Use knowledge to empower your staff
Investing in staff skills not only gives the team a sense of value, but also installs knowledge on why practices on farm are undertaken, says Scottish producer Fergus McDowall.
The team of 11 at Rerrick Park, Galloway, varies in their experience of working with cows, but Mr McDowall believes selecting the right staff is more about the individual than experience.
“I choose staff not for the bits of paper they have, but by their work ethic, capacity for teamwork and willingness to learn,” he explains. “I like that many of the team had never milked a cow before joining us – it means they arrive fresh and we teach them our way of doing things.”
Mr McDowall took the step three years ago to get out of beef and sheep and invest in a high-welfare super dairy. The 750-cow milking herd is milked three times a day and housed in a state-of-the art building designed to maximise cow welfare.
To make an enterprise such as this work, the facilities need to be right, but more importantly, Mr McDowall says having the right people is crucial.
Mr McDowall and his herd manager Neil Graham have exacting standards for their protocols. “We want every cow to be managed the same, whoever is milking or handling her. As the business gets bigger this consistency of practice is essential.”
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The FWi Academy includes e-learning modules to help workers in the dairy industry improve their skills and collect Dairy Pro CPD points. The following modules award two Dairy Pro points each:
Dairy Pro is a national DairyCo scheme administered by BASIS. Registration costs £20 + VAT. |
Given the range of staff experience, good training is fundamental, but Mr McDowall believes tuition is less about how to undertake tasks and more about instilling the knowledge about why the practices adopted are important.
Recently the team went on a Scottish Dairy Academy (SDA) mastitis, lameness and fertility course. “The guys came back buzzing about what they had learned,” he says. “They already implement our protocols well, but understanding why they strip and wipe a cow before milking gives them an added dimension and pride in the job they do.”
He says investing in the team’s skills makes them feel valued. “Good people are hard to find and I do everything I can to make them happy and keen to stay.”
Polish worker Catlin Neguroiu, 28, joined Rerrick Park after working as a superviser on English fruit farms. He had never touched a cow, let alone milked one, but now sees his future in dairying.
“The courses we’ve been on have been really important,” he says. “The lecturers helped explain many of the things we had already observed by working with the cows. Before the training we followed the rules, but afterwards we understood why things like wiping teats is important for milk letdown, as well as mastitis prevention.”
Mr Neguroiu says the internet has proved a valuable tool, when combined with Mr McDowall’s and Mr Graham’s knowledge. For him, online learning – such as the FWi Academies (see box) – is valuable supplementary training, particularly for health and welfare.
Mr McDowall is a strong advocate of the readily available industry training for farmers. He adds that the industry support options in place mean that skills training has no direct cost to his business.
“We don’t pay anything for SDA training and our DairyCo levy gives us free access to their professionally run events. We can also claim for training via our land management options.” He used the latter to pay for the Scottish government-subsidised Scottish Enterprise Rural Leadership Programme.
Similar to the SDA, the Dairy Pro scheme, launched last autumn, aims to improve the professionalism of the dairy industry by acknowledging the skills farmers already have and by giving a structure for continued professional training and development (CPD). Dairy Pro is a national DairyCo scheme, administered by BASIS.
Stephen Jacob of BASIS says 160 people have already registered for the scheme and they are running more than 300 different events with 51 different organisers. “The course modules include health and welfare, nutrition and business management,” he says. Unlike BASIS, members do not need to have a formal qualification to join.
Why not include the Farmers Weekly Academy courses as part of your staff’s professional development programme? Visit the Farmers Weekly Academy site to find out more and start gaining CPD points now.