Dairy NZ

Capture the lessons of calving

Have a team debrief post-calving and take time to consider:

• What went well?  What can you all improve on?
• The changes that need to be made on farm for next season

Start talking about leave:

• Labour weekend, Christmas and New Year and plans for summer holidays
• Outline your expectations for covering leave
• Arrange for a relief milker
• If you are planning to manage the holiday season with a skeleton team, who will be back up or support if something goes wrong?

Prepare for mating:

• Let the team know about plans and expectations. Ensure they understand "What good looks like".

Health and safety:

• Talk through important Health and Safety issues for this time of year. Accidents increase considerably on farm over the summer season, make sure everyone, including contractors, knows how to keep safe 

Set up times for performance reviews:

• Remember performance reviews should not be the only time you get to catch up with your staff.  Regular meetings to discuss expectations help to keep staff on track
• Set up clearly defined objectives for all your staff, so that they know what is expected of them.  Objectives also help staff to know how to prioritise
• Identify training requirements for staff and make sure this happens.

For more information, download or order the Spring Survival Guide here.