WEBVTT 00:00:11.720 --> 00:00:15.060 Breaking free from the chains of the past Where 00:00:15.060 --> 00:00:18.820 truth moves faster than a Holstein calf No law 00:00:18.820 --> 00:00:21.660 waiting on some printed page We're charting new 00:00:21.660 --> 00:00:25.300 ground in the digital age From genomic codes 00:00:25.300 --> 00:00:29.120 to robot facts We cut through the noise, no hold 00:00:29.280 --> 00:00:32.460 them back not your daddy's dairy news tonight 00:00:32.460 --> 00:01:03.719 we're sparking Welcome back to the Bullvine Podcast, 00:01:04.040 --> 00:01:05.900 where we cut through the dairy industry noise 00:01:05.900 --> 00:01:07.739 to get you the insights that actually matter 00:01:07.739 --> 00:01:10.500 for your operation. And today we are diving deep 00:01:10.500 --> 00:01:13.400 into a feature piece that honestly is going to 00:01:13.400 --> 00:01:15.500 ruffle some feathers. We're talking about the 00:01:15.500 --> 00:01:18.560 concept of the designer in the dairy. That sounds 00:01:18.560 --> 00:01:21.019 fancy. Almost too fancy for the milk house. It 00:01:21.019 --> 00:01:22.799 does, doesn't it? It has that sort of, you know, 00:01:22.819 --> 00:01:26.709 tech bro vibe to it. But stick with me. We are 00:01:26.709 --> 00:01:29.329 diving into a philosophy backed by some serious 00:01:29.329 --> 00:01:33.170 data from TGASC, Cornell, and the AHDB. Okay. 00:01:34.010 --> 00:01:36.489 Basically, we are asking a pretty provocative 00:01:36.489 --> 00:01:39.230 question. Can running your farm, a little bit 00:01:39.230 --> 00:01:42.390 more like Steve Jobs ran Apple, actually save 00:01:42.390 --> 00:01:45.170 your sanity and, more importantly, your bank 00:01:45.170 --> 00:01:47.170 account? Okay, as soon as you say Steve Jobs, 00:01:47.290 --> 00:01:48.950 I know half the listeners just rolled their eyes. 00:01:49.030 --> 00:01:51.290 Oh, for sure. They're thinking, great, what does 00:01:51.290 --> 00:01:53.629 a guy in a black turtleneck know about somatic 00:01:53.629 --> 00:01:56.319 cell counts? What does Silicon Valley know about 00:01:56.319 --> 00:01:58.700 getting a fresh heifer to let down at 4 a .m.? 00:01:58.700 --> 00:02:01.000 And that is a totally fair reaction. I had the 00:02:01.000 --> 00:02:02.420 same one when I first looked at the stack of 00:02:02.420 --> 00:02:04.340 research. It feels like a disconnect. A huge 00:02:04.340 --> 00:02:06.819 one. But bear with us because the data we are 00:02:06.819 --> 00:02:09.819 looking at today is pointing to a massive inefficiency 00:02:09.819 --> 00:02:13.919 in how we value our own time as owners. And it's 00:02:13.919 --> 00:02:16.340 not about wearing a turtleneck. It's about how 00:02:16.340 --> 00:02:18.900 you design the system you work in. We need to 00:02:18.900 --> 00:02:20.740 set the stage here. We need to talk about the 00:02:20.740 --> 00:02:23.379 culture of the grind. You know this better than 00:02:23.379 --> 00:02:26.189 anyone. In this industry, there is a massive 00:02:26.189 --> 00:02:29.169 badge of honor associated with working long hours. 00:02:29.310 --> 00:02:31.250 Oh, absolutely. It's the lone wolf mentality. 00:02:31.669 --> 00:02:34.090 If you aren't the first one in the parlor at 00:02:34.090 --> 00:02:36.449 4 .30 a .m. and the last one turning off the 00:02:36.449 --> 00:02:39.210 lights at 9 p .m., do you even really care about 00:02:39.210 --> 00:02:41.710 your cows? That's the mindset. It really is. 00:02:41.889 --> 00:02:43.810 If my neighbor sees my truck in the driveway 00:02:43.810 --> 00:02:45.770 at 7 a .m., I feel like I need to have an excuse 00:02:45.770 --> 00:02:47.930 ready. Like, oh, I was up all night with a calving, 00:02:47.949 --> 00:02:50.310 you know. Not, I decided to get a decent night's 00:02:50.310 --> 00:02:52.530 sleep. You feel like you're slacking off. It's 00:02:52.530 --> 00:02:55.180 deep -seated. But what if that mindset, that 00:02:55.180 --> 00:02:58.460 guilt, is costing you $24 ,000 a year? Now that 00:02:58.460 --> 00:03:00.479 is a number that gets my attention. We're talking 00:03:00.479 --> 00:03:03.060 about net margin here, not just gross revenue. 00:03:03.300 --> 00:03:06.139 We are talking about pure profit left on the 00:03:06.139 --> 00:03:11.340 table. We are going to unpack a proven 988 -hour 00:03:11.340 --> 00:03:14.039 gap between the most efficient herds and the 00:03:14.039 --> 00:03:17.319 least efficient ones. 988 hours. And we're not 00:03:17.319 --> 00:03:19.599 talking about robot farms versus tie stalls here. 00:03:19.740 --> 00:03:22.669 We're talking about management style. Shifting 00:03:22.669 --> 00:03:24.710 from the doer, the person holding the milk or 00:03:24.710 --> 00:03:27.569 claw, to the designer, the person managing the 00:03:27.569 --> 00:03:29.590 system. Look, I'm going to play the skeptic today 00:03:29.590 --> 00:03:32.409 because I know what it's like. You can't just 00:03:32.409 --> 00:03:34.750 manage a farm from an office chair. Cows get 00:03:34.750 --> 00:03:38.810 sick. Waters break. Scrapers get stuck. Things 00:03:38.810 --> 00:03:40.909 go wrong. Of course. So I want to see if this 00:03:40.909 --> 00:03:43.840 is just office farming theory. Or if it actually 00:03:43.840 --> 00:03:46.219 holds up in the barn when the manure hits the 00:03:46.219 --> 00:03:48.340 fan. That is fair. But I'm going to challenge 00:03:48.340 --> 00:03:49.819 you. By the end of this hour, I want to see if 00:03:49.819 --> 00:03:52.379 we can convince you and the listener that buying 00:03:52.379 --> 00:03:54.520 a robot might just be buying a guilt machine 00:03:54.520 --> 00:03:56.979 if you don't fix your head game first. All right. 00:03:57.020 --> 00:03:59.099 Shots fired early. I like it. Let's get into 00:03:59.099 --> 00:04:01.520 it. Let's start with segment one, the core problem. 00:04:02.139 --> 00:04:04.840 The source material identifies this as the lone 00:04:04.840 --> 00:04:08.180 wolf identity crisis. The lone wolf. This is 00:04:08.180 --> 00:04:09.860 the idea that if you want something done right, 00:04:10.020 --> 00:04:12.219 you have to do it yourself. It's probably carved 00:04:12.219 --> 00:04:14.219 into the wall of every farm shop in the country. 00:04:14.439 --> 00:04:17.980 Exactly. And the article opens with this parallel 00:04:17.980 --> 00:04:21.240 to the tech world that we touched on. We had 00:04:21.240 --> 00:04:24.540 this myth of Steve Jobs, right? The lone genius 00:04:24.540 --> 00:04:27.379 in the garage, soldering circuits, building the 00:04:27.379 --> 00:04:29.740 Macintosh with his bare hands. That's the story 00:04:29.740 --> 00:04:31.939 we all know. One guy against the world. It's 00:04:31.939 --> 00:04:34.899 a great story. It is a great story. But the source 00:04:34.899 --> 00:04:38.339 points out it is completely false. Steve Jobs 00:04:38.339 --> 00:04:41.279 never soldered a circuit board. He didn't write 00:04:41.279 --> 00:04:43.540 the code. He didn't build the casing. Okay, but 00:04:43.540 --> 00:04:45.699 he was the boss. He was in charge. He was the 00:04:45.699 --> 00:04:48.000 designer. He was the conductor. He built the 00:04:48.000 --> 00:04:50.560 team. He set the vision. He was the one saying 00:04:50.560 --> 00:04:53.279 no to things that weren't perfect. But he wasn't 00:04:53.279 --> 00:04:55.019 the one turning the screwdriver. I see where 00:04:55.019 --> 00:04:56.980 you're going with this. And the article argues 00:04:56.980 --> 00:04:59.420 that too many dairy farmers are trying to be 00:04:59.420 --> 00:05:02.579 the technician in the garage doing every single 00:05:02.579 --> 00:05:05.420 task instead of being the jobs figure who designs 00:05:05.420 --> 00:05:08.300 the entire system. I get the analogy, but let's 00:05:08.300 --> 00:05:10.850 be real. Steve Jobs didn't have to worry about 00:05:10.850 --> 00:05:13.889 a localized mastitis outbreak on a Sunday morning. 00:05:14.129 --> 00:05:16.050 It's a little different when you're dealing with 00:05:16.050 --> 00:05:20.089 livestock that are living, breathing, and seemingly 00:05:20.089 --> 00:05:23.069 always trying to find new ways to die. It is 00:05:23.069 --> 00:05:26.329 different. But is the psychology. The emotional 00:05:26.329 --> 00:05:29.029 hurdle is the same. The source talks about this 00:05:29.029 --> 00:05:31.610 deep -seated fear that sleeping past 6 a .m. 00:05:31.689 --> 00:05:34.209 feels like a failure. Like you're betraying your 00:05:34.209 --> 00:05:36.189 father's work ethic. That hits home. I mean, 00:05:36.209 --> 00:05:38.819 my dad never took a day off. Never. If I take 00:05:38.819 --> 00:05:40.819 a weekend, there is a voice in my head saying 00:05:40.819 --> 00:05:42.899 the farm is going to fall apart. It's a real 00:05:42.899 --> 00:05:45.939 physical feeling of anxiety. But here's the operational 00:05:45.939 --> 00:05:48.240 impact of that guilt. Yeah. When the owner is 00:05:48.240 --> 00:05:50.540 stuck in the pit, literally holding the unit, 00:05:50.620 --> 00:05:52.500 what isn't happening? Well, you're not looking 00:05:52.500 --> 00:05:54.639 at records. You're not planning forage needs 00:05:54.639 --> 00:05:56.660 for next year. You're definitely not having a 00:05:56.660 --> 00:05:59.100 calm team meeting to go over protocols. You're 00:05:59.100 --> 00:06:00.860 just surviving the shift. Your head is down. 00:06:01.230 --> 00:06:03.949 Exactly. The high -value task breeding strategy, 00:06:04.230 --> 00:06:07.069 team development, ration management, those get 00:06:07.069 --> 00:06:08.709 poofed to the side because you're too busy working. 00:06:09.250 --> 00:06:11.970 There was some fascinating data from TGAS focus 00:06:11.970 --> 00:06:15.310 groups mentioned here. TGAS is the Irish authority, 00:06:15.670 --> 00:06:18.230 right? They do good work on labor efficiency 00:06:18.230 --> 00:06:21.129 because they are so pasture -based and seasonal. 00:06:21.410 --> 00:06:23.850 Right. And in these focus groups, they found 00:06:23.850 --> 00:06:26.850 that farmers felt that anything under 55 hours 00:06:26.850 --> 00:06:29.939 a week was acceptable. That was sort of the baseline 00:06:29.939 --> 00:06:32.439 for a good work -life balance in their eyes. 00:06:32.639 --> 00:06:35.120 55 hours. That sounds like a vacation to a lot 00:06:35.120 --> 00:06:36.720 of guys I know. I mean, they'd call that part 00:06:36.720 --> 00:06:39.720 -time. Right. But here's the thing. The bottom 00:06:39.720 --> 00:06:41.740 quartile farms, the ones struggling the most 00:06:41.740 --> 00:06:44.439 financially, were blowing past that. They were 00:06:44.439 --> 00:06:46.939 working 15 to 20 hours more than that threshold. 00:06:47.139 --> 00:06:49.800 They were doing 70, 75 -hour weeks. And they 00:06:49.800 --> 00:06:51.639 were just accepting it. They were tolerating 00:06:51.639 --> 00:06:53.860 the grind, thinking it was necessary to survive. 00:06:54.399 --> 00:06:57.459 They wore it as a badge of honor. I put in 75 00:06:57.459 --> 00:07:00.259 hours last week. So the guys working the hardest 00:07:00.259 --> 00:07:03.180 were making the least progress. That is exactly 00:07:03.180 --> 00:07:05.959 where we are heading. This brings us to segment 00:07:05.959 --> 00:07:10.120 two, the industry reality check. We need to deep 00:07:10.120 --> 00:07:14.100 dive into this 988 hour gap. OK, walk me through 00:07:14.100 --> 00:07:16.779 these numbers. This is from that TGASC Moorpark 00:07:16.779 --> 00:07:19.699 study you mentioned. Yes. So they looked at labor 00:07:19.699 --> 00:07:23.040 efficiency on pasture based dairy farms. They 00:07:23.040 --> 00:07:25.839 split them into the top 25 percent and the bottom 00:07:25.839 --> 00:07:28.920 25 percent based on labor efficiency. Now, guess 00:07:28.920 --> 00:07:31.839 the difference in herd size. OK, usually the 00:07:31.839 --> 00:07:34.160 efficient ones are the massive herds, right? 00:07:34.709 --> 00:07:37.290 economies of scale. You'd expect the top group 00:07:37.290 --> 00:07:39.589 to have 500 cows and the bottom group to have 00:07:39.589 --> 00:07:41.990 50. That's what you'd think. That's the conventional 00:07:41.990 --> 00:07:44.629 wisdom. But in this study, the herd sizes were 00:07:44.629 --> 00:07:46.910 almost identical. The top group averaged 112 00:07:46.910 --> 00:07:51.310 cows. The bottom group averaged 113 cows. You're 00:07:51.310 --> 00:07:53.610 kidding me. So one extra cow isn't causing all 00:07:53.610 --> 00:07:55.310 the trouble. We're comparing apples to apples 00:07:55.310 --> 00:07:58.129 here. Exactly. But the hours, the top group worked 00:07:58.129 --> 00:08:00.790 about 51 hours a week on average. Okay. Like 00:08:00.790 --> 00:08:02.990 we said, still a serious work week, but you can 00:08:02.990 --> 00:08:04.750 have a life. You can see your family. For sure. 00:08:04.990 --> 00:08:08.290 But the bottom group, 70 hours a week. Whoa. 00:08:08.569 --> 00:08:12.389 That is, that's a 19 -hour difference. Every 00:08:12.389 --> 00:08:14.730 single week. 19 hours a week. Let's do the math 00:08:14.730 --> 00:08:19.250 on that. Over a year, 52 weeks times 19 hours 00:08:19.250 --> 00:08:22.910 totals 988 hours. Almost 1 ,000 hours. It's essentially 00:08:22.910 --> 00:08:25.509 an extra half -time job that the bottom group 00:08:25.509 --> 00:08:28.310 is doing for the same number of cows. Think about 00:08:28.310 --> 00:08:31.709 that. That's almost 25 standard 40 -hour work 00:08:31.709 --> 00:08:34.610 weeks. That is half a year of normal work you're 00:08:34.610 --> 00:08:37.389 putting in for free. And for what? Are they getting 00:08:37.389 --> 00:08:39.899 more milk? Are they more profitable? I assume 00:08:39.899 --> 00:08:42.460 not if they are the bottom quartile for efficiency. 00:08:42.700 --> 00:08:44.639 They are. They are generally less profitable. 00:08:44.759 --> 00:08:46.759 They're working more and earning less. It's a 00:08:46.759 --> 00:08:48.980 brutal cycle. You know, they mentioned this is 00:08:48.980 --> 00:08:51.820 Irish data, so seasonal calving, grass -based. 00:08:52.039 --> 00:08:54.960 Does this actually translate to a year -round 00:08:54.960 --> 00:08:58.360 TMR barn in Wisconsin or New York? Right. Because 00:08:58.360 --> 00:09:01.000 walking a pasture to get cows is different than 00:09:01.000 --> 00:09:03.720 scraping stalls? It's a fair question, and the 00:09:03.720 --> 00:09:06.379 source argues yes, because the core truth is 00:09:06.379 --> 00:09:09.139 universal. Profitable farms work different hours, 00:09:09.240 --> 00:09:11.100 not just more hours. It's about what you do with 00:09:11.100 --> 00:09:13.259 the time. So it's about system design, not the 00:09:13.259 --> 00:09:15.899 type of system. Exactly. And to back that up, 00:09:15.940 --> 00:09:17.860 let's look at the Cornell Dairy Farm Business 00:09:17.860 --> 00:09:21.539 Summary from 2024. They looked at 129 New York 00:09:21.539 --> 00:09:24.379 farms. Okay, New York. That's more comparable 00:09:24.379 --> 00:09:26.519 to the high input systems a lot of our listeners 00:09:26.519 --> 00:09:29.080 run. Confinement, TMR, the whole deal. Right. 00:09:29.139 --> 00:09:31.019 And what they found was that the top -earning 00:09:31.019 --> 00:09:35.100 herds shipped 1 .7 million pounds of milk per 00:09:35.100 --> 00:09:38.139 worker. That's a solid metric. Milk per FTE. 00:09:38.480 --> 00:09:41.019 Full -time equivalent. It's a great way to measure 00:09:41.019 --> 00:09:43.360 labor productivity. And the bottom -earning herds. 00:09:43.759 --> 00:09:47.019 Only 1 .2 million pounds of milk per worker. 00:09:47.159 --> 00:09:49.740 That's a huge spread in efficiency. That is half 00:09:49.740 --> 00:09:51.860 a million pounds of milk per person that you 00:09:51.860 --> 00:09:54.720 are missing out on every single year for every 00:09:54.720 --> 00:09:57.919 employee. Huge. But here's the kicker, and this 00:09:57.919 --> 00:10:00.559 is the part that blew my mind. The cost of hired 00:10:00.559 --> 00:10:03.179 labor per worker was roughly the same across 00:10:03.179 --> 00:10:06.740 the board, between $57 ,000 and $61 ,000. Wait, 00:10:06.820 --> 00:10:09.240 explain that. So the top farms weren't just finding 00:10:09.240 --> 00:10:11.340 cheaper labor? They weren't hiring high school 00:10:11.340 --> 00:10:14.279 kids for minimum wage? No. They were paying the 00:10:14.279 --> 00:10:16.299 same market rate for people, maybe even slightly 00:10:16.299 --> 00:10:18.919 more. But they designed systems that allowed 00:10:18.919 --> 00:10:21.519 those people to be vastly more productive. They 00:10:21.519 --> 00:10:23.960 got more milk per human hour. So they're not 00:10:23.960 --> 00:10:25.919 saving money on the wage. They're making more 00:10:25.919 --> 00:10:28.480 money on the output. That is the definition of 00:10:28.480 --> 00:10:30.940 system design. It's the difference between running 00:10:30.940 --> 00:10:33.779 around, putting out fires and having a fire prevention 00:10:33.779 --> 00:10:36.799 plan. Yeah. If you're shipping 1 .2 million pounds 00:10:36.799 --> 00:10:39.809 per worker. You're probably chasing cows, fixing 00:10:39.809 --> 00:10:41.789 gates that should have been replaced five years 00:10:41.789 --> 00:10:44.870 ago, and dealing with mastitis cases that shouldn't 00:10:44.870 --> 00:10:46.830 have happened in the first place. You're dealing 00:10:46.830 --> 00:10:49.929 with friction. The source material emphasizes 00:10:49.929 --> 00:10:53.090 that efficiency isn't about running faster. It's 00:10:53.090 --> 00:10:55.429 about removing friction from the system. Friction. 00:10:55.570 --> 00:10:58.169 I like that word. Friction is the gate that doesn't 00:10:58.169 --> 00:11:00.889 latch. Friction is the hose that is always tangled. 00:11:01.309 --> 00:11:03.730 Friction is having to walk 50 extra steps to 00:11:03.730 --> 00:11:05.529 get the dip because it's not where it should 00:11:05.529 --> 00:11:08.710 be. Friction is the SOP that no one follows because 00:11:08.710 --> 00:11:12.090 it's too complicated. Or worse, it only exists 00:11:12.090 --> 00:11:14.990 in your head. And that friction costs real money. 00:11:15.210 --> 00:11:18.190 Which is a perfect segue. It is. Which leads 00:11:18.190 --> 00:11:21.450 us to segment three. Follow the money. Because 00:11:21.450 --> 00:11:23.110 I know some listeners are thinking, okay, so 00:11:23.110 --> 00:11:25.690 I work hard. It's my time. It's free. Who cares? 00:11:25.950 --> 00:11:28.470 Yeah, the sweat equity argument. If I do it, 00:11:28.509 --> 00:11:30.730 I don't have to pay someone. I hear that in every 00:11:30.730 --> 00:11:33.570 coffee shop from here to California. It's baked 00:11:33.570 --> 00:11:36.700 into our DNA. Right. But it's a flawed argument. 00:11:37.059 --> 00:11:39.620 Let's look at Dr. John Fetrow's formula from 00:11:39.620 --> 00:11:41.980 the University of Minnesota. He breaks down the 00:11:41.980 --> 00:11:43.879 cost of being too busy to manage reproduction. 00:11:44.240 --> 00:11:46.320 I love Fetrow's stuff. He always puts a dollar 00:11:46.320 --> 00:11:48.879 sign on biology. Makes it tangible. He does. 00:11:49.159 --> 00:11:52.120 So he calculates the value of a one -point improvement 00:11:52.120 --> 00:11:56.100 in pregnancy rate, or PR. He pegs it between 00:11:56.100 --> 00:12:00.240 $15 and $35 per cow per year. Okay, that depends 00:12:00.240 --> 00:12:02.919 on milk price and replacement costs. But let's 00:12:02.919 --> 00:12:05.120 say $20 to be conservative. That's a pretty safe 00:12:05.120 --> 00:12:07.899 number. Sure, $20. Now take a scenario. You have 00:12:07.899 --> 00:12:11.259 a 200 -cow herd. You're running a 19 % PR because 00:12:11.259 --> 00:12:13.240 you're busy milking and you miss a few heats. 00:12:13.419 --> 00:12:15.759 Or your protocols are a bit sloppy because you're 00:12:15.759 --> 00:12:18.820 tired. Your neighbor, same size herd, runs a 00:12:18.820 --> 00:12:22.379 25 % PR. That's a six -point gap. And that's 00:12:22.379 --> 00:12:24.779 not... That's not a crazy gap. A 19 is average, 00:12:24.860 --> 00:12:28.519 a 25 is good, but it's achievable. It's not like 00:12:28.519 --> 00:12:30.740 comparing to a 40 PR herd. Totally achievable. 00:12:30.899 --> 00:12:33.779 So the calculation is the gap. That's six points 00:12:33.779 --> 00:12:37.139 times the value, we'll use $20, times the herd 00:12:37.139 --> 00:12:40.559 size, 200 cows. Let me do the mental math here. 00:12:40.799 --> 00:12:46.860 Six times 20 is 120 times 200. That's $24 ,000. 00:12:47.100 --> 00:12:50.889 $24 ,000 a year. That is pure net margin. That's 00:12:50.889 --> 00:12:53.889 not gross revenue. That is money that falls to 00:12:53.889 --> 00:12:56.490 the bottom line because you aren't feeding open 00:12:56.490 --> 00:12:58.929 cows and you aren't buying as many replacements. 00:12:58.950 --> 00:13:00.990 It's money you just don't get. It vanishes. And 00:13:00.990 --> 00:13:03.309 if you use the high end of his estimate, $35 00:13:03.309 --> 00:13:05.870 a point, which might be realistic with high replacement 00:13:05.870 --> 00:13:08.850 costs. It jumps to over $42 ,000. For the same 00:13:08.850 --> 00:13:11.370 cows. Just managed differently for six percentage 00:13:11.370 --> 00:13:13.429 points. See, this is the opportunity cost we 00:13:13.429 --> 00:13:15.610 always talk about but never calculate. We see 00:13:15.610 --> 00:13:17.509 the check we write to the relief milker, let's 00:13:17.509 --> 00:13:20.710 say $200 for the shift, and we flinch. We feel 00:13:20.710 --> 00:13:23.750 that pain. But we don't see the $24 ,000 check 00:13:23.750 --> 00:13:26.289 we didn't get because our PR is stuck at 19. 00:13:26.490 --> 00:13:29.769 That is the invisible loss. It's so much easier 00:13:29.769 --> 00:13:32.210 to track expenses than it is to track lost income. 00:13:32.470 --> 00:13:34.750 And there is real -world evidence for this. It's 00:13:34.750 --> 00:13:37.990 not just a formula on a spreadsheet. The UW -Madison 00:13:37.990 --> 00:13:41.409 Repro Money Program worked with 40 Wisconsin 00:13:41.409 --> 00:13:44.059 dairies. They didn't tell them to buy robots. 00:13:44.320 --> 00:13:46.059 They didn't tell them to build new barns. What 00:13:46.059 --> 00:13:48.000 did they do? They just told them to form team's 00:13:48.000 --> 00:13:51.379 owner, vet nutritionist, and meet regularly. 00:13:51.539 --> 00:13:54.179 Just meetings. That's the office work guys hate. 00:13:54.220 --> 00:13:56.000 I don't make money sitting in a chair. That's 00:13:56.000 --> 00:13:58.299 what you hear. Just meetings and protocols. And 00:13:58.299 --> 00:14:02.519 guess what? They improved their PR by two points 00:14:02.519 --> 00:14:05.720 on average just from that. The economic gain 00:14:05.720 --> 00:14:10.179 was about $31 per cow per year. So on a 300 cow 00:14:10.179 --> 00:14:13.740 herd, you're looking at over $9 ,000 purely from 00:14:13.740 --> 00:14:16.019 sitting down and talking to your team. Yes, because 00:14:16.019 --> 00:14:18.580 when you sit down, you stop doing the $18 an 00:14:18.580 --> 00:14:20.980 hour work and start doing the $100 an hour work. 00:14:21.159 --> 00:14:23.450 That's the comparison that hurts. I was looking 00:14:23.450 --> 00:14:27.850 at the USDA labor stats for January 2025. Livestock 00:14:27.850 --> 00:14:30.909 workers are averaging about $18 .15 an hour. 00:14:31.029 --> 00:14:33.090 Right. So if I'm the owner and I'm insisting 00:14:33.090 --> 00:14:35.230 on doing the milking myself because nobody does 00:14:35.230 --> 00:14:38.330 it like me, I am effectively valuing my time 00:14:38.330 --> 00:14:41.529 at $18 .15 an hour. While you are neglecting 00:14:41.529 --> 00:14:44.809 the work that is worth $100 or $200 an hour, 00:14:44.909 --> 00:14:48.129 negotiating feed contracts, analyzing that repro 00:14:48.129 --> 00:14:51.539 data, preventing the next outbreak. You are stepping 00:14:51.539 --> 00:14:54.580 over dollars to pick up dimes. It's the cost 00:14:54.580 --> 00:14:56.779 of loss decisions. We track the cost of labor 00:14:56.779 --> 00:14:58.720 on the P &L. We don't have a line item for money 00:14:58.720 --> 00:15:00.840 lost because I was too tired to notice the breeding 00:15:00.840 --> 00:15:02.860 list was outdated. That is the hidden killer. 00:15:03.200 --> 00:15:05.399 And it's not just theoretical. I want to talk 00:15:05.399 --> 00:15:07.360 about some real farmers who made this shift. 00:15:07.659 --> 00:15:10.559 Segment four, case studies. Let's make this real. 00:15:10.740 --> 00:15:12.799 Okay, let's talk about Jim Kirk. And before anyone 00:15:12.799 --> 00:15:15.620 asks, no, not the Star Trek guy. No, Jim Kirk 00:15:15.620 --> 00:15:17.919 from Heaton Barton Farm in the UK. He's running 00:15:17.919 --> 00:15:21.720 606 Holsteins. Big rotary parlor, 60 points. 00:15:21.899 --> 00:15:25.440 A 60 -point rotary for 600 cows. That's some 00:15:25.440 --> 00:15:28.019 serious iron. That's one point for every 10 cows. 00:15:28.159 --> 00:15:31.500 He's not messing around. He is not. And the efficiency 00:15:31.500 --> 00:15:35.080 is incredible. Two people run the whole milking 00:15:35.080 --> 00:15:37.919 in under two hours. That's fast. That's moving 00:15:37.919 --> 00:15:40.419 cows. But it also means you have a big chunk 00:15:40.419 --> 00:15:43.220 of your day back. And that's the point. The key 00:15:43.220 --> 00:15:45.659 isn't just the rotary. It's what Kirk did with 00:15:45.659 --> 00:15:48.850 his roll. He told the source he replaced an old 00:15:48.850 --> 00:15:51.830 herringbone parlor specifically because it was 00:15:51.830 --> 00:15:54.809 consuming his entire day. He realized he was 00:15:54.809 --> 00:15:57.549 a slave to the pit. So he spent the capital to 00:15:57.549 --> 00:15:59.350 free up his time. That's a huge mental shift. 00:15:59.409 --> 00:16:01.169 You're not buying a machine to milk cows. You're 00:16:01.169 --> 00:16:03.009 buying a machine to buy back your own time. Yes. 00:16:03.470 --> 00:16:05.830 But he didn't just use that time to watch TV. 00:16:05.970 --> 00:16:09.049 He shifted into that designer mode. He holds 00:16:09.049 --> 00:16:11.210 daily whiteboard meetings with his herdsman, 00:16:11.330 --> 00:16:13.389 Harrison. They write down the jobs, tick them 00:16:13.389 --> 00:16:15.750 off. It's simple. It's visual. I love the whiteboard 00:16:15.750 --> 00:16:17.870 idea. It's so simple. It's analog. You don't 00:16:17.870 --> 00:16:20.309 need fancy software. But it forces communication 00:16:20.309 --> 00:16:22.769 and accountability. And look at the results. 00:16:23.090 --> 00:16:26.649 His pregnancy rate is sitting at 25%. which puts 00:16:26.649 --> 00:16:29.309 him in the top 5 % of British herds. That's a 00:16:29.309 --> 00:16:31.870 direct result of him having the mental space 00:16:31.870 --> 00:16:34.789 to focus on breeding and ration management instead 00:16:34.789 --> 00:16:38.309 of just prepping udders. And he trusts his team. 00:16:38.529 --> 00:16:41.309 The source mentions he sent his herdsman, Harrison, 00:16:41.509 --> 00:16:44.529 to the U .S. to visit farms. Exactly. He sent 00:16:44.529 --> 00:16:47.429 him with worldwide sires. Think about that. Most 00:16:47.429 --> 00:16:49.929 farmers are terrified to train their staff that 00:16:49.929 --> 00:16:52.250 well because they might leave. What if I invest 00:16:52.250 --> 00:16:54.450 all this in him and he leaves? And the classic 00:16:54.450 --> 00:16:56.110 counter -argument is, what if you don't train 00:16:56.110 --> 00:16:59.110 him and he stays? Exactly. Kirk is training him 00:16:59.110 --> 00:17:01.409 so he can take ownership. That is a Steve Jobs 00:17:01.409 --> 00:17:04.490 move. Pick the best people, give them the vision 00:17:04.490 --> 00:17:06.869 and the tools, and let them execute. It's the 00:17:06.869 --> 00:17:08.849 difference between having a hired hand and having 00:17:08.849 --> 00:17:11.289 a herdsman. A hired hand does what you say. A 00:17:11.289 --> 00:17:13.049 herdsman knows why we're doing it and can make 00:17:13.049 --> 00:17:15.829 decisions when you're not there. Spot on. Now 00:17:15.829 --> 00:17:18.029 let's bring it back to the States. Wayside Dairy 00:17:18.029 --> 00:17:21.009 in Wisconsin. Yeah, the Natsky family. Big operation, 00:17:21.309 --> 00:17:23.569 2 ,000 cows. This is a great example because 00:17:23.569 --> 00:17:26.109 it shows the progression. It really is. For years, 00:17:26.130 --> 00:17:28.950 their PR was hovering around 18%. Not terrible 00:17:28.950 --> 00:17:31.089 for a herd that size a few years ago, but not 00:17:31.089 --> 00:17:34.450 great. Just kind of average. Stuck in a rut. 00:17:34.650 --> 00:17:36.869 Right. So phase one of their turnaround wasn't 00:17:36.869 --> 00:17:40.329 technology. It was management. They changed their 00:17:40.329 --> 00:17:42.809 vet. They changed their nutritionist. They implemented 00:17:42.809 --> 00:17:45.630 new protocols like a double Lutely shot. Okay, 00:17:45.670 --> 00:17:47.470 so they tightened the screws on the basics. No 00:17:47.470 --> 00:17:50.049 shiny new toys yet. Just people and process. 00:17:50.410 --> 00:17:54.230 And that alone jumped them to a 33 % PR. Wait, 00:17:54.309 --> 00:17:57.009 just from management changes? From 18 to 33? 00:17:57.289 --> 00:17:59.569 That's a 15 -point jump. Just from people and 00:17:59.569 --> 00:18:01.809 protocols, that is a massive jump. It's life 00:18:01.809 --> 00:18:04.309 -changing for a dairy's cash flow. It's unbelievable. 00:18:04.609 --> 00:18:06.869 But then came phase two. They added cow manager 00:18:06.869 --> 00:18:09.390 ear sensors. The activity monitors. Right. And 00:18:09.390 --> 00:18:11.869 with the sensors, they jumped again up to 38 00:18:11.869 --> 00:18:16.069 % PR. 38 % is elite. That is stratospheric. That's 00:18:16.069 --> 00:18:18.869 top 1 % stuff. But here's the lesson, and I want 00:18:18.869 --> 00:18:21.289 everyone to hear this. Jeremy Natsky, the owner, 00:18:21.450 --> 00:18:24.329 didn't use the tech to fix a broken system. He 00:18:24.329 --> 00:18:26.950 used the tech to enhance a system that was already 00:18:26.950 --> 00:18:29.650 working. That's a crucial distinction. Say that 00:18:29.650 --> 00:18:32.430 again. He used technology to enhance a working 00:18:32.430 --> 00:18:35.910 system, not to fix a broken one. I see so many 00:18:35.910 --> 00:18:38.250 guys buying sensors or robots hoping it will 00:18:38.250 --> 00:18:40.589 fix their management problems. If I just buy 00:18:40.589 --> 00:18:43.170 these collars, my cows will get pregnant. No. 00:18:43.390 --> 00:18:46.109 If you have bad protocols and poor compliance, 00:18:46.430 --> 00:18:48.529 the collars just tell you that you have bad protocols 00:18:48.529 --> 00:18:50.970 faster. They just give you more data on your 00:18:50.970 --> 00:18:54.049 failures. Exactly. Netsky said the sensors reduced 00:18:54.049 --> 00:18:56.369 his synchronization costs because they were catching 00:18:56.369 --> 00:19:00.000 natural heats. But... He only could take advantage 00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:02.180 of that because he had the team and the trust 00:19:02.180 --> 00:19:04.740 and the protocols in place to act on the data. 00:19:04.920 --> 00:19:07.279 It goes back to the designer idea. He designed 00:19:07.279 --> 00:19:09.940 a system where the sensors had a specific value 00:19:09.940 --> 00:19:13.019 -added role, not a rescue mission. Which leads 00:19:13.019 --> 00:19:16.240 us perfectly into segment five, the future and 00:19:16.240 --> 00:19:18.480 the tech trap. The tech trap. I feel like we're 00:19:18.480 --> 00:19:20.380 seeing this a lot with the robotic milking boom. 00:19:20.539 --> 00:19:22.839 Everyone wants a robot. It's the shiny new thing. 00:19:23.099 --> 00:19:25.140 It is. And I'm going to be controversial here. 00:19:25.220 --> 00:19:28.799 My hot take. If you buy a robot but you insist 00:19:28.799 --> 00:19:32.680 on being the robot, checking every alarm personally, 00:19:33.000 --> 00:19:35.220 waking up three times a night because you don't 00:19:35.220 --> 00:19:37.480 trust the machine. You didn't buy a labor -saving 00:19:37.480 --> 00:19:40.599 device. You bought a guilt machine. A guilt machine. 00:19:40.900 --> 00:19:43.720 That hits hard. I know guys with robots who are 00:19:43.720 --> 00:19:45.660 more tired than when they milked in a parlor 00:19:45.660 --> 00:19:47.539 because the phone never stops dinging. They're 00:19:47.539 --> 00:19:51.099 tethered to it 24 -7. Exactly. You traded the 00:19:51.099 --> 00:19:53.079 physical work in the pit for the mental stress 00:19:53.079 --> 00:19:55.980 of being constantly on call. The source makes 00:19:55.980 --> 00:19:58.920 a fascinating cost comparison here. Sensors, 00:19:58.940 --> 00:20:02.240 like the cow manager ones, cost about $25 per 00:20:02.240 --> 00:20:05.019 cow per year. Okay, manageable. A robot, you're 00:20:05.019 --> 00:20:08.460 talking $400 ,000 plus per unit. And that's before 00:20:08.460 --> 00:20:10.740 installation and maintenance. That is a massive 00:20:10.740 --> 00:20:13.079 capital difference. You can buy a lot of sensors 00:20:13.079 --> 00:20:15.940 for the price of one box. It is. And the decision 00:20:15.940 --> 00:20:18.359 matrix should be, what is your bottleneck? If 00:20:18.359 --> 00:20:20.940 your bottleneck is information like, I don't 00:20:20.940 --> 00:20:23.299 know which cow is in heat, then sensors plus 00:20:23.299 --> 00:20:25.720 management is the ROI winner. You don't need 00:20:25.720 --> 00:20:28.519 a $400 ,000 robot to find a heat. But if the 00:20:28.519 --> 00:20:31.339 bottleneck is that you literally cannot find 00:20:31.339 --> 00:20:33.779 a human being to show up and attach the unit. 00:20:34.019 --> 00:20:37.539 Then robots might be the answer. But, and this 00:20:37.539 --> 00:20:40.400 is the big, but only if the owner lets go of 00:20:40.400 --> 00:20:43.160 the control. Right. If you buy the robot, you 00:20:43.160 --> 00:20:45.299 have to let the robot be the milker. You become 00:20:45.299 --> 00:20:48.380 the manager of the robot. Your job changes. The 00:20:48.380 --> 00:20:51.339 job's approach to tech is about user experience, 00:20:51.779 --> 00:20:55.259 simplicity. The source talks about setting thresholds 00:20:55.259 --> 00:20:57.200 for intervention rather than checking every cow. 00:20:57.440 --> 00:20:59.099 Explain that. What does that look like in practice? 00:20:59.440 --> 00:21:01.720 So instead of looking at every single cow's data 00:21:01.720 --> 00:21:04.480 every morning and getting overwhelmed, you set 00:21:04.480 --> 00:21:07.140 a rule in the software. I only want to see cows 00:21:07.140 --> 00:21:10.759 where milk dropped by more than 15%. Or only 00:21:10.759 --> 00:21:13.240 show me cows with a high conductivity and a rumination 00:21:13.240 --> 00:21:15.890 alert. You manage by exception. You let the computer 00:21:15.890 --> 00:21:17.910 sift through the noise and just show you the 00:21:17.910 --> 00:21:20.809 problems. Yes. You shift from hours in the parlor 00:21:20.809 --> 00:21:23.970 to decisions per week as your metric of success. 00:21:24.690 --> 00:21:26.910 If you're looking at healthy cows on a computer 00:21:26.910 --> 00:21:29.750 screen, you are wasting time. The system should 00:21:29.750 --> 00:21:32.029 hide the healthy cows and only show you the sick 00:21:32.029 --> 00:21:34.869 ones. That requires trusting the system, which 00:21:34.869 --> 00:21:36.890 brings us right back to the psychological hurdle 00:21:36.890 --> 00:21:39.210 we started with. What if the computer misses 00:21:39.210 --> 00:21:42.880 one? That's the fear. It might. But are you telling 00:21:42.880 --> 00:21:44.920 me you never missed one when you were half asleep 00:21:44.920 --> 00:21:48.480 in the pit at 5 a .m. on a Tuesday? The goal 00:21:48.480 --> 00:21:51.400 isn't perfection. It's a better system. Touche. 00:21:51.519 --> 00:21:56.160 Good point. That brings us to segment six, contrarian 00:21:56.160 --> 00:21:59.059 takes. Because the source argues something that 00:21:59.059 --> 00:22:02.559 sounds crazy. The lazy farmer might be the most 00:22:02.559 --> 00:22:05.539 profitable one. Lazy is a dirty word in this 00:22:05.539 --> 00:22:08.680 industry. If you call a farmer lazy, them's fighting 00:22:08.680 --> 00:22:10.960 words. You better be ready to back that up. I 00:22:10.960 --> 00:22:13.180 know. But let's reframe lazy. Let's think of 00:22:13.180 --> 00:22:15.859 it as strategic inactivity. The source suggests 00:22:15.859 --> 00:22:17.759 that the most profitable thing an owner can do 00:22:17.759 --> 00:22:20.700 is say no. The power of no, like Jobs killing 00:22:20.700 --> 00:22:22.960 the floppy drive on the map. Exactly. Everyone 00:22:22.960 --> 00:22:24.859 screamed when he did that. We need the floppy 00:22:24.859 --> 00:22:26.680 drive. He said, no, it's old tech. It's clutter. 00:22:26.779 --> 00:22:29.759 We're moving on. So on a farm, what does saying 00:22:29.759 --> 00:22:33.180 no look like? It means dropping unprofitable 00:22:33.180 --> 00:22:36.740 side projects. It means killing traditions that 00:22:36.740 --> 00:22:39.880 don't pay. It means saying no to that extra 100 00:22:39.880 --> 00:22:41.619 acres of corn you don't have the equipment for. 00:22:41.740 --> 00:22:43.980 And it means stepping away from a milking shift, 00:22:44.140 --> 00:22:46.500 even if you feel guilty. It's the ability to 00:22:46.500 --> 00:22:48.599 say, we are not going to raise our own bull calves 00:22:48.599 --> 00:22:50.940 anymore because it distracts us from the heifers. 00:22:50.960 --> 00:22:54.259 Or we aren't going to make dry hay just because 00:22:54.259 --> 00:22:56.460 we always have. We're going to buy it in because 00:22:56.460 --> 00:22:59.500 our time is better spent elsewhere. Yes. But 00:22:59.500 --> 00:23:01.819 here is the pushback I hear, and I want you to 00:23:01.819 --> 00:23:05.220 voice it. If I step back, things fall apart. 00:23:05.420 --> 00:23:08.160 That's the fear. What if I leave for three days 00:23:08.160 --> 00:23:10.220 to go to a wedding and the somatic cell count 00:23:10.220 --> 00:23:13.240 spikes? What if the feeder loads the wrong mix 00:23:13.240 --> 00:23:15.700 and all the fresh cows go down? It's a legitimate 00:23:15.700 --> 00:23:18.480 terror for a lot of owners. And here is the brutal 00:23:18.480 --> 00:23:21.259 rebuttal from the source. If the SEC spikes the 00:23:21.259 --> 00:23:23.539 moment you leave the driveway, you don't have 00:23:23.539 --> 00:23:27.619 a system, you have a job. Ouch. Stings. But it's 00:23:27.619 --> 00:23:30.759 true. The goal is to build a lab, your farm, 00:23:30.880 --> 00:23:33.599 that works when you walk out the door. If it 00:23:33.599 --> 00:23:35.400 requires your physical presence to function, 00:23:35.579 --> 00:23:38.539 you haven't designed anything. You're just the 00:23:38.539 --> 00:23:40.839 glue holding it all together. And that glue is 00:23:40.839 --> 00:23:43.519 expensive. And frankly, it's fragile. If you 00:23:43.519 --> 00:23:46.480 break a leg, the whole farm breaks. That's not 00:23:46.480 --> 00:23:49.039 a business. That's a high -risk hobby that happens 00:23:49.039 --> 00:23:52.500 to own a lot of assets. Precisely. And the banks 00:23:52.500 --> 00:23:54.259 are starting to notice this. We're looking at 00:23:54.259 --> 00:23:57.700 a financial reckoning. The outlook for 2026 -2027 00:23:57.700 --> 00:24:00.079 suggests margins are going to compress. They 00:24:00.079 --> 00:24:02.660 usually do. It's a cyclical business. Banks are 00:24:02.660 --> 00:24:05.319 looking hard at cost of production. The Cornell 00:24:05.319 --> 00:24:07.740 data showed that bottom quartile farms spent 00:24:07.740 --> 00:24:10.980 about $22 .32 per hundred weight in operating 00:24:10.980 --> 00:24:15.490 costs. Yeah. The top quartile. $15 .79. That 00:24:15.490 --> 00:24:19.509 is a $6 .53 gap per hundredweight. That is enormous. 00:24:19.650 --> 00:24:21.569 That is the difference between making money at 00:24:21.569 --> 00:24:24.670 $18 milk and losing your shirt. And the bank 00:24:24.670 --> 00:24:26.549 doesn't care how hard you worked for that $6 00:24:26.549 --> 00:24:29.190 .53 gap. They don't give you a discount on interest 00:24:29.190 --> 00:24:31.089 rates because you have calluses on your hands. 00:24:31.230 --> 00:24:33.690 They care about the number. If you are spending 00:24:33.690 --> 00:24:37.250 $22 to make milk because you're working hard 00:24:37.250 --> 00:24:40.269 but managing poorly, you are going to get eaten 00:24:40.269 --> 00:24:43.049 alive by the guy spending $15. Because he's in 00:24:43.049 --> 00:24:45.529 the office negotiating feed prices. Exactly. 00:24:45.890 --> 00:24:48.630 The lazy farmer who sits in the office and locks 00:24:48.630 --> 00:24:52.130 in a low corn price is making more money in one 00:24:52.130 --> 00:24:55.069 hour than the hardworking farmer makes in a month 00:24:55.069 --> 00:24:57.849 of milking. That's a pill that's hard to swallow, 00:24:58.029 --> 00:25:00.789 but the math is the math. So we've laid out the 00:25:00.789 --> 00:25:03.410 problem. We've shown the data. We've scared everyone 00:25:03.410 --> 00:25:05.950 with the financial reality. Now we need to fix 00:25:05.950 --> 00:25:08.049 it. Right. We can't just leave people hanging. 00:25:08.190 --> 00:25:09.809 Hey, you're inefficient and your business is 00:25:09.809 --> 00:25:12.650 fragile. Good luck. We need a plan. All right, 00:25:12.690 --> 00:25:15.309 let's break this down. A farmer just finished 00:25:15.309 --> 00:25:17.650 milking. They're driving to the feed store listening 00:25:17.650 --> 00:25:21.109 to us. They're tired. They're skeptical. But 00:25:21.109 --> 00:25:24.349 they are curious. What is the three -step plan 00:25:24.349 --> 00:25:27.529 to stop being the bottleneck? Okay, let's look 00:25:27.529 --> 00:25:29.710 at the actionable insights from the source. We've 00:25:29.710 --> 00:25:31.829 got an immediate step, a medium -term step, and 00:25:31.829 --> 00:25:34.230 a long -term goal. Step one, immediate action, 00:25:34.349 --> 00:25:37.430 this week. The one -page SOP, standard operating 00:25:37.430 --> 00:25:39.880 procedure. Explain it. The challenge is to pick 00:25:39.880 --> 00:25:42.440 one milking shift, just one, let's say Tuesday 00:25:42.440 --> 00:25:45.519 morning. You need to write down exactly how that 00:25:45.519 --> 00:25:48.140 shift should run from start to finish on a single 00:25:48.140 --> 00:25:51.059 sheet of paper. Why just one page? Why the constraint? 00:25:51.359 --> 00:25:53.680 Because if it doesn't fit on one page, the source 00:25:53.680 --> 00:25:56.720 says it's not a standard, it's a wish. It's too 00:25:56.720 --> 00:25:58.819 complicated. You need to simplify it until it 00:25:58.819 --> 00:26:01.200 fits on a page that you can laminate and stick 00:26:01.200 --> 00:26:05.119 on the wall. Cow flow, prep routine, dip, wash, 00:26:05.539 --> 00:26:08.680 post -dip. Bullet points. Simple. I love that. 00:26:08.740 --> 00:26:11.119 It's not a standard. It's a wish. If you can't 00:26:11.119 --> 00:26:12.880 explain it simply, you haven't designed it well 00:26:12.880 --> 00:26:15.099 enough. It means you're relying on tribal knowledge. 00:26:15.400 --> 00:26:18.299 Exactly. Steve Jobs wanted the Mac to be intuitive. 00:26:18.740 --> 00:26:21.440 Your parlor needs to be intuitive for a new hire. 00:26:21.660 --> 00:26:24.779 Okay. Step two. Medium term strategy. The three 00:26:24.779 --> 00:26:27.220 to six month timeline. The 30 day test. How does 00:26:27.220 --> 00:26:29.579 this work? You take that one page SOP you wrote. 00:26:29.930 --> 00:26:32.490 You train one person, maybe a key employee, maybe 00:26:32.490 --> 00:26:34.650 a family member, to run that Tuesday morning 00:26:34.650 --> 00:26:37.210 shift exactly according to the paper. You watch 00:26:37.210 --> 00:26:39.710 them, you coach them, and then, this is the hard 00:26:39.710 --> 00:26:42.029 part, you step away from that shift entirely 00:26:42.029 --> 00:26:44.690 for 30 days. Like, don't even go in the barn. 00:26:44.789 --> 00:26:46.309 That's going to cause some anxiety. Don't go 00:26:46.309 --> 00:26:48.670 in the barn during milking. Don't hover. Don't 00:26:48.670 --> 00:26:50.549 text them every five minutes asking how it's 00:26:50.549 --> 00:26:54.670 going. You track three numbers, milk shipped, 00:26:54.869 --> 00:26:58.670 bulk tank, SCC, and mastitis cases. The key performance 00:26:58.670 --> 00:27:01.759 indicators. The big three. Right. If those numbers 00:27:01.759 --> 00:27:03.720 hold steady for 30 days without you being there, 00:27:03.799 --> 00:27:06.740 congratulations. That shift is now permanently 00:27:06.740 --> 00:27:09.799 owner optional. You just bought yourself four 00:27:09.799 --> 00:27:13.220 hours a week, every week. And if they slip, if 00:27:13.220 --> 00:27:15.759 the SEC bumps up a bit. If they slip, you don't 00:27:15.759 --> 00:27:17.619 just jump back in the pit and scream, move over. 00:27:17.799 --> 00:27:20.259 You fixed the training. You fixed SOP. Maybe 00:27:20.259 --> 00:27:22.599 a step wasn't clear. You treat it like a design 00:27:22.599 --> 00:27:25.619 flaw, not a personnel failure. That is the discipline. 00:27:25.720 --> 00:27:28.079 It's so easy to just take the tool back. Fine, 00:27:28.160 --> 00:27:30.470 I'll do it myself. But that puts you right back 00:27:30.470 --> 00:27:32.769 in the trap. It solves the immediate problem, 00:27:32.890 --> 00:27:35.349 but kills the long -term solution. Right. You 00:27:35.349 --> 00:27:37.609 have to debug the system, not just replace the 00:27:37.609 --> 00:27:40.750 worker with yourself. Okay, step three. Long 00:27:40.750 --> 00:27:43.809 -term positioning. One to two years out. The 00:27:43.809 --> 00:27:46.630 financial reallocation. This is the big picture. 00:27:46.809 --> 00:27:49.730 You need to actually map your time usage. For 00:27:49.730 --> 00:27:53.549 a week. Write down what you do. Be honest. The 00:27:53.549 --> 00:27:57.269 source suggests a target. Shift 15 hours a week. 00:27:57.480 --> 00:27:59.779 Take 15 hours that you used to spend doing manual 00:27:59.779 --> 00:28:03.079 labor scraping, milking, feeding, and move them 00:28:03.079 --> 00:28:06.859 to designer work, repro data analysis, lender 00:28:06.859 --> 00:28:09.980 negotiations, team building meetings, reading 00:28:09.980 --> 00:28:12.359 articles from the bullvine. I like that plug. 00:28:12.519 --> 00:28:14.460 And the ultimate goal is to be able to tell your 00:28:14.460 --> 00:28:17.099 lender exactly what you earn per hour of owner 00:28:17.099 --> 00:28:20.059 work. versus milker work imagine sitting across 00:28:20.059 --> 00:28:22.000 from your banker and saying when i'm in the pit 00:28:22.000 --> 00:28:25.799 milking i save the farm 18 an hour in wages when 00:28:25.799 --> 00:28:28.519 i spend an hour analyzing my repro data and adjusting 00:28:28.519 --> 00:28:32.440 protocols i make the farm 150 an hour in improved 00:28:32.440 --> 00:28:35.920 efficiency that is why i hired a relief milker 00:28:35.920 --> 00:28:38.240 that is a conversation that gets you alone That 00:28:38.240 --> 00:28:39.819 is a conversation that shows you are running 00:28:39.819 --> 00:28:42.039 a business, not just a lifestyle. It changes 00:28:42.039 --> 00:28:44.000 the dynamic completely. You're no longer just 00:28:44.000 --> 00:28:47.259 a farmer. You're a CEO. So to recap, write the 00:28:47.259 --> 00:28:49.960 SOP this week. Do the 30 -day test this quarter 00:28:49.960 --> 00:28:52.819 to prove the system works. Then over the next 00:28:52.819 --> 00:28:56.660 year, aggressively reallocate your time to where 00:28:56.660 --> 00:28:59.759 the real money is. It sounds simple when we lay 00:28:59.759 --> 00:29:01.680 it out like this, but I know it's the hardest 00:29:01.680 --> 00:29:04.420 thing a farmer will ever do. It's fighting decades 00:29:04.420 --> 00:29:06.680 of conditioning. It's fighting the ghost of your 00:29:06.680 --> 00:29:10.259 grandfather telling you to work harder, not smarter. 00:29:10.539 --> 00:29:14.019 It is. But as the source says, 10 years from 00:29:14.019 --> 00:29:16.519 now, the herd still standing will be owned by 00:29:16.519 --> 00:29:18.200 the people who stopped pretending they were the 00:29:18.200 --> 00:29:20.299 machine and started acting like the designer. 00:29:20.460 --> 00:29:22.859 More Steve Jobs, less hired Milker in chief. 00:29:23.039 --> 00:29:24.859 Exactly. You know, one thing we didn't touch 00:29:24.859 --> 00:29:27.339 on, but the source hints at, is the legacy aspect 00:29:27.339 --> 00:29:29.559 of this whole thing. Oh, I mean. The article 00:29:29.559 --> 00:29:32.019 mentions ensuring the farm is a life the next 00:29:32.019 --> 00:29:34.500 generation wants, not just a job they are obligated 00:29:34.500 --> 00:29:37.079 to take over. That is profound. If your kids 00:29:37.079 --> 00:29:39.740 see you grinding 80 hours a week, looking miserable, 00:29:39.940 --> 00:29:42.480 exhausted, never making it to their ball games 00:29:42.480 --> 00:29:45.640 because you have to milk, why on earth would 00:29:45.640 --> 00:29:47.500 they want to take that over? They won't. They'll 00:29:47.500 --> 00:29:49.039 go work for a tech company. They'll go find a 00:29:49.039 --> 00:29:51.579 job that gives them weekends off and a 401k. 00:29:51.880 --> 00:29:54.319 But if they see you managing a system, building 00:29:54.319 --> 00:29:57.900 a team, having a life outside the farm, suddenly 00:29:57.900 --> 00:30:00.240 taking over the farm looks like a pretty good 00:30:00.240 --> 00:30:03.619 career. It looks like an opportunity, not a prison 00:30:03.619 --> 00:30:06.430 sentence. So you aren't just designing the dairy 00:30:06.430 --> 00:30:08.730 for your bank account today. You're designing 00:30:08.730 --> 00:30:11.130 it for your succession plan tomorrow. Exactly. 00:30:11.190 --> 00:30:13.630 You're designing a business that is actually 00:30:13.630 --> 00:30:16.509 transferable. You can't transfer your own work 00:30:16.509 --> 00:30:19.430 ethic to your kid. You can't pass down your ability 00:30:19.430 --> 00:30:22.829 to work 80 hours a week. But you can transfer 00:30:22.829 --> 00:30:25.250 a system. That is the aha moment for me right 00:30:25.250 --> 00:30:27.769 there. You can't transfer hustle. You can only 00:30:27.769 --> 00:30:29.809 transfer systems. Put that on a bumper sticker. 00:30:30.009 --> 00:30:32.170 I think we will. So looking at all of this, the 00:30:32.170 --> 00:30:36.549 988 hours, the $24 ,000, the gilts, where do 00:30:36.549 --> 00:30:39.109 you land? Is the industry ready for this shift? 00:30:39.369 --> 00:30:41.750 I think the industry doesn't have a choice. Margins 00:30:41.750 --> 00:30:44.049 are getting tighter. Labor is getting harder 00:30:44.049 --> 00:30:47.089 to find and more expensive. The lone wolf model 00:30:47.089 --> 00:30:50.130 is going extinct. It worked in 1990. It doesn't 00:30:50.130 --> 00:30:53.450 work in 2026. I agree. The romantic image of 00:30:53.450 --> 00:30:55.849 the farmer doing it all is. It's a nice story. 00:30:55.950 --> 00:30:58.190 It makes for a good country song. But it's a 00:30:58.190 --> 00:30:59.990 business liability. It's a massive liability, 00:31:00.170 --> 00:31:02.630 and the data proves it, from Ireland to New York. 00:31:02.869 --> 00:31:04.410 Well, I think that gives our listeners plenty 00:31:04.410 --> 00:31:07.029 to chew on while they, well, hopefully, while 00:31:07.029 --> 00:31:08.750 they aren't milking, but maybe while they're 00:31:08.750 --> 00:31:10.369 checking their repro chart. Or while they're 00:31:10.369 --> 00:31:13.450 writing that one -page SOP. There you go. All 00:31:13.450 --> 00:31:15.579 right, let's wrap this up. We've covered the 00:31:15.579 --> 00:31:18.400 myth of the lone wolf, the 988 -hour efficiency 00:31:18.400 --> 00:31:21.880 gap, the real cost of a low pregnancy rate, the 00:31:21.880 --> 00:31:24.599 lessons from Jim Kirk and Wayside Dairy, and 00:31:24.599 --> 00:31:27.420 the trap of the guilt machine robot. A full menu 00:31:27.420 --> 00:31:30.259 today. A lot to think about. A full deep dive. 00:31:30.579 --> 00:31:33.039 This has been another Bullvine Podcast from the 00:31:33.039 --> 00:31:35.940 Bullvine Podcast. If you are ready to stop soldering 00:31:35.940 --> 00:31:38.140 circuits or milking cows when you should be managing 00:31:38.140 --> 00:31:42.039 and start designing your berry, head to www .thebullvine 00:31:42.039 --> 00:31:44.460 .com for more straight -talking industry analysis. 00:31:44.960 --> 00:31:47.779 Subscribe wherever you get podcasts. We're out 00:31:47.779 --> 00:31:50.599 with new episodes every day. And remember, the 00:31:50.599 --> 00:31:53.559 most profitable tool on the farm might just be 00:31:53.559 --> 00:31:56.599 the one between your ears. Use it. Thanks for 00:31:56.599 --> 00:31:56.799 listening.