Staff shortages spur study on farm effiency
A new DairyNZ study is looking to examine farm practices and technology, to create more modern, productive and safe dairy farm workplaces.
DairyNZ senior scientist Dr Callum Eastwood says that, with one in three farms continuing to be short-staffed, many teams are looking for different strategies and tools to increase efficiency.
“This Workforce Productivity study will provide a national dataset to allow New Zealand dairy farmers to benchmark their farm and look at how productive it is, including identifying ways to improve efficiency and save time,” he says.
DairyNZ, with delivery partner QCONZ, will conduct the on-farm Workforce Productivity survey this summer. The survey will be under way in early 2023 with around 150 dairy farms owners and managers nationwide.
“The study will look at the time requirements of dairy farm activities and priorities to better understand how systems, technology and management influence how productive our farm teams are,” Eastwood says.
“These farm activities include analysing time spent milking and herding cows, along with pasture assessment, calving and general day-to-day planning, during different periods of the year.”
Farmers are continually looking for ways to provide modern, productive and safe workplaces.
“We want to support farmers as they embrace new technology and strategies to improve work-life balance for themselves and their teams. The Workforce Productivity study’s data will help farmers benchmark against similar farms to see the potential impact of different practices and technologies.
“We will work with farmers to understand where productivity could be improved, to help deliver fitfor-purpose solutions. Farmer insights and ideas will help develop the right farm solutions and allow us to further improve farm systems, productivity and staff wellbeing.”
Farmers are still able to get involved, with spaces available for the survey. — DairyNZ