How I Motivate and Communicate with Clients in My Dairy Practice

Abstract

This paper will deal specifically with the subject of motivating and communicating with personnel on large commercial dairy operations. The typical dairy in Arizona has capacity to milk 500 cows two or three times per day. One milks 4,000 head three times per day and currently averages 20,000 lb. milk according to DHIA rolling herd averages. The average dairyman raises his own replacements, purchases all his feed, runs a labor intensive, highly leveraged operation on less than 30 acres of land. Providing veterinary service to these types of herds requires motivating and communicating with several types of people on each operation. Applying people management skills to implement herd health programs is essential.