Hardest Manager Dairy Interview Preparation Guide

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Cows don’t drink milk, but we feed milk to the babies. The babies are fed milk twice a day. They really love drinking their milk, and it helps them grow really fast. When the calves grow older though, their stomach changes so then they can eat forages like grass and hay so they don’t need to drink milk anymore.

Milking cows is one of the most important jobs on the dairy. Cows must be milked 2 times per day, every day of the week. In the past, you had to milk cows by hand, which was a lot of work. Then in the early 1900s, the milking machine was invented to milk cows so people don’t need to milk cows by hand anymore.

Being a dairy farmer is a great way to live and raise our family, even on the worst of days. We are also very passionate about taking care of our cows.

No, they do not have to open outward. However, if a screen door is, attached, the screen door must open outward.

Surprisingly the cows take a shower 2 times every day. So they stay pretty clean. Before getting milked, the cows wait in the wash pen, where sprinklers wash the cows. This makes sure that they are nice and clean before getting milked.

Weather, for sure, and milk pricing. Two things I cannot control.

Cow’s milk, a quality protein source, is made up of primarily whey and casein proteins. Whey protein is a high-quality protein. Compared to many other proteins, on a gram-to-gram basis, whey protein delivers more essential amino acids to the body and is absorbed quickly and efficiently.

Sanitizing of the teats shall not be required if the udder is dry and the teats have been thoroughly cleaned (not dry wiped) and dried (manually wiped dry) prior to milking. The determination of what constitutes a dry udder and cleaned and dried teats shall be made by the regulatory agency.

Self-driven.

We recycle the local college’s horse bedding. We mix the bedding with lime to kill any bacteria and use it for bedding in our barns. Once it has been soiled there, it is pushed into our manure pit where we are able to capture the nutrients in the manure to reduce the amount of commercial fertilizer we use.

Normally, I just wear jeans and a t-shirt or sweatshirt and work boots. But in the winter, I wear many layers to the barn, including sweathshirts, vests, Carhartt coveralls, a jacket, a hat, gloves and Lacrosse-style insulated pac boots. Sounds like a lot – it is! I have weighed my winter layers and it is over 20 pounds of additional clothing!

The National Academy of Sciences recommends American adults consume 1,000-1,300 mg of calcium per day, depending on age and gender. Eating three servings daily of milk, cheese or yogurt can help you meet these recommendations. Teens and those over age 50 have higher calcium needs, thus eating four servings of dairy foods can help them meet these recommendations. To find out how much calcium you need — and how many Americans aren’t getting enough — see Calcium Fact Sheet from NIH Office of Dietary Supplements.

According to the United Nations Food Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO), probiotics are “live microorganisms, which when administered in adequate amounts, confer a health benefit on the host.” Traditionally, these “friendly bacteria” were found in fermented foods such as yogurt and cultured milk, but can now be found as an added ingredient in milk and cheese as well. Some strains of probiotics have been associated with digestive health, while others may benefit the immune system.

That I am punctual, and reliable! And they would say they can always count on me to give them a hand when they need it.

As farmers, we have worked very hard over the years to improve the health and overall comfort of our cows. But the biggest thing we are proud of is the job the farm did in helping us raise three great kids, who will be there to help at the drop of a hat and who have a great work ethic.

The 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends that all Americans over the age of nine should consume three cups/servings of milk or milk products each day (1 cup of milk, 1 1/2 ounces of natural cheese or 2 ounces of processed cheese equals one serving); two and a half cups per day are recommended for children aged four-eight years; and two cups per day for children aged two-three years.

Did you know the average cow drinks 30 to 50 gallons of water every day! That’s a lot of water, so we have water troughs in the pens for the cows so they can have free access to water whenever they want. The water troughs are as big as your bathtub at home

The water troughs never run out of water, when the cows drink the water, the valve automatically turns on to refill the trough with more fresh clean water.

We base it off of demand, and what we can grow sustainably on our farm. I’ve been offered sheep for free which I refused because we didn’t have the carrying capacity on our farm for them and the cows. I’ve been questioned about goats, which are verboten on our farm. I’ve had goats before, never again.

Currently we raise cows, because I like cows and that’s really our main product. We also raise pigs because they do well in the woods and about half of our farm is wooded. Otherwise half of our farm would go unused or we’d have to log it. Plus we can turn pigs in about 8 months, vs. 2 years for cows so it’s a quicker turn around on our investment. Lastly for pigs, I REALLY love our pork so even if we went 100% to cows, I’d still keep a few pigs on the farm for our family.

Enjoying three servings of milk, cheese or yogurt is a deliciously easy way to help build stronger bones and healthier bodies because together, these foods provide a powerful package of nutrients. Cow’s milk is a good or excellent source of nine essential nutrients including protein, calcium, vitamins A, D and B12, riboflavin, niacin, phosphorus and pantothenic acid. Studies show that dairy foods, when eaten as part of a healthy diet, improve overall diet quality and may help reduce the risk of osteoporosis, caridovascular disease, high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes.

There are lots of things we do for our cows and calves. For example, the food they eat is called a TMR (Total Mixed Ration) and that is balanced so that every bite is the same and highly nutritious. We balance their diets to the amino acid level, meaning they eat better than many humans. Also, when the weather cooperates, our cows are able to go outdoors and stretch their legs and lay on some grass.

We use no commercial fertilizers, nor organic ones. Our program is all about building soil health, not about applying a band-aid to resolve a problem. If we build the soil health, we don’t need fertilizer. We are into our fourth year of building soil and have over 2″ of topsoil.

About 2″ of topsoil, from 2014, in an area that has underperformed other areas of the pasture.
We feed produce daily and much of that produce goes back into the soil either through a byproduct of ingestion by our animals (poop) or by direct contact with the soil (biodegradation). Fresh produce is the only thing we add to our farm and we bring about 20,000 pounds of produce per day onto our farm. That means we divert from the landfill over 7 million pounds of organic material where it instead goes into our soil every year. Obviously much of it is water in the produce but we are still adding quite a bit of actual organic matter to our soil.

☛ At Dairy Farmers Milk Co-Operative we always strive to provide the best products to our clients. How do you ensure a product is of high quality?
☛ Wholesale and distribution requires strong negotiation skills. How would you rate your negotiation skills from 1-10?
☛ Do you have any training in sales or business negotiation?
☛ At Dairy Farmers Milk Co-Operative we are always interested in finding new vendors and clients. Tell me about your experience in business development.
☛ Wholesale and distribution requires excellent organizational skills when it comes to purchase orders and inventory management. How would you rate your organizational skills from 1-10?
☛ At Dairy Farmers Milk Co-Operative we prefer to hire candidates with a post-secondary education in Business or Marketing. Take a moment to walk me through your post-secondary education.
☛ Market analysis is very important to us at Dairy Farmers Milk Co-Operative. What steps do you take to research the performance of a product before choosing to import it?
☛ What has been your best performing product in the past 12 months? Why do you think it has done so well?
☛ How do you feel that globalization has affected the wholesale and distribution industry in the USA?
☛ How familiar are you with NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement)?
☛ Many of our clients and vendors operate in other countries and time zones. Are you able to accommodate their needs by making yourself available outside of typical work hours?
☛ How do you properly vet potential new vendors?
☛ Many of our clients and vendors operate in other countries. Do you speak multiple languages? If not, how do you manage potential communication barriers?
☛ At Dairy Farmers Milk Co-Operative we are looking for sales professionals who can make an impact on our business immediately. How do you plan to do that?
☛ Tell me when you have delegated tasks effectively.
☛ Do you have any experience training or coaching others?
☛ What motivates you?
☛ How do you like to be recognized for your accomplishments?
☛ When have you had to change a major component of your project due to new information being presented?
☛ Where do you see yourself a year from now?
☛ What are your salary expectations?
☛ What career path interests you the most in this company?
☛ Tell me about an idea you have implemented at your last job.
☛ Tell me about an error or mistake you made because of a breakdown in communication from you or one of your team members.
☛ What do you know about our company culture?
☛ How do you manage a large workload?
☛ How do you deal with uncomfortable situations?
☛ Are you applying for any other jobs?
☛ Tell me about a time that you were asked to collaborate on a project with a colleague whom you did not necessarily see eye-to-eye with. How did you ensure that you got along well and met your deadline?
☛ Tell me about a time that you narrowly missed a deadline. How did you ensure your project was completed on time?
☛ In a team environment, tell me about a critical decision you have made in the past that greatly affected your team's performance.

French doctor and scientist Louis Pasteur invented the process of pasteurization more than a century ago. Pasteurization is the process of heating milk to at least 161° Fahrenheit for 15 seconds to remove milk-borne pathogens. This simple process destroys harmful bacteria while maintaining milk’s quality, taste and nutritional value. Since its discovery, pasteurization has safeguarded much of our food supply, including milk and dairy products. By heating raw milk in specially-designed equipment, pasteurization ensures the safety and wholesomeness of milk.

Federal regulations require that all milk intended for direct consumption be pasteurized – as a matter of food safety. Some state laws circumvent these regulations by allowing raw milk sales through farms and cow shares. All raw milk sold to consumers in the United States is required to be labeled as such.

On the farm, we have a big area where we store all the food for the cows. It’s basically our farms kitchen. Cows can eat a lot of different things, so we have a tractor with a big wagon that mixes the different food together.

Just like people need to eat a healthy diet, cows also need to eat healthy. So we have a nutritionist come to our farm to figure out what feeds the cows should eat.

The real question is do we allow them indoors? For the chickens, yes we do. They have a coop where they come and go as they please. Everybody else spends all their time outdoors. Our barns don’t have areas for animals, everyone stays on pasture or in the woods.