People Management for Smaller Dairies Northeast DairyBusiness, August 2001

Why develop human resource management skills when you hire little or no non-family labor? Because it can make the difference between success and failure of your dairy business, says Ricahrd Stup, senior Extension associate for Penn State Dairy Alliance.           "There are at least three reasons why human resource management may be the most limiting factor on small farms," he says.           1. Each individual is more critical to dairies with a small workforce compared to businesses with large workforces, Stup says. One unmotivated or absent employee out of 15 on a larger dairy may not make a huge difference to the business' performance. But one unmotivated employee or family member in a small workforce spreads more work over few people and can quickly damage others' attitudes.

"Because of the potential impact of a poor quality worker, recruitment and employee selection are critical," Stup says.           It's also important to let family and non-family know the importance of their contribution to your business. And delegate management responsibilities so all family members have opportunities to use their intellect, not just their physical efforts, to help the business, Stup says.           2. Routine chores can seem so urgent on smaller farms that owners often neglect important management functions, such as team building, communication and business organizations.           "Dairies employing large workfroces have people whoe specific role is management. They may not actually perform chores," explains Stup. "But workers on small farms must perform the chores and manage. This means they must set aside time to

manage."           If that's not possible, Stup suggests that smaller dairies secure management resources from outside the dairy, such as through their breeding company, veterinarian or feed supplier.           3. Smaller dairies may be handicapped by a lack of time for business leadership activities. In contrast, owners and managers of larger dairies may devote much of their time to studying the macro-business environment, looking for marketing advantages, idenrifying technologies to adopt and positioning their businesses for the future.           "Small farms need to find where their potential advantages lie," Stup says. "To make this possible, managers of smaller farms should standardize and write down work procedures and keep equipment in good repair so that temporary or part-time help can be employed."