We are excited that Liz is a part of the Dairy Signal Show. It's a series of presentations that PDPW (The Professional Dairy Producers of Wisconsin) puts out 3x/week. Liz will be participating at various times throughout the year. We'll keep you updated when she's on, and post recordings of...
Insights
Sometimes Ya Gotta Let Go
As business owners we are good at adding. Adding more acres, more sales, more landlords, and more employees. More is a sign of success; at a certain point, more can limit new opportunities. Some opportunities may be growing the farm, succession planning, or building your employee team. There comes a...
Is your family committed to the farm?
Lack of a shared vision may be one of the most significant threats to sustaining a family business through multiple generations. Roughly 83% of family farms do NOT make it to the third generation. Developing your own family's vision will greatly increase the odds in your favor. Your family farm...
Do you have the right people on your bus?
Is there a Third Question to Ask? You have probably heard the phrases, "we need the right people on the bus," and "we need the employees in the right seats" on that bus. These phrases imply we need to find the right people to join our businesses and then make...
The Power of a Transition Plan
And the Failure when there is none. Bob, a dairy farmer college of mine, operated a successful 600 cow dairy. Like most of us, he thought he had a lot more time left in this world. Unfortunately, Bob was diagnosed with cancer on a Monday and died just two weeks...
Don’t Ask If You Can’t Handle the Truth
As business owners, you want content and engaged employees who stay for the long haul. That requires open lines of communication and an effort on your part to seek feedback to improve employee morale and culture. However, sometimes it is hard to handle the truth, and some business owners don’t believe...
Keep Calm and Carry On
Keep Calm and Carry On Lessons on Resilience & Hope from Great Britain -1939. I saw this phrase several years ago and never paid much mind to it. What does it mean, and where did it come from? Does it apply to us today? The year was 1939. World War...
Influential Leaders. Inspire? or Deflate?
Each day, we, as leaders, influence our teams. We influence them with our passion, work ethic, and desire to progress. We can either be a positive influence or a negative one. The choice is ours. Great leaders understand the importance of positively influencing others. They help them grow and reach...
Three questions to ask of any new business venture
All that glitters is not gold. Farm incomes are down, and it may be tempting to start an off-farm business to produce non-farm income. You are probably excellent at production ag, but how well do those talents translate to this new venture? One owner confided to me that, "We have...
Plan for People Power
As farmers, you plan for future. Future crop rotations, increased herds, capital purchases, and hopefully even some well-deserved time off. Unfortunately, what many businesses neglect to plan for is the PEOPLE. The people who work on your farm and support your vision. It's easy to neglect people management because it's...