How to improve dairy labour efficiency on-farm
Spotting the red flags of labour inefficiency is key to improving human resource management on- farm, especially during milking. Here’s how farmers can overcome on-farm challenges through better human resource and parlour equipment management.
Human resource management
Communication, respect & transparency. Uninformed employees make the most expensive decisions; therefore, communication is essential for a thriving business. To improve it, the manager needs to formulate clear goals and cascade them to each employee. Personal targets have to be mutually accepted, measured, and reviewed annually. At the same time, the manager should value the staff by listening to their desires and giving them constructive feedback.
Experts’ advice. When in need of enhanced employee relations and management styles, one should consider training. The support of labour consultants is a good choice as similar cases can be a source of inspiration.
Business management tools. These help shape and structure responsibilities, as well as measure performance:
The organisation chart defines responsibilities and structures the communication flow. For each role in the organisation chart, a related job description is required to have a clear division of the tasks on the farm. The key information it should contain includes:
- Job title
- Tasks & activities
- Authority
- Replacement in case of absence.
Productive work plan and shifts establish task coordination and working hours, including meaningful breaks.
Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) are designed to ensure the achievement of the highest work quality in the most efficient way, and that is why they should always be shared and available in the workplace. An SOP for a specific job should detail:
- Who performs it
- A clear description of it
- Its goals
- How each step has to be performed to carry it out
- What tools and requirements are needed to perform it.
Improving SOPs takes time. Nevertheless, it will help save time later, even facilitating the onboarding of un-skilled labour.
An organised environment – finding the right tool in the right place and at the right time can help improve efficiency. For this reason, recurring inventory activities, maintaining a safe and well-organised workplace, and recognising any possible danger to prevent future accidents are important actions to improve human resource management.
Parlour equipment management
Measuring performance. It is important to measure both farm and employees’ performance. To do this, the following KPIs can help:
- Average flow rate
- Average milking duration
- Turns per hour
- Milk harvest in first 2 minutes
- Time in low flow (less than 400 g/minute)
To further reduce unexpected waste of time and money, 3 aspects should be considered:
- Hygiene. A clean parlour will contribute to keeping cows healthy.
- Noise levels. A quiet environment fosters stimulation and milk production in cows.
- Lighting. A well-lit parlour will improve cows’ visibility and help farmers evaluate udder and milk conditions.
Right equipment and support. Relying on the best tools and services, designed to make the farmers’ workload more sustainable, is one more action to consider. Here are some examples:
- Automatic Cluster Removers save employees’ labour while preserving udder health.
- Milk metres help to keep milk quality and production under control, making it possible to identify the yield of each animal and the right milk-feed ratio.
- Precision Farming entails a series of strategies and technologies, such as neck tags, that allow farmers to increase efficiency. In fact, by analysing data and goals, it ensures the right intervention is carried out in the right place, at the right time, without the risk of identifying issues too late.
It is clear how severe the impact of labour inefficiency on your farm profitability can be. It is therefore important to start prioritising human resource management and unlock the full potential of your team.
Source: milkrite-InterPuls
