A26’Linca«tw Farming, Saturday, April 7,1990
/I FOCUS I
— 1
Pennsylvania X"
Dairy Herd i
. . . •, . \ Call 1-800-DHI-TEST for service or information.
Improvement Association )
DICK BARTH
General Manager
Pennsylvania DHIA
‘There were hundreds, probab
ly thousands,” my wife said to me.
“Thousands of what,” I asked.
“Geese. Last night, about 1:30
a.m. Didn’t you hear them?”
“No,” I said. “I was sleeping.”
“They made a terrific honking
noise,” she said. “Even though
you couldn’t see them you could
tell they were there. I can’t believe
you didn’t hear them.”
What she said got me thinking.
I’m usually a light sleeper and I
hear even the smallest noises in
the house at night. But I didn’t
hear those noisy geese, and it
bothered me. After all, I would
have heard them if I had been
awake.
But I was asleep, as anybody
ought to be that time of day! -- and
that was the problem. I missed the
geese, thousands of them, because
i was asleep.
There were SI, and most people
didn’t see them either.
Those that missed them were
asleep, like I was with the geese.
Also missed was the fact that
they cost DHIA members $5,000
apiece to replace them.
Let’s see, that’s $5,000 times
51, or $255,000. A big chunk of
money.
What are the 51? DHIA
supervisors.
The most important asset the
association has and we lost about
that many statewide in 1989.
Some retired, but most quit out
right. There were 51 replacements
hired, each costing $5,000 to
recruit and train.
And amazing as it may seem,
by January 1,1990 eleven of those
new hires had quit. They didn’t
even make it a year on die job.
Three Reasons
For Leaving
Why do supervisors leave
DHIA?
They tell us because of poor
pay, poor working conditions and
Average Farm Feed
Costs For Handy
Reference
To help farmers across the state to have
handy reference of commodity input costs in
their, feeding operations for DHIA record
sheets or to develop livestock feed cost data,
here’s this week’s average costs of various
ingredients as compiled from regional reports
across the state of Pennsylvania. Remember
these are averages so you will need to adjust
your figures up or down according to your
location and the quality of your crop.
Com, No. 2y - 2.81
Wheat, No. 2 - 3.76
Barley, No. 3 - 2.13
Oats, No. 2 - 1.71
Soybeans, No. 1 - 5.72
New Ear Com, - 78.30
Alfalfa Hay - 128.75
Mixed Hay - 113.25
Timothy Hay - 94.75 -
Sleeping On the Job
lack of opportunity for
advancement.
Those with ambition realize
soon after hire that there is no
structure for promotional oppor
tunities and they are in a dead-end
position. So they look for greater
pastures elsewhere.
If they really want to earn a
good income, they start breeding
cows for a living because the aver
age income for an A.I. technician
is about $lO,OOO per year higher
than the average income for a
DHIA supervisor in Pennsylvania.
Fifty-one out of 246 total super
visors, that’s a 21% turnover rate,
too high for an organization
whose overall success depends
directly on the contributions those
people make.
Making the matter worse,
though, 180 replacements have
been hired in the last four years
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Carliale. PA
PETERMAN
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717-249-5338
Tunkhannock. PA
BARTRON FARM
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717-836-4011
Hanover. PA
SHEETS BROS., INC.
717-632-3660
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across the state, adding up to a
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Can this hemorrhaging be
stopped?
It can and it must be if we
expect to provide the records ser
vices that PA DHIA members
need to remain competitive.
hi fact, stopping this manpower
(and womanpower) drain on the
organization is one of the primary
reasons for reorganizing into a
single, statewide, direct-member
organization.
REORGANIZING
CAN HELP
PA DHIA’s plan will provide a
field staff organization of assistant
supervisors (entry level position),
supervisors, senior supervisors,
and region managers.
All field personnel would be
employees of the state association
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Grove. PA
NORMAN D. CLARK
& SON INC.
717-734-3682
Maitinaburo. PA
BURCHRELD’S INC.
814-793-2194
Mil Hafi. PA
DUNKLE & GRIEB
717-726-3115
Needmore. PA
CLUGSTON
FARM EQUIPMENT
717-573-2250
merit program, employees can be
deliberately trained for additional
responsibility at the next level.
Then as vacancies occur, there
would be a group of trained
replacements to compete for the
position.
Solving the income problem is
somewhat tougher, but it’s just as
important as promotion opportun
ity to most supervisors. The solu
tion is obviously more pay, but it
must become available in a man
ner affordable to members.
There are only two ways that
happens: one is by improving the
value of services to members,
which in turn allows them to
increase their profitability; the
other is by improving supervisor
productivity.
Both methods require a well
coordinated combination of three
things: service development,
supervisor hiring and training, and
member education.
Under PA DHIA’s proposed
reorganization, all three would be
coordinated by state association
(Turn to Page A3B)
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Chambwibum. PA
CLUGSTON
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717-263-4103
QuanWile. PA
GRUMELU’S
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717-786-7318
Mitllinbura. PA
CHARLES H.SIEPIELA.
SP EMNC 717-253-3334
717-265-4440
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EVERGREEN
TRACTOR CO.
717-272-4641
Weal Lawn. PA
CLARKLIFT SERVICES
215-670-2950
Honeadale. PA