B2—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, July 12,1980
BY PAT KAUFFMAN
LANCASTER - In this
last segment of our series on
dairy management, the
interview at Glenn Shirk’s
suggestion was with a
Chester County dairy far
mer. Additionally, ideas on
our topic, dairy employee
relations, are offered by a
Lancaster County farmer.
William Moore, Chatham,
farms approximately 1150
acres and has 440 Holsteins,
85 percent of which are
registered. His wife Sally,
said the family has 2 girls in
college and a 13 year old son.
She said their operation
depends on good help.
Sally said the employee
program they have worked
out is designed around
people. In their business she
said they think of the people
first because the people are
really the most important
thing. She said they could not
function without reliable
dairy employees.
The Moores’ operation
consists of three double 4
herringbone parlors. They
have eight milkers in each
parlor. Each milking takes
approximately 4 hours.
Presently they have 10
fulltime and 4 parttime
employees, she said. They
have 4 females employed in
the positions of heifer
manager, assistant heifer
manager, assistant herd
manager and office
manager.
She said that turnovers
seem to come in spells, but
that some of their present
employees have stayed 11
and 12 years. The system
they use has evolved over
the years according to Sally.
Early problems such as
not having people they could
count on, or who could un
derstand the complex
operation, and people who
ipere only looking for a house
or who destroyed houses
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can’t run a
You
«woe,,to mind for Sally. She
recounted th?c~ •'f nhspnt
mmded employees during
the early years and recalls
during a period of fatigue
accusing her husband of
trying to run a million dollar
operation with ten cent
people.
llie new system which
Sally says has really paid off
for the family is based upon
recruiting their employees
from local ag colleges.
Almost all their employees
have 2-4 year college
degrees, she said.
Additionally, she said they
require references, and
future employees come to
look the operation over,
often staying the whole day
to see if everyone feels
they’d like to work together.
She said this eliminates
the people who came to the
door and were just looking
for a house, some of whom
she said were alcoholics.
Sally explained that the
machinery and the cows are
just too valuable and
sophisticated for someone
without more experience.
In their setup, there are 3
separate herds, each with a
herd manager and assistant
herd manager. The manager
and the assistant each milk
once a day. They are
responsible for veterinary
and breeding scheduling
including choosing sires, and
for scraping the lots.
The Moores use a freestall
system of housing and feed
on lots. With the 4 hours
required for each milking
and the duties involved in
canng for the animals, 2
people really are required to
milk each herd daily, she
said.
In addition, they make all
grass and com silage, an
operation which requires
considerable help.
Sally said they give all
their managers training.
>ast in our series o
million dollar dairy with ten cent people
Herdsmen are sent to the
large herd conference held
at Penn State. And once a
year, the Moores send their
employees to the top people
at Atlantic Breeders and
have them go over the
breeding program and show
the herd managers how to
pick the right bulls.
Also the herdsmen are
sent to the milking school at
Penn State shortly after
coming to the farm and
sometimes again later for a
refresher course.
One aspect she seemed
proud to mention was the
fact that they pay half of the
tuition for their employees to
the Dale Carnegie course.
Those who work with people
under them are almost
required to attend the
classes, and almost all have
done so, she said.
She said they try to give a
good base salary and add to
the salary as much as
possible with inflation. They
are located between
Wilmington and
Philadelphia she noted and
must provide adequate
wages to meet the com
petition.
An important part of their
employee program deals
with incentives. She said
their employees help to set
the goals they try to reach.
The incentives take the form
of bonuses for reaching
volume and production
goals.
The Moores use per
centages of the total pounds
of milk per unit and on
production per cow over a
certain minimum. These
bonuses are then paid in
December for a big
Christmas bonus.
Their heifer manager gets
a bonus based on calf
mortality under a certain
percentage.
All employees receive a
house, and Sally said they
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built new ones or remodeled
existing housing to provide
what she termed “excellent
housing” for their em
ployees. In addition, a yearly
allowance for sprucing up
the house is budgeted.
A swimming pool is
provided for use by the
employees. Garden space
and beef are also part of the
fringe benefit package.
A comprehensive health
plan, workmen’s com
pensation and unem
ployment are all carried on
the employees. And after the
third year, an HRIO
retirement program
designed to retire them at
present salary through life
insurance, some in
vestments and social
security is started, she said.
Each employee receives 60
days off per year and after 10
years, that increases to 70
days off.
When an employee has
been with the Moores for 10
years, Sally said they send
the husband and wife on
what they call their “ten
year trip” for a week’s
vacation all expenses paid.
Sally said this program
has given them excellent
results and after 6 months
with the Moores the help is
expected to give 2 weeks
notice before leaving. Most
do, she said.
One example of a
dairyman who runs a
smaller operation was in
terviewed in Lancaster
County. While the dairyman
wished to remain
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anonymous, some of the
ideas he has used to form his
dairy help program may be
of interest to other
dairymen.
In the case of this
dairyman, he has no cm-
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ployees. The two men who
work with his herd are what
he termed “contract
laborers.”
These men work for an
(Turn to Page B 3)
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