It is common knowledge that that first season a new manager/contract milker/sharemilkers is on farm is not going to be their best year or the best year the farm has ever had (with some exceptions). And that’s fair. They are getting settled in on a new farm and with such a short turn around from moving your entire life to the busiest season of the year, something has to give.
Now – if the farm is experiencing a first season of a new manager/contract milker/sharemilker every season, the farm is consistently in the “getting settled in” phase. If that is the case, the farm is likely not reaching potential milk production, in-calf rates, or feed efficiencies that would be in-reach if the manager/contract milker/sharemilker had a second season to establish good systems, routines and management techniques.
Lets do the sums – if we put a conservative estimate of a 5% increase in milk production from season 1 to season 2, what does that look like to your farm income? If you were to improve your in-calf rate by 3 or 4%, what does that look? And if you can do this while reducing your feed in-efficiencies because the manager/contract milker/sharemilker is paying more attention to the details, what does this do to your profitability? For many of the contract milking rates I have seen coming through, an increase of 20-25c per kg of milksolids could comfortably return $70,000 in increased milk production alone in season 2 at a $7 milk price (and only cost an additional $17,000-$18,000 in remunerating the contract milker).
What has retention got to do with a contract milking rate? If the contract milking rate is too low (i.e. it has no premium and/or the remuneration is less than those parties would earn as employees), the financial pressure of the role will reduce job satisfaction, remove their ability to afford a relief milker to get a break from farm and minimise burn out, and over the course of the season they are likely to sink into debt and be increasingly resentful of the farm owner (and probably the consultant) who hired them.
There is endless research to show no matter what industry you are in, if you are burnt out, and you feel underappreciated and under remunerated you are going to stop trying and you are probably going to look for a new role. In this case. the farm slowly becomes untidy, milk production stagnates and your cost of production will certainly be higher than it could be – even though your labour costs are technically lower because you have underpaid your manager/contract milker/sharemilker.
While remuneration isn’t the only thing that contributes to improved retention and overall farm profitability (communication is another big one – but we will cover that next month), its an important place to start. A manager/contract milker/sharemilker is not going to be happy to work towards your goals and stick around if they are underpaid and feel under appreciated. If you don’t know where to start with remuneration, get in touch and we can work out what is appropriate for you and your farm system for this coming season
