TH202 Look Who’s Talking When Setting Goals & Protocols for Calf Care

W. Sischo, D.A. Moore*, M. Davis M, K. Heaton, D. Kinder S. Kurtz, J. Vanegas, J. Siler, R. Pereira, L. Warnick

Dept. Veterinary Clinical Sciences and Paul G. Allen School for Global Animal Health, Washington State University, Pullman, WA

Dept. Clinical Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR

Dept. Population Medicine and Diagnostic Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY

*

*Corresponding Author

Dale A. Moore

damoore@vetmed.wsu.edu

Introduction

As the structure of the dairy industry changes so

does management. Owner-operator farms are

giving way to farms with complex management

structures to support labor and task specialization.

The important outcomes of these changes are: 1.

critical management decisions are made by middle

management and workers, 2. communication

between owners and workers is indirect and

mediated by middle management, and 3.

communication strategies used by Veterinary and

Extension service providers need to adapt to this

evolving dairy management model.

Objectives

Describe the actual and perceived

communication between management and

workers regarding goal setting for calf feeding

and health

Describe the actual and perceived

communication between management and

workers regarding daily tasks for calf feeding

and health.

Materials & Methods

Two types of farms recruited: > 500 milking cows

and < 163 milking cows, sample biased towards

larger farms. The goal was to include a minimum

of 32 large farms and 14 small farms. (Estimated

prevalence of specific communication practices

0.5, precision of 0.15 and 95% confidence)

Semi-structured Qualitative Research Interviews

of at least 3 to 5 people on each farm, e.g.

owner, calf manager, calf care personnel, and

herd veterinarian (as available) were conducted

in Spanish or English using organizational

communication flow charts and a survey of

attitudes and practices.

Materials & Methods

Dairy job definitions used in the flow chart:

Owner: Owns the dairy and has financial

responsibility for dairy operations.

Veterinarian: Licensed veterinarian who provides

veterinary medical consulting and/or veterinary

medical treatments and surgery on a regular basis.

Nutritionist: Provides advice on animal diets,

nutrition and feeding protocols and formulates

feeds for the dairy on a regular basis.

Herd Manager: Oversees dairy operations

including (but not limited to) personnel, purchasing

decisions, organization of animal and crop work,

and determining short and long term business

objectives.

Herdsman: Oversees animal care activities

(feeding, cleaning, treatments).

Calf Manager: Oversees all aspects of calf care.

Calf Feeder: Performs daily calf feeding tasks.

Calf Treater: Performs daily calf health tasks

including treatments.

Flow chart for communication (4 charts): Who talks?

Q2. Development of goals for feeding calves;

Q20. Daily routines related to feeding calves;

Q28. Developing the goals for calf health;

Q48. Communicating about the daily work related to monitoring

and treating disease.

Results

• 53 Farms enrolled from 5 states

• AZ, ID, NY, OR, WA

• number of preweaned calves on premise

was 6 to 1500 calves, median = 80.

• 55 owners

• 51 veterinarians

• 37 feeders

• 30 calf managers

• 18 herd managers

• 10 herdsmen

• 17 treaters

• 7 other roles (including shared ownership)

Position Female Male < 25 26-30 31-40 41-50 > 50 English Spanish Other English Spanish French Dutch Other

Owner 9 43 0 1 14 16 22 53 0 0 49 14 1 5 2

Veterinarian 3 46 0 1 12 12 23 48 0 1 46 16 1 0 6

Nutritionist 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0

Herd Manager 1 16 1 5 6 2 3 12 5 0 16 13 0 0 0

Herdsman 3 7 2 1 1 3 3 6 4 0 9 3 0 1 1

Calf Manager 5 25 5 7 7 6 5 10 19 1 21 27 0 0 0

Calf Feeder 2 34 13 12 7 3 1 8 28 0 22 29 0 0 0

Calf Treater 2 15 2 2 5 7 1 5 12 0 9 14 0 0 0

Total 25 187 23 29 52 50 58 143 68 2 173 116 2 6 9

Language Comforable Communicating InGender Age Language at Home

1. Proportion of Responses Regarding Who’s Talking When Setting Goals for Animal Health and

2. When Communicating Daily Animal Health Tasks From Four Persons’ Perspectives

Number of herds by calf-herd size category. Category 1: 0-49

calves; Category 2: 50-100 calves; Category 3: 101-300 calves;

Category 4: 301-1500 calves on premise.

Calf

HerdSize

Category

CALF

FEEDER

CALF

MANAGER

CALF

TREATER

HERD

MANAGER

HERDS

MAN

OWNER VETERIN

ARIAN

Total

1 7 3 2 3 3 17 14 49

2 6 4 1 4 2 14 13 46

3 13 14 2 5 5 14 12 68

4 11 9 12 6 0 10 12 62

TOTAL 37 30 17 18 10 55 51 225

Acknowledgements We want to thank the farms and veterinarians that participated in the

interviews and Dr. Pepi Leids, Dr. Melanie Hemenway, Dr. Scott Abbott,

Dr. Steve Smalley, Hector Gonzalez, Lisa Jones, Sonia Lopez-Lopez,

Dr. Di Short for advice and support. This project is supported by the

USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Proposal # 2010-

01412.

Conclusions

• Labor structure was variable by calf-herd size.

• Language abilities and preference are not uniform across different job categories.

• Communication on large farms is dependent on having bilingual middle management.

• Lines of communication when setting goals were perceived differently depending on job title.

• When setting calf health goals, owners and veterinarians saw most communication occurring between them. That communication was not perceived by calf managers or treaters. More than half of treaters reported communication between them and the calf manager when setting health goals.

• For communication of daily tasks for animal health, perception of “who’s talking” was more uniform from different perspectives.

• Not uniform agreement on farms with regards to knowledge of written protocols. When surveying farms for management practices, responses may vary depending on who is asked.

• This study shows the complexity of communication on dairies with layers of employees and that different perspectives on who’s talking about what exist.