Uplevel Dairy Podcast

If data has turned into the time-consuming monster that is stealing your focus, delaying decisions and dragging down your progress, you will want to keep listening because I’ve got something important that could change the game for you on this episode of the Uplevel Dairy Podcast.

Our guest understands these challenges because he was a dairy manager himself in Texas for well over a decade, who faced the same struggles: He wanted the right data, at his fingertips, integrated in a way that allowed him to use it as a tool to improve performance and move his dairy forward.

And so he created his own solution: Dairy Performance Network. 

Manny Salcedo founded DPN seven years ago, and you are about to hear:

• How Manny came up with his own solution for slaying that time-consuming data monster

• The story behind this customized software integration and data analytics system that connects people, cows and technology

• The results: Higher levels of employee engagement and hitting real performance benchmarks that make a difference to the dairy producer’s bottomline

Follow DPN

Meet the 28-year-old from Belgium who has embarked on a hands-on dairy farming journey around the globe....

Laurens Rutten challenged himself to dive into dairy on three continents, starting on a commercial grass-based dairy in New Zealand, then the world’s largest robotic dairy in Chile, and we catch up with him today on the third leg of his journey at Sunnyside Farms in New York.

Laurens reveals the two critical questions he asked himself that spurred this adventure, and the lessons he is learning along the way and leaves us with some solid takeaways on blazing your own trail, defining your future and taking bold action.

As the US milk supply tightens, what opportunities and challenges are ahead for Class 3 and 4, as domestic demand lowers and exports pick up?

Corn planters are starting to roll across the countryside, how might the early planting predictions impact your feed cost?

That’s what we are covering today with Curtis Bosma in the HighGround Dairy Monthly Market Insights.

 Find out how the markets are moving and how it could impact your bottom line.

Over the past 6 months or so, I’ve sat down with some pretty incredible people in the dairy industry. The owners and managers of excellent dairies and some of the most sought-after consultants who specialize in employee performance, training, and retention.

 Many of these are conversations you’ve heard on the UPlevel Dairy Podcast, and you can certainly go back and listen to them all, but if you really just want some cliff notes, some common themes, and take-home points that tie together several of the best conversations we’ve had here on the topic of getting a new employee off the best start, so they can perform well for you, see a path for their own future by being part of your team for the long haul, that’s what you are going to get today on the UPlevel Dairy Podcast.

My goal is to make it easy for you by pulling together some powerful shares from seven recent guests - some of the industry’s best owners, managers, and consultants. We are going to walk through three critical phases of employee retention, starting with:

• First, onboarding 
• Next, uncovering individual potential
• And finally, motivation - giving good people a reason to stay.

I’m giving you some high-value nuggets from these recent Uplevel Dairy guests so you can raise your own bar own employee retention.

Listen to the episodes of the ones mentioned on today's show below.

On this Uplevel Dairy Young Leaders Podcast, I’m turning the mic over to a trio of up-and-comers in dairy industry communications to interview three Dairy Challenge alumni who shared their experiences on a panel at the Midwest Dairy Challenge held in Green Bay, Wis., in February.

Social media interns interview Dairy Challenge alumni:

• Nichole Gerard, Iowa State University student, interviews Crystal Prom, Cargill

• Torri Burch, Iowa State University student,  interviews Tony Schmitz, Schmitz’s East Branch Dairy 

• Irene Nielsen, Iowa State University student, interviews Liz Schiebelbein, Phibro Animal Health

• Torri and Irene talk about their Dairy Challenge experiences, as past competitors and social media interns

Learn more about the Dairy Challenge:

It wasn’t just their dairy farm on the line. It was their house too. 

Pauly Paul from Complete Management Consulting is back to tell us how he helped one dairy family on the verge of losing it all turn around from bleeding red to a positive cash flow in 6 months. 

Not only were they able to keep the farm and the house, but today, it is a financially sound business in the process of  transitioning to the next generation. 

Find out how Pauly and his team:

No alcohol, 2-a-day workouts, following a diet, daily personal development reading and drinking a gallon of water … every day for 75 days.

That’s 75 Hard, a transformative commitment for building mental toughness and self discipline, and these two Michigan dairymen just completed it, alongside the 4x4x48 endurance challenge from Episode 100. 

Tommy Oesch from Swisslane Farms and Clare Alderink from Ryzebol Dairy are back to dish it out on what they did, what they read and how 75 Hard transformed their habits and their mindsets.

Hear more from Tommy Oesch on the Uplevel Dairy Podcast

Last year, Michigan dairyman Tommy Oesch from Swisslane Farms, told us right here on the Uplevel Dairy Podcast that he planned to complete David Goggins’ extreme 4x4x48 endurance challenge: That’s running 4 miles, every 4 hours for 48 hours.

Today, Tommy is back and he brought his friend Clare Alderink, general manager at Ryzebol Dairy, to talk about the grueling physical and mental challenge they completed in March, and the surprising ways it’s made them better as dairymen, family men and friends.

This episode is all about mindset:

• Self discipline

• Developing habits 

• Doing hard things

If you are pushing for your next level of performance, I promise, this episode drops some real life wisdom and will leave you with a new vision of what’s possible for you too!

Here more from Tommy Oesch on the Uplevel Dairy Podcast:

Welcome to central Texas, where summer days exceed 100 degrees and heat stress is one of the greatest threats to cow health, reproduction and performance. 

But since adding monitoring technology to their 1,250-cow herd last year, dairyman Hidde Osinga from Overwhere Dairy is using collar-collected data to:

• Find and treat compromised cows sooner

• Catch silent heats 

• Capture 15 percentage points on conception rate

Find out how his team has learned to trust the system, and hear about Hidde’s excitement for the future of dairying in this episode, part of the High-Performance Mindset Series, powered  by Nedap. 

Nedap is future-proofing dairy farms by revolutionizing cow-side care through technologies in activity monitoring, cow locating, milk metering and identification. 

Find more episodes in Nedap’s High-Performance Mindset Series here:

We catch up with Curtis Bosma, vice president of producer services for HighGround Dairy, to hear about:

• Soybeans: All-time high crush capacity and largest carry in more than 15 years

• Managed money short covering corn and beans

• Domestic cheese demand slips while butter takes off

• Why are Texas dairy cows under the weather?

In the final episode in this series with the women who are leading the way at Pagel Family Businesses, in Kewaunee, Wisconsin, we sit down with Ashley Pagel, human resources manager.

Find out:

• Ashley’s transition from a career in health care to heading up human resources 

• How she has professionalized processes and paperwork

• Improving employee retention

We continue this 3-part series with the women who are leading the way at Pagel Family Businesses, in Kewaunee, Wisconsin. 

Today, Chase Pagel debuts her new children’s book, Rosco’s Sweet Treats, a story that not only depicts modern dairy farming, but also a real-life tale of a steer raised by her daughter that had a taste for cupcakes and other treats.

Chase talks about:

• How the challenge to find accurate dairy farm books to read to tour groups became her motivation

• How her family is her inspiration

• And the next books to come in this series.

This week, we bring you a 3-part series, as we celebrate the month of March: the month of women’s history, international women’s day, as well as National Agriculture Day.

What better way to do this than in Kewaunee, Wisconsin, at Pagel’s Ponderosa Dairy, with three very special guests from Pagel Family Businesses … three women who have risen to the challenge to be leaders … here at the dairy, in their community and far beyond. 

This family has overcome hardship, in particular, the tragic loss of well-loved industry leader and the family’s patriarch, John T. Pagel, along with his son-in-law, Steve Witcpalek, six years ago.

Yet, the family has rallied together to carry on a legacy and a business. 

In this episode, Jamie Pagel Witcpalek, chairwoman of Pagel Family Businesses, opens up about loss, grief and moving forward.  

Tune into the next two episodes in this series to hear from:

• Chase Pagel on Sharing Dairy’s Story

• Ashley Pagel on Empowering People

In this episode of the UpLevel Dairy Podcast, host Peggy Coffeen welcomes back guest Leland Kootstra, an accountant well-versed in the dairy farming business sector and founding partner of Frazer, LLP. The dialogue offers a trove of wisdom for generational dairy farmers, focusing on the skills needed to take over the helm and steer their family businesses to new horizons.

Leland emphasizes the importance of meticulousness in business operations, where an in-depth understanding of costs, schedules, and right-sizing is crucial for superior management. He also brings to light the significance of integrating robust risk management strategies to hedge against uncontrollable market volatility.

The three things that Leland sees the top 10% of dairy farmers doing are:

• Being extremely knowledgeable on the details of the business
• Having an action plan around risk management
• Being cognizant of what it takes to be a reputable business

This episode is brought to you by HighGround Dairy

In this episode of the UpLevel Dairy podcast, host Peggy Coffeen interviews Leland Kootstra, an accountant with Frazer, LLP, about the importance of succession planning in multi-generational dairy businesses. Kootstra shares three critical questions he asks both the senior and incoming generations to help them define their goals, timelines, and long-term outlook. He emphasizes the need for open and ongoing communication to ensure a smooth transition and alignment of expectations. This episode provides valuable insights for dairy farm owners and managers looking to pass on their businesses successfully.

Hear more in this episode about:

• The importance of early and ongoing dialogue between generations to ensure successful transitioning of the family dairy businesses.

• Three critical questions posed to the senior generation to help them identify their vision of success, ideal transition timelines, and their willingness to re-invest in their current business if given a chance to start over.

• Corresponding in-depth questions directed at the incoming generation aimed at understanding their definition of success, skillset gaps, and their long-term perspective on the regional dairy industry.

• The emotional and familial sensitivity surrounding transition planning and the role of an advisor in facilitating healthy conversations.

• Insights on the dynamic industry, changing expectations, and how generational goals can inform and sometimes transform the succession planning process.

This episode is brought to you by HighGround Dairy

Hans Nederend isn’t only committed to producing high-quality milk on his dairies. He’s also committed to living a high-quality life. Whether it’s leading his family or leading his team, hear how Hans keeps his faith at the center of his roles as both a dad and a dairyman.

In his responses to the “Uplevel 5,” Hans talks about:

• The book that changed his life and his leadership

• The Calvin Coolidge quote on his business card

• Honoring God by living out your purpose

In this episode, Peggy sits down with a seventh-generation dairy family, Rob and Erica Diepersloot, from Madera, California, as they share their story of co-founding bovine colostrum company, WonderCow, including:

• The heartbreak they experienced as parents of a daughter with chronic ear infections, and how that led them to look in their own backyard to create a dairy-derived solution. 

• How inconsistency and mislabeling in the market place led Rob and Erica to create their own trusted and transparent brand, from their own cows and other dairies that share their values

• Navigating the challenges of Amazon and the supply chain

And the faith-filled journey of building the WonderCow brand.

She manages 15 employees, 1,200 baby calves and 700 maternity cows … and she’s just 24 years old.

Our Uplevel Dairy Young Leader today is Madison Busse, Calf and Maternity Manager for Minnesota-based United Dairies. 

The Ohio native didn’t grow up on a dairy but learned to love it, and while her path was originally to become a large animal veterinarian, an internship with a calf raiser prompted a change of heart and change of direction that led her to Alexandria, Minnesota, to a position where she can’t wait to get out of bed every day … the perfect combination of being hands-on with calves and cows, working with people and being part of a culture that supports her in being successful as a young manager at United Dairies.

Find out how she is forging her path in a field that some people actually discouraged her from pursuing and why she loves giving baby calves and cows a chance to thrive,  with Madison Busse.

The Uplevel Dairy Young Leaders Podcast is the special podcast series for producers and professionals in the first 5 years of their dairy careers. Find it on the Uplevel Dairy Podcast, as well as its own platform, Uplevel Dairy Young Leaders on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube.

Today’s big question: With heifer inventories at historic lows and global milk production trending lower in 2024, we seem to be poised for better milk prices compared to 2023, so what's your action plan to capitalize on this opportunity?

If this question has you thinking, you’ve come to the right place, because Curtis Bosma is joining us for the HighGround Dairy Monthly Market Update.

In this episode, hear more about:

• The supply update for heifer inventory & global milk production

• The demand update for milk spot basis, credit card debt & milk fat

• New crop balance sheets for corn and soybeans

This episode is brought to you by HighGround Dairy

HighGround Dairy provides global dairy market intelligence, insurance services, futures & options brokerage, and advisory programs to a diverse range of dairy market participants throughout the supply chain.

On this episode, Peggy sits down with Clint Al-Ag, president of the Dairy Calf and Heifer Association (DCHA) Board of Directors, and manager with Blue Sky Farms.

Clint gives a sneak-peak of what to expect at the upcoming DCHA Conference, as well as how the organization has helped him develop leadership skills as he has transitioned from heifer yard manager to now overseeing 150 employees across three sites in the Texas panhandle.

Clint covers three key steps he has taken to set up middle managers for success, including:

• How he assesses not just core competencies but alignment with core values and desire to be a leader

• Reinforcing the chain of command

• Ongoing support for new managers

Join Clint and other producers and industry professionals who specialize in raising dairy calves, heifers and cross calves at the 2024 DCHA Annual Meeting.

2024 DCHA Annual Meeting

And our featured Young Leader today is Emily Shaw Schaapmann, also known as the Dairy Girl Fitness, shares the career journey that led her to starting her own business. 

Describing her initial struggles finding her place in the dairy industry and experiencing career frustration, Emily discusses how she channeled her passions for health, fitness, and dairy promotion into establishing Dairy Girl Fitness. Five years later, this business has helped more than 500 women reach their health goals and includes a team of four coaches. 

Follow Emily Shaw Schaapman on Social

What's been keeping you up at night? Is your mind turning about how to create alternative revenue streams, monetizing more than milk from your dairy or cash in on carbon? Or are you wishing there was a training available for your middle managers, one day where they could sharpen their communication and leadership skills? 

Well, guess what ... you can find it all and more in one place: The High Plains Dairy Conference.

I’ll be emceeing this biennial event, and I’m inviting you to join me in Amarillo, Texas, on March 5 and 6, with a bonus middle manager training on March 7, for one of the most truly producer-driven meetings in the dairy industry.

The driving force behind this meeting is Dr. Robert Hagevoort from New Mexico State University Extension. Robert shared some valuable insights on our last episode on optimizing the ROI of your employees, and he’s back on today to tell us what’s new, what to expect and why dairy producers from beyond the High Plains will find value in the High Plains Dairy Conference!

-----

High Plains Dairy Conference

• Embassy Suites
• Amarillo, Texas
• Pre-Conference and Conference on March 5-6; Middle Managers Training Workshop on March 7

------

View agenda and register for the High Plains Dairy Conference:

Any dairy producer will tell you, a good employee is worth every dollar. But every two weeks, when pay day comes around, do you ever wonder if you are getting the most out of your investment? What if it didn't have to cost you a penny more to maximize the efforts and outcomes of every hour you are paying that employee to be at your dairy? 

Our guest today spends a lot of his time improving training, safety and development of the dairy workforce. Dr. Robert Hagevoort, with New Mexico State University Extension, joins us to talk about three things he sees high-performing dairy operations doing to increase employee engagement, retention and performance. 

Hear about:

• The reason your trainings in Spanish may be failing

• How to optimize daily performance

• What the best dairies are doing to get the right people in the right seats on the bus

To view agenda and register for the High Plains Dairy Conference:

A big question we ask ourselves as dairy producers and professionals is, how can we effectively communicate with consumers about the food we produce and our built-in sustainability stories?

Who better to tap into this topic than Dr. Marissa Hake. I sat down with Dr. Hake at the Adisseo VIP Dairy Seminar to get her insights. Hear what she has to say about consumer purchasing decisions, dairy versus the alternatives, sustainability and building trust on this UPlevel Dairy Podcast.

In this episode of the Uplevel Dairy Podcast, you will be able to hear Dr. Hake’s insights on:

• Consumer trends and concerns

• Reframing environmental impact and the sustainability story

• Ensuring consumer acceptance of new technologies

Peggy sits down with Dr. Chuck Schwab, a distinguished Professor Emeritus from New Hampshire University, at the Adisseo VIP Dairy Seminar, where he recapped highlights of his career and research on the important role of amino acids in dairy cattle nutrition.

Find out:

• Why Schwab so fervently pursued amino acid research

• The impacts on the way dairy cattle rations are formulated today

• And why he believes his work is not yet done.

This episode is sponsored by Adisseo, global leader in animal nutrition and premium provider of rumen protected methionine for dairy producers who want to capture the power of components and maintain the health of their high-performing herds.

If you are passionate about sharing dairy’s story with consumers and want to know how to turn that into a career, keep listening to hear how Allison Ryan has done just that.

As the marketing and communications director for MVP Dairy and McCarty Family Farms, she has brought the vision to life for an on-farm dairy learning center in Salina, Ohio, and will soon be cutting the ribbon on a second, interactive learning center near Rexford, Kansas. 

And she’s joining us today to talk about the opportunities for young professionals who want to make their passion their career, right here on the UPlevel Dairy Young Leaders Podcast.

The Uplevel Dairy Young Leaders Podcast is the special podcast series for producers and professionals in the first 5 years of their dairy careers. Find it on the Uplevel Dairy Podcast, as well as its own platform, Uplevel Dairy Young Leaders on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube.

Is a $15 breakeven possible for a dairy farming business in 2024, given increases in input costs and inflation, and the current milk market conditions?

If anyone would tell you “yes,” it would be Pauly Paul with Complete Management Consulting. Pauly has helped hundreds of farms reduce their expenses and increase their income, so that they can be profitable and sustainable businesses.

I’ve asked Pauly, if he was running his own dairy farm, how would he do it?

Find out on this episode:

• Which expenses he would cut first, and the ones he wouldn’t touch

• His time-saving approach to meetings and effective employee managemen
• Where he often sees dairies losing their focus and losing money
• And how he would get his break-even point to $15 per cwt.

This Episode is Sponsored by Complete Management Consulting

Contact Pauly Paul

Today’s big question: What if you knew, with 100% certainty, that the milk price would plummet $5 per hundred weight in the next few months … what would you do?

If this question has you thinking, you’ve come to the right place, because Curtis Bosma is joining us for the HighGround Dairy Monthly Market Update.

Find out:

• Price Action Update

• The Big 3 factors are influencing your milk check right now 

• Strategic actions you can take to protect your business

We’ve got an exciting new addition to the Uplevel Dairy Podcast … a monthly market update to empower you to make informed decisions for your dairy farming business, brought to you by HighGround Dairy.

On this episode, we sit down to get to know Curtis Bosma, vice president of producer services for HighGround Dairy, to learn more about his mission to take the stress out of understanding markets and provide you with the tools to protect your dairy business’s profitability.

Find out:

• How Curtis got mud on his boots growing up on dairies in California and the Midwest

• Cutting his teeth in trading at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME)

• His drive, strategy and outlooks, personally and professionally

You can look forward to Curtis’s January update on our next episode, including market movements, commodity inventories and the big three factors influencing your next milk check.

This episode is brought to you by: HighGround Dairy provides global dairy market intelligence, insurance services, futures & options brokerage, and advisory programs to a diverse range of dairy market participants throughout the supply chain.

And our featured Young Leader today is as dedicated to dairy as they come, Alex Gambonini. Raised on an organic California dairy farm, Alex not only grew up showing cattle and competing in dairy quiz bowl, but she also loved digging into numbers and economics. Today, her passions combined, she is the senior manager of advisory services for HighGround Dairy.

Hear how Alex:

• Dives into the complexities of dairy economics and milk pricing

• Her very powerful and personal “why” for helping dairy farmers understand milk markets and manage risk

• And how she uses both  in-person and online networking to connect with other professionals

Enjoy this conversation with our UD Young Leader, Alex Gambonini.

The Uplevel Dairy Young Leaders Podcast is the special podcast series for producers and professionals in the first 5 years of their dairy careers. Find it on the Uplevel Dairy Podcast, as well as its own platform, Uplevel Dairy Young Leaders on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube.

Before you take on that second dairy site, there are four key areas to consider that can make or break the long-term viability and profitability of this decision.

Curtis Gerrits, Senior Dairy Lending Specialist from Compeer Financial, is having these conversations on the regular, and he is going to walk us through these four critical areas and leave you with greater insights for your own decision-making on whether to purchase, lease, or pass up an opportunity to take on a satellite dairy site.

This Episode is Sponsored by Compeer Financial

Compeer Financial is a member-owned Farm Credit cooperative serving and supporting agriculture and rural America. Our dairy team brings world-class expertise and tailored solutions to support dairy producers’ financial goals and lending needs.

La presentadora invitada Elsie González Leach de Motiva Dairy Consulting se sienta con Juan Quezada de Milk Source para hablar sobre su trayectoria profesional, desde sus inicios como ordeñador hasta 25 años después, liderando a 650 personas como director de capacitación y desarrollo de la operación láctea. Descubra cómo comparte sus conocimientos para ayudar a otros a alcanzar su propio éxito y creer en lo que es posible para usted.

Suscríbase a Motiva Dairy Consulting en YouTube para ver esta entrevista y más recursos en español sobre capacitación y desarrollo de liderazgo en el sector lechero:

We have some exciting things coming your way on the next episode of the Uplevel Dairy Podcast … an episode in Spanish is coming soon!

But first, on today’s episode, Peggy sits down with Juan Quezada, director of training and development at Milk Source, to uncover his 5 principles of leadership.

Then, on our next episode, you will get to hear the in-depth interview in Spanish, with Juan and Elsie Gonzalez Leach, from Motiva Dairy Consulting. 

Welcome back, friends, for more in this special series we are dropping each day this week on Uplevel Dairy - catching up with our guests from last year who shared their "one word" for 2023 12 months ago. In this last episode in this series, you get to hear from Katie DiGangi about her word “presence” and what that meant for her family and relationships, and I share about my word “truth” and the unexpected shifts it provoked. And find out what Katie and have chosen for our “one word” for 2024!

Interested in what other dairy professionals chose as their 2024 word? Check out the rest of this mini-series below!

Some say it's impossible to start a dairy farm from scratch these days, but 9 years ago, Michigan dairyman Paul Windemuller did it  ... with just $20,000 in cash. 

Get ready to tap into the business mindset of this entrepreneurial dairy farmer today. 

You're going to hear about the business practices Paul brought back to the U.S. from New Zealand to start his dairy with 30 leased cows in an old turkey coop and a homemade milking parlor, and how he got to where he is 9 years later: with a 250-cow herd in a robot barn.

It doesn't matter how many cows you milk or acres you run. You are going to find some powerful takeaways in Paul's story, and hear about his next venture of traveling around the world and sharing stories through his new AgCulture Podcast.

Links

Connect with Paul Windemuller on LinkedIn and find AgCulture Podcast on Apple, Spotify and YouTube, and follow on Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram

Our featured Uplevel Dairy Young Leader today is Michael Neves. He joins us from California, though he has a network in the dairy community that reaches around the world.

The first few years of Michael’s career included working with startups in technology and animal health, before finding a great fit for his skillset as business development manager for Progressive Dairy Solutions.

Hear about:

• How his entrepreneurial spirit almost led him to owning a McDonald's franchise at age 19

• His passion for helping dairy farmers get paid for their sustainability practices

• And the skills that he uses to have a seat at tables that are often filled with people twice his age.

Young producers and professionals will relate to the challenges and opportunities Michael sees, and those of us who are more seasoned can also take notes on what an ambitious young dairy leader desires in the workplace.

What if there was just one question you could ask in the interview process to identify your next best, long-term employee? What if asking that one question not only helped you to fill an open spot today, but opened the door for that right person to stay with you for a decade, and who is bought into your vision and motivated to help achieve your goals and benchmarks for your business? 

Elsie Gonzalez Leach, founder of Motiva Consulting works with some of the best dairies in the country to improve operational efficiencies and build strong teams, and she about to share with us the one thing that she says the most progressive dairy owners and managers are doing that completely transforms their hiring process and sets up a new employee for long term success that empowers and motivates the individual and they way the contribute to your team.

This episode is sponsored by Adisseo, global leader in animal nutrition and premium provider of rumen protected methionine for dairy producers who want to capture the power of components and maintain the health of their high-performing herds.

If you are pulling your hair out because your milking parlor is constantly running behind schedule ... the 7-hour shift is stretching out to 9 hours, and the flow of feeding, cleaning stalls and everything else in the back of the barn is thrown off because you just can't seem to get all the groups milked on time?

If that's you, you are not alone - this is one of the biggest frustrations on a lot of dairies, and it's costing you time and money. 

And did you know there may be another - even bigger money stealer - a less obvious but very costly scenario - and it's not in the parlor? 

We're not just scratching the surface on these problems, we're going in deep on this episode of the Uplevel Dairy Podcast with a guest today who is in such high demand on dairy farms, that she's booking out to 2025. 

Elsie Gonzalez Leach, founder of Motiva Consulting, is here to tell you how she helps clients shave hours off of milking shifts and she's going to tip you off to the sneaky, hidden issue that is siphoning time and money on so many dairies.

Elsie has spent nearly 15 years helping dairy businesses optimize efficiency, production and quality by building stronger dairy teams through consulting, coaching and leadership development.

This episode is sponsored by Adisseo, global leader in animal nutrition and premium provider of rumen protected methionine for dairy producers who want to capture the power of components and maintain the health of their high-performing herds.

Contact: Elsie González-Leach

Motiva Consulting

Cell: 262.388.9096

Email: elsie.gonzalez@motiva.consulting

Visit Motiva Consulting on Facebook! 

Empowering middle managers to be leaders, employee cell phone protocols and bringing team building to the dairies. That's what we are hitting up today on the Uplevel Dairy Podcast.

Bridget Schilling from Schilling Farms in Darlington and Montfort, Wisconsin, is back on with us today. On Ep 53, she talked about getting a new team on board while taking on a second dairy, and today, we are tapping into the tips and tools she brings to the table from her professional management role in nursing, to now handling human resources and employee relations for the operation that includes 2,100 cows and 30 employees. 

Whether you manage a single site or multiple locations, I think you will find some great takeaways for developing leaders, building teams and some creative ways to get it all done.