never before witnessed. Milk prices are pushing a price spread of nearly two dollars. And our economy is still up for grabs as to whether we are heading into a double-dip recession or building a base for the next growth spurt. In our last article, we talked about seasonality and how the market normally makes its peak prices for the year in the September/October period. This year looks to be no different. What is concerning is how the market is digesting this climb higher and what is happening to the overall market structure.

I frequently meet with dairy science students who plan to be dairy consultants or run a dairy someday. Many of them are already involved in the management of their family’s dairy operations. I always ask them to imagine I am a 9-year-old questioning what is it that they will do when they graduate. They think for a minute and invariably the answer relates to the cow, e.g., “Take care of cows, help cows be healthy and productive.” Often they will mention the production of wholesome quality products. Sometimes they even refer to the business, as in, “Make sure the dairy is profitable.” Very rarely will they bring up anything related to their people, the employees and the workforce. The cruel reality is that, once in practice, they will inevitably spend more time dealing with people issues than in direct contact with cows.

Would anyone doubt that a successful dairy farm requires a team effort? Silly question? Not at all. Most dairy farms have groups of people or collections of individuals rather than teams. Success does not demand a team approach. A farm manager who prefers a team approach faces a tough test of patience, people skills and communication. Team basics A dairy farm can have a team of people, a group or just a collection of individuals. The differences among the three are important: Team: Several people who work together as a cohesive unit to achieve specific, shared goals. Group: Several people who have common goals but work independently without depending on each other for their success. Individuals: Several individuals who work independently to accomplish their individual goals without depending on each other for their success.

Dairy Policy Action Coalition lobbyist and spokesman Dennis Wolff recently spoke with Progressive Dairyman Editor Walt Cooley about the Pennsylvania-based organization’s agenda to ‘clean up’ dairy policy. Wolff discusses the group’s recent efforts to lobby Congress to increase the frequency of dairy product price reporting. Q. How did DPAC get started? WOLFF: A group of dairy farmers started it about 10 months ago with the help of Bernie Morrisey and Sherry Bunting. This was basically a group of producers who wanted less talk and more action. That would be the reason why it is called the Dairy Policy Action Coalition.

As we face the everyday challenges of operating a dairy enterprise, hiring, integrating and retaining employees are probably some of the key activities that, if done well, will help ensure the success and sustainability of the operation. With an ever-increasing number of immigrants working in dairy operations, how we integrate this talent and how we retain the best will help us reach these goals. Immigrants might have some different needs when it comes to integrating into your operation, but when it comes to retention, the way it is addressed pretty much applies to all employees. People are people anywhere in the world. When you ask what really satisfies people and what makes them stay at their jobs, not surprisingly, the answers are very similar.

If you’re in the dairy business, you’ve no doubt seen the grim results of an acute case of coliform mastitis. The fever; hot, painful udder swelling; grossly abnormal milk; lack of appetite; and shock-like symptoms are difficult to watch and even harder to forget. Often, severe cases like this lead to loss of a quarter, at best; and loss of the animal, at worst. We tend to think of these sporadic cases as the only instances in which we deal with coliform mastitis. But, in fact, about half of all clinical cases are caused by noncontagious environmental organisms, including E. coli, Klebsiella and Enterobacter, which fall together under the umbrella of coliform or gram-negative mastitis.