Creating the right team starts with choosing the right people. On Ruminate This, Scott Zehr and Jeff Hostetter from Premier Select Sires break down how selecting industry professionals—like nutritionists, vets, and AI technicians—should be treated just like hiring employees for your farm. They explore how aligning external experts with your operation’s values can significantly impact your team’s success and share insights on building a strong culture, and the importance of aligning values for long-term success.
If you would like help building a winning culture for your operation, reach out to us at [email protected]. We’d love to connect!
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Scott Zehr
Hey, welcome back to Ruminate This with Agrarian Solutions. I’m your host, Scott Zehr. And on tap today, we have none other than my friend Mr. Jeff Hostetter, joining us. Jeff, I appreciate you taking time out of your day today.
Jeff Hostetter
You’re welcome, Scott. I always enjoy our conversations, whether we’re being recorded or not. So, looking forward to it.
Scott Zehr
All right. Well, maybe, maybe this one, we wouldn’t want to record. I’m just kidding. No, but today, Jeff, I wanted you to come in and have a little conversation with me. There was a couple of really good articles that got passed around with internally here at Agrarian that were articles from, I believe it was dairy herd management that we found on their website.
And it talked about team building, it talked about culture building. It talked about different peoples. There’s another article that talked about, how do you build, what does a successful operation look like? And I wanted to maybe take a break from talking about mycotoxins and ruminant nutrition for a moment today, because this topic has came up multiple times within this platform.
We recently visited with Dr. Kevin Zimba about building a culture of success. And you know, this topic isn’t going away anytime soon. And I, think for very good reasons, correct, Jeff?
Jeff Hostetter
Tthat’s right. That’s right. And, you know, I think it’s becoming even more of a hot topic of discussion on dairies because, finding good employees, it’s not getting any easier, right? I think as dairies lists their challenges over the next 5 to 10 years, finding good employees, good labor, good leadership in those employees it’s becoming more and more challenging. So it’s something that I think we’re going to see more and more discussion about.
Scott Zehr
I think you’re right. And, you know, in one of these articles, this one, the title is Counsel for keeping dairy employees. The average annual turnover rate for workers on US dairies is nearly 40%. That’s according to a recent survey of dairy farm labor practices by the farming, assuring, Farmers Assuring Responsible Management, FARM workforce development task force.
And, in that same study, they talked about dairy farm managers rating it on a scale of one to five, they rated it a four as far as the difficulty in finding new employees. And Jeff, what’s the best way to avoid having to find new employees? To keep the ones you have.
Jeff Hostetter
Retain the good ones you have. Yes.
Scott Zehr
Exactly, Jeff. Keeping the good ones that you already have. And, and so that’s why I think this conversation of culture comes into play. And, we’re probably not going to spend the whole time talking about on farm employees specifically, cause I have some other questions I want to get your hot take on.
But a question that I would throw at you, Jeff, is, you get a chance to visit a lot of different dairy operations across the East coast. From Maine, Vermont, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia, Florida. When you walk onto a dairy, maybe imagine a dairy that you’ve never been to before. Are you able to develop some sort of a gut feeling about the culture of that dairy just within the first half hour of being there?
Jeff Hostetter
Yes, if there’s any type of interaction with the owners or the employees, I think one thing that you can get a pretty good feel for pretty quickly is just the overall morale and the level of, I guess the level of excellence that each person at that dairy is striving for.Tthere’s ups and downs on a dairy, right? There’s good days. There’s bad days.
But really how do you handle the bad days? Is there kind of a, a team that’s all rowing in the same direction on that dairy? I’m generalizing things. That’s what I’m talking about here, but I do think you can get a pretty good feel for the general morale and direction within the first first few minutes or hours that you’re on that dairy.
Scott Zehr
I think that’s true. And, when we get on these dairies and you have a great encounter, you and I have, worked together on some farms. And, I remember one particular farm in Western New York that you and I were at.
And we left that, we got back in the truck, we looked at each other and said, “wow, if only everybody had those two people running their dairy.” You know, it just, it makes it so easy for guys like you and I to come in and, and have open conversations about, you know, what’s happening on the farm, have open conversations about challenging the status quo.
You know, taking the, I want to say taking the guesswork out of, you know, not taking the guesswork out. It makes it easy to know, and I think you and I have talked about this on this platform before, where we need to start looking for opportunities, right? And so when you know you have a good culture on the farm and a good team, the little things are probably getting done at a very high level.
Jeff Hostetter
That’s right. And it, it always starts from the top down. You have…
Scott Zehr
Yeah.
Jeff Hostetter
You know, your owners, whether the owners are involved or the herds person on down there. I think when there’s a culture set where there is kind of that servant leader attitude filtering on down through it just sets the tone and we’ve talked a lot.
You’ve heard through the last few years It’s so hard to find good employees. But I think we sometimes forget about developing the employees what steps do we take? When they come on board to make them feel valued. To train them, to communicate with them you know, to just bring them in and make them feel part and a value part of that, of that operation and to understand the why behind the things that they do on a daily basis.
Scott Zehr
I sometimes load the idea of using sports analogies, but I think from my own personal perspective and a business that I own, I’ve learned that if you’re not careful and you end up maybe treating some of those employees like the punters and kickers on a football team. Well, they’re not really football players. Right?
And, I’ll just kind of piggyback off of that and say, from my own experience having employees that work for me, wow. I think sometimes Jeff, as owners, we get maybe blinded by the need for a warm body. And I, think I’ve certainly felt that pressure in my own ventures, to where maybe we keep a guy around longer than we should in my case, two different people longer than we should.
And I, think to some degree I rationalized it away by saying, well, I might have two kind of poorer apples. But I have five other really good ones, so it’s going to be okay. And through that experience, Jeff, what I learned was, it almost doesn’t matter how good the other five apples were. The two bad ones are going to bring them down. At some point, they’re going to bring them down. And that was a hard lesson for me to learn at an early stage in my, business venture.
But I also believe I’ve seen that play out firsthand on dairies. And I know it’s easy for me to say from an industry professional chair being on a dairy. There’s no place for the bad ones. But it certainly has given me new perspective when I have those same challenges in my own business of who’s going to do the work.
Jeff Hostetter
Yeah. And sometimes Scott, those bad apples have the greatest work ethic you could ever ask for. It might not be that they’re not accomplishing a lot. ut they could be bringing everybody else down with their comments or their attitude or their, we’ve probably all heard the word, you know, that person, the cancer, that’s probably a little bit of a strong word, but. And sometimes that person is, is a productive person, which makes it from a, from an owner or leadership perspective, it’s hard to cut ties with a person like that.
Cause, you’re just thinking, how do I replace that productivity? So it is a step of faith to make that decision. But sometimes you do it and you look back a year or two later and you’re like, wow, why did I wait so long to do that? So it’s not easy.
Scott Zehr
No. And you know, one of the beautiful things that I think we all admire about the dairy industry in particular, and I’m speaking to the dairy industry or on that, because Jeff, you and I are in that, that’s what we do. That’s what we know. But we talk about it all the time. You know, we’ve talked about it on this platform, in our new series, meet the Team with Agrarian Solutions. Internally as a team, the relationships in the industry. I mean, it’s a very small industry.
These relationships become very close. And as you were talking, I was reminded of a a, a farm that I was on here within the last year. And he was the feeder. And, you know, he’d been there for 20 years. The guy he’s been, he shows up for work every day on time, does a tremendous job feeding the cows.
But he does bring other people down because he won’t participate in team meetings. He doesn’t provide any positive input. You know, if somebody else left something undone rather than helping them pick it up or encouraging them to pick it up, runs right over and throws them under the bus or, always looking out to make sure that, you know, he’s not the one on the hook.
And, that conversation that I had that day on the dairy was of the nature, you know, how are you going to find somebody that’s going to do a better job feeding cows? Exactly what you just talked about, you know? And in my case, it was where am I going to find somebody to drill holes in a tree in the middle of January when nobody else wants to be trouncing through the snow either, so we put up with it.
Yeah, and as I skimmed it through and read some of these articles, the one I want to reference here is build and keep the perfect team. And I’ll put the links to all these different articles in our show notes. But they interviewed a couple of different people.
One was this guy named Ryan Levandoski. He’s a district leader at QuickTrip. And his quote was whether it’s a CDL driver or whether it’s someone working in a warehouse, we want to make sure we have great people first. We want them to have great integrity, that they’re willing to show up and work.
And, you know, talk about a mic drop moment, right? You contrast what he just stated and I’ll use my own personal example. Again these people, I felt like we’re producing a level of work that I was satisfied with enough to keep paying them. But when I look back on it and saw the things that they were doing, there was a very low level of integrity there.
And that’s something that I missed, you know, going into it. We talked about the, the gentleman that’s a feeder there. You know, what are you doing when nobody else is looking right? So I thought that was an interesting take that the gentleman from Quicktrip had on that. You know, Jeff, one of the other things that I, took away from that article is the very last paragraph.
And it says by genuinely investing in your employees, you cultivate a sense of loyalty and dedication. When team members feel valued and see opportunities for personal and professional development, they are more likely to remain with the organization for years to come. Now to me, Jeff, that sounds obvious, right? It makes sense.
But I think sometimes, and I’m guilty of this as well, what I think investing in my employees is and what my employees perception of investing in them means could be very two different things. So your comment on that, as well as any other takeaways you had from that article.
Jeff Hostetter
Yeah, that brings to mind a particular dairy that I’ve been on a few times over the last few years, where they, definitely invest in their employees. In ways that you wouldn’t necessarily, like they pay their employees well, they have good benefits. But they three or four times a week, they buy lunch for their employees and nothing fancy, but just, let’s provide a little food for them. They do a Christmas party where they do silly little awards.
I don’t know if you’ve ever watched the Office and the Dundies, but it’s, it’s just kind of a silly different awards they give to different employees and everyone looks forward to it. They just all come together and can laugh a little bit. But yeah, investing just, I think It takes some time and some energy to be a bit creative in just showing that you care, that there’s things outside of the daily grind, that you care more about that employee than what they can do for you.
You actually care about their personal life, their professional development as well. So that’s kind of my takeaway on the investing in your employee and it’s, it’s not easy. It takes some creativity, some time to do that, but I think for developing and retaining your good employees, it’s a vital thing to do.
Scott Zehr
I agree. Yeah. You know, I’m going to maybe shift a little bit here, taking away from our conversation about employees and apply that elsewhere. So Jeff, I’d like to get your take on you know, for lack of a better term, we’ll role play a little bit. So I’ll play the part of the dairy owner or manager.
Jeff, could you provide me with a little bit of advice on what kind of things I should look for? And the, I’m going to say industry professionals out there, nutritionists, veterinarians maybe repro consultants. What should I be looking for in those individuals? Do I put them through the same scrutiny?
I would an employee, you know, judging character and integrity and loyalty, that kind of things? Or do we give them a pass because maybe they’re a really well known axe in their field.
Jeff Hostetter
I think integrity and character is probably the number one characteristic I would look for when choosing a nutritionist or agronomic consultant or any of the consulting professionals you work with on a dairy.
I think there’s people out there in the industry that are very knowledgeable very experienced. But their integrity might not be totally up to par. And then, you know, that might be tough to know just in an interview, but talk to other producers that work with those people or have worked with those people. Get that firsthand recommendation.
And I just think the more you can talk with people that have worked with those other consultants, it just helps you get a feel for how they would fit into your culture. So I think, yeah, their integrity, their character, obviously they need to be well versed and knowledgeable about the advice that they’re offering, the whether it’s your financial advisor, that you’re nutritionist. And again, it’s, got to be personalities need to work well, need to communicate.
They’ve got to be able to communicate with, the owner and the management team at that dairy. And have, I think having a collaborative mindset for the dairy is important as well. Not someone who maybe has a way of turning people against each other on the dairy. Or creating that finger pointing mentality. But someone who brings people together and focuses on the team aspect to accomplish the goals of that dairy.
Scott Zehr
There’s a lot to unpack there and, not teasing you on the answer at all, but whenever you and I have this kind of a conversation, it makes me think of different situations that maybe I’ve run into on farms where, “Hey, I have to swallow my pride and realize I’m not the right fit for the person either.”
But when you think about what you just said and those kinds of terms, like I, can see situations that I’ve been part of where what value is this person bringing to the culture of the dairy beyond their ability to formulate a ration or develop a repro protocol or, you mentioned the financial planner, you know, create spreadsheets or whatever.
And, I think again, Jeff, just to come back to my own personal experience. I think as a business owner it’s, I really have to watch sometimes when I tell people when we’re on a dairy talking about this stuff, because I easily fall into the category of people that maybe at least I have been, you know, that this guy has a great reputation of doing X, Y, Z. And so you start taking advice from them.
And unfortunately, Jeff, in my situation with my maple business it set me back by a lot, a lot of money. And it wasn’t until I came to that realization and sought out people that were going to shoot it straight. That we’re going to take, you know, “Hey, I can remember the one guy telling me, I don’t give a crap if you buy equipment for me or not. If you’re not going to make money at what you’re doing, I don’t want to sell it to you. Because I don’t want to have to try to sell it again after you can’t pay for it.” And, that really brought to light, I think for me the importance of better vetting which is really what we’re talking about. Right?
And so yeah, a little, probably more personal than the audience wanted to hear, but I think it happens. And I, think oftentimes, if you see it on a dairy or I see it on a dairy, we ask ourselves the question, why doesn’t owner X or, you know, the manager see this? And I think there’s times where maybe we just don’t understand all the stuff they’re doing behind the scenes that nobody sees.
But I also think that there’s probably some folks out there like myself that we started a relationship with somebody based on reputation and got burned in the end. It’s, man, good lesson.
Jeff Hostetter
yeah. I see dairies that have operated and had a relationship with the same consultant for decades. And there’s something to be said for that understanding the ebbs and flows from year to year. What things work on that dairy that might not work at someone else’s dairy. And I think that’s good, I think that’s helpful.
But always, you know, guarding against becoming complacent or just too comfortable where, you know, even if you have that long standing relationship, is that person still bringing new ideas? Are they thinking ahead? Are they proactively, thinking a couple years ahead of how different decisions will impact the actual goals of that producer?
So, yeah, I’m, all for long term relationships. Loyalty is a, great thing. We’ve all probably seen dairies that jump around from one consultant to the next every six months. And, you know, that seems to more often than not, doesn’t work out for anybody. But just, having that person that you trust, but that is always, you know, keeping you on your toes, not afraid to challenge the status quo. I think that’s a part of your personal sphere, Scott.
Scott Zehr
Yes, it is. Yep.
Jeff Hostetter
There’s a lot to look for because those consultants can have such a huge impact on that operation.
Scott Zehr
As you were just talking about that, I realized it’s the same conversation. You’re exactly right. Cause everything you just said is really indiscernible between whether you’re talking about an industry professional or an employee. It all goes, I would much rather have an employee that’s willing to challenge me a little bit than one that’s just going to be a yes, man. I used to think yes, men were a lot easier to manage, but I was dead wrong.
Jeff Hostetter
I’d say yes, but inside they’re thinking, I don’t agree, but I’ll just do it and get done right anyways.
Scott Zehr
Exactly. Exactly. But Jeff, before we wrap up, you know you’ve obviously had the opportunity to be on farms and experience some of this stuff as we just talked about. But you’ve also been an employee at Premier Select Sires now for a number of years.
So you’ve, had to practice a lot of what you’re out preaching when it comes to building a team or, working within a team. So from your firsthand experience of working within a team, like what does it take to implement some of this stuff?
Jeff Hostetter
I think to really implementt the good culture within a team it really takes number one, great communication from the leader of the team and someone who can facilitate communication between the team members. I’ve seen the opposite side of it where you have a kind of a team leader that just tells everybody what they think they want to hear at that moment.
Which means they might be saying one thing to one person, something different to another person on the team. And I’m guilty of that where I’ve tried to like butter up one person and then tell them what a great job they’re the best person, doing a great job. And I might say the same thing to another person. And those two people talk and they’re like, well, that’s not what he told me. And so, I think you’ve got to be consistent.
Scott Zehr
I would agree, Jeff, but I wouldn’t beat yourself up on that because you also have to manage personalities, right?
Jeff Hostetter
Sure. Sure.
Scott Zehr
You know, I think managing people to some degree, when you’re in a position of leadership, like yourself, I think it comes from a different place than the you mentioned the example of telling people what they need to hear.
Well, what’s the intent behind that? Is it to just cover something up or, you know I worked for a supervisor when I spent time at premier P pair and he always seemed to know when I needed a kick in the pants versus when I needed an encouraging word. And so, obviously those are two different messages. But to your point, it was consistent. He had great perspective on what I needed when I needed it. So I wouldn’t beat yourself up too hard on that.
Jeff Hostetter
I think another way to state that it state that is accountability. That team leader has to be able to keep everybody accountable. And it may be different for each person and even for the same person, different ways at different times.
But just a way to check in with someone in a way that you’re not just like, you know, are you doing your job? Not like this overarching overwhelming presence, but just keeping people accountable. And that’s a good thing. You know, I think you can have a team of people where there’s not much oversight.
And then people may say, oh, this is great. No one’s trying to micromanage me on a day to day basis. But I think when there’s a good team concept that there is accountability and it doesn’t have to be checking in twice a day every day. It’s, you know, this person cares about me. He cares about my success and therefore he’s touching base.
And that’s, I think that’s a good thing, whether it’s in your professional life, your personal life, your marriage, your kid, your family. It’s good to have accountability.
Scott Zehr
Well, I I’ll second that. And I’m going to give a big shout out to my right hand woman at Ruminate This, Kelly Bristley. People listening may or may not know who she is. But when you talk about accountability, Jeff, I’m that guy that hates having somebody micromanage what I’m doing. But kelly has done a tremendous job of facilitating me wanting to be accountable. And to the point where I didn’t recognize it maybe two, three years ago when she started working with us.
But I definitely see it now where I want to be accountable for getting an episode done or getting this done. Because If I don’t take some personal responsibility for the things that I’m in charge of, she can’t do what she needs to do. And if I’ve learned anything about my work relationship with Kelly, it’s that her willingness to take on the task of helping me be accountable has made both of our lives significantly better. So yeah, big shout out to Kelly. And I think everybody could use somebody like Kelly to help them out, so.
Jeff Hostetter
Kelly’s awesome.
Scott Zehr
Yeah. Well, man, I don’t know how we end on a better note than that, Jeff. But I want to thank you again for taking time out of your day today to visit with us here on Ruminate This. And folks, if you have any questions that you I want to bring up on this topic of culture or would like somebody from our team here at Agrarian to visit with you about ideas or strategies that we might have. Go ahead and drop us an email. The email is [email protected] and either myself or Kelly will be in touch with you. So yeah, I look forward to talking to everybody again next week. Thanks Jeff.
Jeff Hostetter
Thanks Scott. Enjoyed it.
