Calf care personnel on dairy farms and their educational opportunities

Abstract

As dairy herd sizes become larger and the organization of the business more complex, targeting communication and education to enhance animal care becomes more difficult. The purpose of this study was to describe selected demographics of calf care employees on large (>500 animals) and small (<501 animals) dairy farms that raise their own calves. Two to 8 individuals per farm involved with calf care, including owners, veterinarians, and calf managers, feeders, and treaters, were interviewed in either English or Spanish. Interviews were conducted in person on 53 dairy farms located in Arizona, Idaho, New York, Oregon, and Washington State. The number of preweaned calves on the farm ranged from 9 to 1,500 (median = 93). A total of 224 individuals were interviewed across 8 job titles. As farm size increased, personnel structure became more complex. Farms with >100 preweaned calves were 15 times more likely to have a calf manager title compared with farms with ≤100 preweaned calves. Eight farms designated the same person as calf manager, treater, and feeder, all with ≤100 preweaned calves. Thirty-two (60%) of the farms had at least 1 full-time calf feeder. Almost 30% of owners and over 40% of veterinarians interviewed were over 50 yr of age, whereas over 40% of the calf managers, feeders, and treaters were under 30 yr of age. Seventy-three percent of feeders and 72% of treaters spoke Spanish at home. For languages in which interviewees were comfortable speaking, more than 30% of owners and 33% of veterinarians were comfortable communicating in Spanish. For calf care employees, 60% of calf managers, 42% of feeders, and 38% of treaters were bilingual (English and Spanish), but most (72%) preferred to be interviewed in Spanish. The level of education varied by job title for those interviewed, but most of the calf care team had high school or less education. However, some diversity was observed in educational background within job title with almost 38% of the calf managers having at least some college education. The majority of feeders (88%) and treaters (83%) reported being trained by another employee and 66 and 58%, respectively, had not received any continuing education in the previous year. With the amount of diversity seen on these farms, understanding employees' educational backgrounds, language, and generational differences may be valuable when developing training for new procedures for animal health or other aspects of animal care.

A retrospective cohort study comparing dairy calf treatment decisions by farm personnel with veterinary observations of clinical signs

“…A second explanation is that on some farms we may have failed to teach employees how to use clinical criteria to support treatment decisions. In previous work, we have shown that veterinarians have infrequently been involved in calf-care worker training and that most training occurs within the farm workforce, either worker-to-worker or manager-to-worker (Sischo et al, 2019). Either way, if treatment protocols include clear definitions of disease, particularly for diarrhea, calf-care workers might be better able to target appropriate interventions and reduce antimicrobial use.…”

Dairy farmer advising in relation to the development of standard operating procedures

“…Standard operating procedures (SOP) are a set of steps that show how a process should be performed (Gough and Hamrell, 2009). When implemented, SOP have the ability to harmonize practices among workers and can be used to train new or existing employees (Barbe et al, 2016;Sischo et al, 2019). With increases in farm size and the use of non-family labor (Barkema et al, 2015), and a move toward increased use of technology (Hagevoort et al, 2013), SOP are likely to be increasingly important on dairy farms.…”

Graduate Student Literature Review: Challenges and opportunities for human resource management on dairy farms

“…Deming et al (2019) reported that participation in a dairy farm management program increased managerial skills in financial and personnel resources, leadership, communication, and decision-making on the farm. In a sample of US calf care personnel, 70% of owners reported that they had attended college, compared with only 37% of calf managers (Sischo et al, 2019). Only 13% of dairy farm employees from 4 US states reported having some form of higher education (Rodriguez et al, 2018).…”

“…The US dairy industry is highly dependent on foreign labor (Jenkins et al, 2009), with many workers having little dairy experience (Hagevoort et al, 2013). In a survey of calf care personnel in the United States, Sischo et al (2019) found that as the number of calves reared increased, the proportion of calf care employees who were comfortable speaking English decreased. Dual language training resources have been cited as important for farm practices such as antibiotic use (Friedman et al, 2007).…”

“…Similarly, in Canada between 2006 and 2016, the number of farms decreased by 23%, yet the average production per farm increased by 39% (Canadian Dairy Commission, undated). As dairy farms increase in size they become more complex (Sischo et al, 2019). Many dairy farms are structured as a business, with the farm manager taking on the role of human resource manager (Hagevoort et al, 2013) in addition to dealing with the day-to-day tasks of working with their animals.…”