Breaking free from the chains of the past Where
truth moves faster than a Holstein calf No law
waiting on some printed page We're charting new
ground in the digital age From genomic codes
to robot facts We cut through the noise, no hold
them back not your daddy's dairy news tonight
we're sparking Welcome back to the Bullvine Podcast,
where we cut through dairy industry noise to
get you the insights that actually matter for
your operation. And today, we're diving deep
into a feature piece about the silent crisis
in our alleys. Farmer suicide. I know. It's a
heavy topic. And to be honest, when we first
put this on the editorial calendar, well, I saw
you hesitate. I did. And I think a lot of our
listeners, when they see that title, their first
instinct is maybe to skip this one. They're thinking,
I don't have time for feelings right now. Yeah,
exactly. I have cows to milk. I have a scraper
that just went down. And the milk prices. Well,
you know where the bulk price is. You nailed
it. That was exactly your first thought, wasn't
it? It was. Usually we're here to argue about
genomic sires or, you know, we're tearing apart
a USDA production report. We're debating whether
robots actually pay off in under five years.
Right. That's the stuff I like. That's the stuff
that feels like farming. When people start talking
about mental wellness in agriculture, my eyes,
I'll admit, they usually glaze over a little
bit. Why do you think that is? What's that resistance?
Because. My mind immediately goes to the milk
check. It goes to the feed bill. It goes to that
fresh heifer that just slipped in the crossover
and whether she's going to make it back into
the herd. It feels like luxury property. Or something
you can't afford to deal with. Yeah, or just
something you shove down deep so you can get
the work done. You put on the boots, you go.
Yeah. But reading through this piece, this article,
Silent Alleys, this isn't just about feeling
sad. This is, well, it's about the fact that
we are losing good operators. We are. We are
losing neighbors. And from my perspective, this
isn't just about losing a friend, which is, of
course, devastating. It's about the survival
of family legacy. That's exact. It's about genetics
programs that took 30, maybe 50 years to build
just vanishing in a single afternoon because
the person who held it all together isn't there
anymore. It's about the economic viability of
our entire rural community. I mean, if the farmers
go, the feed mill goes, the vet goes, the town
goes with them. Exactly. And to put a finer point
on it from the data side, because, you know,
that's where I live. The source material we're
looking at today shows a direct quantifiable
correlation between farmer mental health and
herd performance metrics. OK. This is the part
that really grabbed me. And I think it's going
to grab the listener who, like you, thinks they
don't have time for this. The listener who just
wants to talk about cows. Right. The source material
suggests that ignoring your own headspace, your
own stress level, is actually bad business strategy.
It is measurably bad for your bottom line. And
that's the bullvine angle we always promise,
isn't it? The contrarian take. It has to be.
Because the culture, everything we're taught,
tells us to tough it out. The industry says,
grin and bear it, rub some dirt on it, stop complaining
because your grandfather had it way worse. But
what we're going to unpack today is this idea
that your cows, they might actually know you're
in trouble before your own spouse does. That
is a bold statement. I mean, that sounds like
something out of a marketing brochure. It does.
But we're going to back it up. We're going to
talk about some fascinating robotic milking data
and how it can, in a way, predict suicide risk.
It sounds unbelievable, but the data is there.
It really is. So we are going to challenge that
tough it out culture, not just because it's unhealthy
for people, but because it is a direct operational
liability. The risk factor. It's a risk factor,
just like a broken gate on a pen or a slippery
floor in the parlor. All right, let's get into
it. Let's start with segment one, problem identification.
The source article frames this so perfectly by
contrasting two very different types of death
on the farm. They call it the silence versus
the spectacle. Right. And they start with the
story of Reed Hostetler. And this hit me hard
reading it. This was just back in March of 2025
over in Ohio. A young guy, 31 years old, a dairyman.
And it's the nightmare scenario we all dread
every single time we start a PTO or walk near
a pit. Walk us through what happened there. It's
March in Ohio, so you know exactly what that's
like. It's wet, it's muddy, everything is slick
with that spring thaw. He's climbing onto a tractor
to agitate a manure pit. Okay. And the tractor
tips. He goes in. God, it's horrifying, just
the thought of it. It is. And the article details
how his brothers, I mean, they jumped in right
after him trying to save him. They risked their
own lives in that moment, breathing in that gas,
fighting the suction. But the pit. It's a complete
tragedy. A complete tragedy. But what the article
highlights next is the response. And anyone listening
to this who lives in a farm community, you know
exactly what this looks like. You've seen it.
The cavalry arrives. Instantly, the community
descends. The article mentions they had to fix
up the long gravel driveway to the farm because
the frost was coming out of the ground. And they
knew hundreds, maybe thousands of cars were coming.
They were preparing for the support. They put
down stone so the mourners wouldn't sink in the
mud. The barn was overflowing for the funeral.
Everyone stood shoulder to shoulder. It was loud
support. It was visible. We are here for you.
He was a good man. He died doing what he loved.
It's that classic rural rally, and we are so
good at that. When there is a physical accident,
a barn fire, tornado farmers are the best first
responders in the world. We show up with casseroles
and skid steers and checkbooks. We do. We're
amazing at it. But then the article... pivots
and it asks us to compare that huge loud public
response to the whispered deaths yeah to the
suicides and it's night and day it is a completely
different world there are no fundraisers there
are no we lost one of our own rallies in the
town square yeah you get a short obituary in
the paper maybe the cause of death is omitted
entirely or it just says died suddenly at home
and then it's just silent it's the empty chair
at the kitchen table that nobody talks about
Ever. Yeah. And I think that contrast is so important
because it shows how we as a community, we value
these lives differently or at least how we process
the loss differently. How so? If you die in a
tractor rollover, you're a martyr to the industry.
It's tragic, but it's seen as, you know, part
of the job. It's a risk we all accept. It's an
honorable death in a way. In a way, yeah. But
if you die by your own hand, you're a secret.
You're a shame. You're something to be whispered
about behind closed doors. And that secrecy,
that silence is masking a massive statistical
reality. Let's get into the core data here because
it's pretty shocking. Okay, lay it on me. Between
2000 and 2018, rural suicide rates in the U .S.
rose 48 percent. 48. 48 percent. Compare that
to 34 percent in urban areas. So the curve is
steeper out here where we all live and work.
So it's already bad everywhere, but it's getting
worse faster for us. Exactly. But then you zero
in specifically on farmers. The source says farmers
are about three and a half times more likely
to die by suicide than the general population.
3 .5 times. That is. That's not a rounding error.
That isn't just a slightly bad year for the industry.
That is a systemic failure. It's a crisis. The
specific rate they mentioned for male farmers,
ranchers and agricultural managers is 43 .2 deaths
per 100 ,000. And what's the average for like
a regular worker? Much, much lower. It's not
even in the same ballpark. We are in a category
of our own alongside some other very high stress
professions. You know, when you hear a stat like
43 deaths per 100 ,000, it sounds clinical. It
sounds like something from a government report.
It does. It's abstract. But when you live in
a county with maybe 500 active dairy families,
you do the math. That means everyone knows someone.
Everyone. It's a different world out in the country.
We have, you know, the isolation. We have...
Ready access to lethal means. Firearms are the
dominant method, as the source points out. But
three and a half times the general population.
That's staggering. You know, if we had a calf
mortality rate that was three and a half times
the industry average, what would we do? We'd
panic. We would declare a state of emergency
on the farm. We would be calling every vet in
the state. We'd be tearing the barn apart, looking
for the pathogen. We'd be changing the ventilation,
changing the milk replacer, firing the calf feeder.
We would do something. We would treat it as an
emergency. An absolute emergency. We would treat
it as an operational crisis. But with this, with
our own people, we treat it as, I don't know,
a character flaw. Right. The way it is. Or we
just don't talk about it. We just don't talk
about it. Which brings us to the next point.
And this is the one that I think is going to
make some people listening a little uncomfortable.
But we need to hear it. This is where the source
article really digs in with that bullvine style
of myth busting. Right. Segment two, the industry
reality check. There is this myth out there,
right? The everyone knows myth. The idea that
if a farmer is struggling, you'll see it. Or
that farm stress is this hidden internal thing
that doesn't really affect the barn until it's
way, way too late. Right. We think we can compartmentalize.
We tell ourselves that lie every morning. I'm
stressed out. I'm not sleeping. The bank is calling
every day. But I'm a professional. I don't let
it affect the cows. But you can't. It's impossible.
And we're here to bust that myth. We're using
a 2021 study on robotic milking herds to do it.
Okay, lay this out for me because this part is
fascinating. This is where theory meets the alleyway.
It really is. So researchers looked at a number
of farms that were using robotic milking systems.
They had vets and hoof trimmers score cows for
lameness and for under conditioning, you know,
body condition score. So hard. Physical data
on the cows. Exactly. How the cows were walking,
how much flesh they were carrying, objective
data. Then they matched that herd data to mental
health surveys that were filled out by the farmers
who were running those herds. And what did they
find? They found a positive, statistically significant
association between farmer stress and severe
lameness prevalence. So simply put, the more
stressed out the farmer is, the more severely
lame cows are standing around in the alleys.
Yes. And it wasn't just stress. They found that
stress and depression were higher on farms where
they were still feeding manually versus having
an automated TMR. Okay, that makes sense. More
labor. They also found it was higher where farmers
reported working alone most of the time. And
this one is really interesting. It was also higher
on firms where the milk protein was lower. Lower
milk protein. OK, let's unpack this because I
can hear the skeptics right now saying, oh, so
what? The robot is a psychiatrist now. The lily
knows I'm sad. No, let's look at the operational
impact. Why does this happen in the real world?
I know why. I've lived it. Tell us what happens
in the barn when the farmer is mentally cracking
up. It's all about bandwidth. It's about mental
capacity. When you are running on pure adrenaline
and worry, when you are just trying to keep the
lights on and make payroll, you stop doing the
non -urgent stuff. The preventative maintenance.
Exactly. You don't re -bed the stalls quite as
often because you're rushing to fix a broken
feed chain, or you're on the phone with the bank,
or maybe you're just so bone tired you can't
face it. And you miss things. You miss that slight
head bob at the lockup. You know the one I'm
talking about. The cow that's just starting to
favor one foot. The very first sign. The very
first sign. If you're sharp, if your head is
in the game, you catch it. You pull her out,
you wrap it. She's fine in three days. But if
you're staring at your phone, just waiting for
the lender to call you back, you walk right past
her. You miss it. And three days later, she's
three -legged lame and off 100 pounds of milk.
It's a complete loss of focus on the details
that matter. And foot baths. Oh, man, foot baths
are the first thing to go. Mixing up that solution,
hauling those 50 -pound bags of copper sulfate.
It's heavy. It's messy. It's a chore. If you're
exhausted and depressed, you look at it, you
say, you know what? I'll get to it next week.
And next week becomes next month. Exactly. And
suddenly you've got hairy heel warts or digital
dermatitis flaring up across the whole herd.
And now you have a real fire to put out. And
what about the trim lists? Oh, the trim lists.
If you're scared to spend a single dollar because
milk is at $16 and your feed bill is late, are
you calling the hoof trimmer for routine maintenance?
Probably not. No. Maybe you push that visit back
three weeks to save a few bucks. Or you tell
yourself, oh, I'll just trim that one problem
cow myself. But you never get around to it because
you're working 16 hours a day all by yourself.
So the takeaway here is actually profound. Lameness
isn't just a stall design problem. It isn't just
a nutrition problem or a genetic problem. It
is a mental health KPI, a key performance indicator
for the human element of the farm. That hits
hard. If your lameness rate is up and your production
is down, check your own head. Before you go and
blame the premix, before you blame the quality
of the sand in the stalls, look in the mirror.
Are you functioning? Because if you aren't, the
cows are the first ones to feel it. They are
the canary in the coal mine. And that links back
to the why now. mental health as a production
metric. Maybe it gives permission for some of
these tough it out guys to actually address it.
You would never ignore a high somatic cell count.
You shouldn't ignore this. But we also have to
acknowledge why the stress is there in the first
place. It's not just, you know, brain chemistry.
It's the brutal economic environment we are operating
in. Absolutely. Segment three, follow the money,
the economic squeeze. This is where we get real.
The source brings up Wisconsin as the prime example,
the poster child for this crisis. In the year
2000, Wisconsin had farm numbers in the mid -teens.
Thousands of dairy farms. Right. Around 15 ,000,
16 ,000. By 2024, the number is roughly 5 ,222.
That's a 70 % loss. 70 % of the dairies in America's
dairy land. Gone. In less than 25 years. That
is a hollowing out of an entire industry and
a way of life. And it's not just numbers on a
page. It's the get big or get out trap that everyone
talks about. It is. The article mentions a farmer
named Jerry Volanek and his story. Man, it's
so relatable. He started with 70 cows. He did
everything the experts told him to do, everything
you're supposed to do. He followed the playbook?
The exact playbook. Grew to 300 cows, started
milking three times a day, farmed more land.
But here's the kicker. He said he was doing it
with fewer people than he had when he was milking
70 cows. Exactly. And the result, he said he
only broke even through great personal sacrifice.
The happiness, he said, was just sucked out of
him. He didn't want to be that guy, always stressed,
always broke, always working. But the economics
of the industry forced his hand. And looking
at the 2020s economics specifically, the source
highlights the sharp rise in Chapter 12 bankruptcies.
We're seeing 50 percent year over year increases
in some regions. It's the squeeze. It's coming
from all sides. We've got these massive price
shocks from trade disputes, Mexico, China, Canada.
The milk price can swing 65 cents to $1 .75 per
hundredweight just because of some tariff rumor
on the news. And when your margin is already
razor thin, that kind of volatility is deadly.
It's impossible to budget for. And then you have
the input costs. Feed, fuel, labor. The article
says they're up 30 to 100 percent just between
2021 and 2024. That's an incredible increase
in just a few years. Let's do the real world
math on labor for a minute. The source brings
up the H -2A visa program. So many people in
the city think that immigrant labor is cheap
labor. It's not cheap. Not by a long shot. No.
When you add in the housing you have to provide.
the transportation, the visa fees, the mountain
of compliance paperwork, the effective cost to
the farm is somewhere between $30 and $35 an
hour. $35 an hour. Try making a margin on $16
milk when your labor is costing you that much.
And at the same time, the processor is taking
more and more of the value. That's another key
point the article makes, how the value is migrating
from the producers to the processors through
things like make allowances and de -pooling and
base excess programs. Right. So the farmer is
getting squeezed from the input side with higher
costs and getting squeezed from the output side
with processors taking a bigger piece of the
pie. And the mental toll of that constant, unrelenting
pressure. You know, farmers are good at sprinting.
We can sprint through harvest. We can sprint
through a bad spring planting season. But you
cannot sprint forever. And that is what the economics
are demanding right now, a forever sprint. And
that is what is driving this stress. Which leads
us directly into who is actually breaking under
this pressure. Segment four, demographics, succession,
and what the article calls the hidden depression.
This part of the article was really surprising
to me. It's called the diagnostic paradox. The
data actually shows that farmers often have lower
measured psychiatric morbidity, which is a clinical
way of saying diagnosed depression, than the
general population. Wait, I don't get that. So
we aren't depressed, but we're killing ourselves
at three times the rate. How does that work?
Essentially, yes. And here's the paradox. It
means farmers don't show up in the system. They
aren't going to a therapist and getting a code
for major depressive disorder put in their medical
file. They just... Check out. So we're not getting
counted. Exactly. The source cites an Australian
study on this. It found that farming suicides
were less likely to have a documented mental
health history, 36 % versus 46 % for non -farmers,
and they were less likely to have used any mental
health services recently. So they don't say,
I have depression. They just say, I'm done. Or
they think, maybe the farm would be better off
without me and the life insurance policy. That
is a terrifyingly common thought. That distinction
is crucial because it means the standard red
flags that the medical community is trained to
look for, a prior diagnosis, a history of medication,
they just aren't there for a lot of farmers.
We fly completely under the radar until it's
too late. Completely. There's also a significant
gender dynamic at play here. A study from 2022
found that female farmers were 3 .28 times more
likely to report suicidal ideation. So women
think about it more. They think about it more.
But men die more often. Because of the means.
Firearms are the dominant method. It's lethal
and it's immediate. There's often no second chance.
And then there's the age factor. A massive heartbreaking
share of these suicides are farmers over the
age of 65. Which brings us to the succession
stress. Right. This. This hits home for a lot
of guys I know. You're 65, maybe you're 70. You've
worked your entire life on that piece of ground.
Your body's worn out. And you don't have a successor.
Or maybe the kids want to take over. But you
look at the books and you know the farm can't
possibly support two families. The source describes
it as the crushing weight of being the generation
that failed. That is the sentence that keeps
me up at night. The generation that failed. Just
imagine, your grandfather built the barn, your
father expanded the herd, and you. You're the
one who has to call the auctioneer and sell the
cows. The identity confusion, the guilt. It doesn't
clock out when you leave the barn. It follows
you into the house. It follows you to bed. It
stares at you from the ceiling at three in the
morning. It's so tragic because it conflates
these massive market forces, which are completely
out of your control, with a sense of personal
failure. But when your entire identity is the
farmer, losing the farm feels exactly like losing
yourself. So we have this massive problem. We
have the data showing how bad it is. We have
the economic pressure. We have the demographic
crisis. What in the world do we do about it?
Segment five, case studies and solutions. Because
the toolkit is, thankfully, starting to change.
It is. But first, we have to be honest about
the barriers. Why don't farmers just go to the
doctor and say, I'm not doing well? Well, stigma
is huge. The article says 40 % of Canadian farmers
admitted they'd be uneasy seeking help. But it's
also just practical. It's what I call the fishbowl
effect. Explain that for the listeners who maybe
aren't in a small town. Okay. If I drive my truck
and everyone in a five -county radius knows my
truck, it's the beat -up Ford with the specific
decal on the back window. And I park that truck
in front of the mental health clinic in town.
Someone's going to see it. Within 20 minutes,
the guy at the feed mill knows, the loan officer
at the bank knows, the neighbors know, and the
rumor mill starts churning. Jake's losing it.
Is the farm in trouble? Maybe we shouldn't extend
him any more credit this month. That is a legitimate
business fear. It's not just paranoia. It's real
risk. And then there's the trust issue. I'm sorry,
but I do not want to talk to a town doctor who
has never pulled a calf at 2 in the morning.
I don't want to have to explain to a therapist
why a milk check being two days late is a full
-blown crisis. They just don't get it. So what
does work? The source highlight peer support
as one of the most effective tools. And specifically,
it tells the story of Randy Roker in Wisconsin.
Randy is a hero, plain and simple. He built a
brand new barn right before the 2008 crash. The
timing couldn't have been worse. He was losing
$30 ,000 a month. $30 ,000 a month? Yeah. He
said he stopped eating, he stopped sleeping,
he was suicidal, and he's very open about it
now. He is. He's incredibly brave in sharing
his story. But here's the key to what he's doing
now. He leads the Farmer Angel Network. It's
a support group. And where do they hold their
meetings? In churches. In churches. Two counties
over from where the members live. Why two counties
over? So nobody recognizes the trucks in the
parking lot. That is the genius of it. It's a
simple, practical solution to the fishbowl effect.
You can walk in there and be anonymous in a sense.
You can be vulnerable without the local gossip
mill grinding you up and spitting you out. That
is such a smart farmer -led adaptation. The source
also mentions the Sentinels program in Quebec.
Yeah, which is basically training agronomists,
vets, and feed reps to spot the signs of distress,
the people who are already on the farm. And do
more ag in Canada. Their slogan is so simple
but so powerful. Talk it out, don't tough it
out. There's specific programs now, too, which
is new. The Farmer Wellness Initiative in Ontario
has a 247 line staffed by people who understand
agriculture. There are ag wellness vouchers in
Utah that provide up to $2 ,000 for care. And
the Farm Family Wellness Alliance in the U .S.
is using a platform called TogetherAll, which
is totally anonymous online peer support. But
I think the most revolutionary concept in this
whole article is the idea of first responders.
Who aren't actually paramedics or firefighters.
Right. It's the vets, the feed reps, the lenders,
the people who are in the barn every single week.
They see the operational indicators that we talked
about earlier. They see the lame cows. Exactly.
Your vet knows if you skip the last three herd
checks. Your nutritionist knows if you're just
staring at the bunk, totally zoned out while
they're trying to talk to you about protein levels.
Your lender knows if you're being evasive about
your financials. They see the cracks forming
before anyone else. The source suggests training
these people in something called QPR question,
persuade, refer, or in mental health first aid.
It just makes sense. If a feed rep sees that
the feed inventory is stretched way too thin
and the farmer is acting erratic and angry, that
rep is in a much better position to say something
than a doctor the farmer sees once a year for
a checkup. But that requires the feed rep to
know how to say something, what to say, and what
not to say. Which brings us to segment six. contrarian
takes how to actually talk to a farmer who is
struggling this is the hard part because we are
as a group socially awkward people we generally
like cows better than we like people the article
contrasts the cheer up approach versus what it
calls radical directness please for the love
of god never tell a farmer who's in a deep hole
that it's devastating It sounds like pity. It
sounds like you're writing their obituary while
they're still standing there. It's the worst
thing you can say. So what should you say? What's
the alternative? Empathy, not sympathy. Something
like, man, this is a tough spot. I know a couple
of other farms going through this exact same
thing right now. Let's talk through what happens
next. It turns it from a feeling into a plan.
We're good with plans. We can work with a plan.
It externalizes the problem. It's not you are
a failure. It's we have a problem to solve. Exactly.
And then there's the hardest question. The one
everyone is terrified to ask. The suicide question.
There is a pervasive myth that asking someone
if they are suicidal will somehow put the idea
in their head. All the experts, all the research
says that is absolutely 100 % false. If they're
at that point, trust me, the idea is already
there. You're not introducing anything new. So
the script the source provides is simple and
direct. You look them in the eye and you ask,
has it gotten bad enough that you've thought
about ending your life? Direct. No euphemisms
like, hurting yourself? Just ask the question.
And if the answer is yes, what's the protocol?
You stay. That's rule number one. You do not
leave them alone. You call for help, 988 in the
US, or that 1 -866 -FARMS -EAR -01 number in
Canada. You remove access to lethal means if
you can do it safely. But mostly, you just stay.
You listen. You are a physical presence that
says you're not alone in this. It's powerful
stuff. Really powerful. It is. And I think...
You know, I'll be honest, I was skeptical at
the start of reading all this material. I thought,
here we go, another fluffy piece about feelings.
But that link to lameness in the herd, the economic
reality of the forever sprint, that made it real
for me. That grounded it. Same here. It grounds
the mental health crisis in the physical, tangible
reality of the farm. It's not abstract anymore.
All right. We've covered a lot of ground here,
some of it pretty rough. But a farmer just finished
milking. He's driving to the feed store, and
his head is spinning with all this. What are
the three things he or she absolutely needs to
remember from today? Give me the actionable insights.
All right, let's break it down. Immediate, medium,
and long -term. So, number one, immediate action.
This is for this week. It's simple. Post the
numbers. Don't wait until you're in a crisis.
Don't wait until an employee is struggling. Take
a Sharpie right now. Write 988 if you're in the
U .S. or 1 -866 -FARMS -WO -01 if you're in Canada
on the parlor whiteboard. Put it on a magnet
on the shop fridge. Post it in the staff break
room. And tell your team what it is, right? Don't
just put a number. Yes, absolutely. Normalize
it. Say, hey, this is here. If you or anyone
you know is having a tough time, it's confidential
and it's for us. And here's a specific tactic
I really like from the source. The rule of seven.
The rule of seven? If your personal stress level
is a 7 out of 10 or higher. And by that, I mean
you are waking up in the morning already feeling
behind before your feet even hit the floor. Make
one call. Just one. Test it for an hour. You
aren't committing to a lifetime of therapy. You're
just checking the pressure valve on the system.
I like that. The rule of seven. It gives you
a tangible metric. It's not just a vague if you
feel bad. What's the medium term? Number two,
medium term strategy. This is for the next three
to six months. I'm calling it the mirror check.
The mirror check. Pull 12 months of your herd
data. Specifically, look at three things. Your
rate of severe lameness, your somatic cell count
trends, and your fresh cow problems. Ketosis,
DAs, metritis. The mental health KPIs we talked
about. Exactly. Lay that data out. If the cows
look rough on paper, if lameness is creeping
up, if SCC is bouncing around and you find yourself
snapping at the kids at home or kicking the tractor
tires in frustration, treat that as a combined
red flag. So do just treat the cows. Do not just
treat the cows. Treat the operator. Recognize
that it is a herd health A &D, a farmer health
issue. They are linked. The herd is a mirror
reflecting the well -being of the manager. That's
a good one. If the cows are limping, ask yourself
why you might be limping, metaphorically. Yeah.
Okay. What's the long -term play? Number three,
long -term positioning. This is for the next
one to two years. It's about legacy and training.
Two parts here. First, training. Get one person
on your operations certified in QPR or mental
health first aid. Just one. Just one to start.
Maybe it's your spouse. Maybe it's your most
trusted employee. Maybe it's you. Make it as
normal as getting your CPR and first aid training.
It's another tool in the farm safety kit. Just
part of the standard operating procedures for
safety. I like it. Exactly. And the second part
is succession. Create a human column in your
yearly business plan. A human call. Yes. We plan
for corn yields. We plan for milk production.
We plan for capital expenditures. We never plan
for the people. So even if you don't have a successor
lined up yet, sketch out a rough transition plan.
What would it look like? What are the options?
Just the act of writing it down can relieve some
of that immense pressure of it all ends with
me. That human column is vital. It's probably
the most important column and the one we always
leave blank. That's the list. Post the numbers
this week, check the mirror of your herd data
this season, and start training for the future
of your people this year. Solid, actionable advice.
And look, to the listeners out there, we know
it's tough right now. We really do. The milk
price is what it is. The input costs are brutal.
But you are the most valuable asset on that farm.
Not the tractor, not the robot, not that high
genomic heifer you just bought. You. And if that
asset breaks down... Nothing else matters. Well
said. This has been another Bullvine podcast
from the Bullvine podcast. For more straight
talking industry analysis and for the links to
every single resource we mentioned today, especially
those hotline numbers, head to www .thebullvine
.com. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
We're out with new episodes every day and upcoming
topics will be a real pivot from this one. We're
going to tease the truth about hyper rearing
costs. So stay tuned for that. And please stay
safe out there. Thank you.