Entries by jellsworth

Where Do We Go from Here?

Wow! This has been a difficult start to our new year. Cash flowing has been difficult with milk in the neighborhood of $14-15/cwt. Given the rising cost of so many inputs and the recent difficulty of acquiring the financing you need, what can you do? Most banks still seem to understand this, but there is, at best, the possibility of delays on loan renewals because even their patience with the dairy industry has been wearing thin. One of the items I am most concerned about, in the entire scenario of finance and the world economy, revolves around the seeming presence of paralysis – that is, the inability to make a decision.

An Often-Forgotten Topic: Interest Rates

Wow! If you watch the headlines in the dairy industry, you’ll note that there are a tremendous number of changes going on. Exports are up in some markets. Others are down. Block cheese prices are up, but barrels are down. The trade balance is changing, and our recent government shutdown is impacting some reports we receive. However, while all of this is true and likely of interest to you, there is another factor that you might just want to look at – interest rates. They represent an area that has not received a lot of attention lately, simply because they have been so low since 2008’s financial crisis.

Will You Be Ready? – Part 2

As I promised in my last blog, I said I’d offer some key examples of producers who had positively turned the corner, following 2009’s disastrous results. In all of these examples, they were ready for an upturn in milk prices, in terms of what those higher prices could add to their business. However, they were also producers whose herds had Pregnancy Rates above 20%, Heat Detection Rates over 60%, and Milk Flows well above their breakeven levels at normal milk prices.

Will You Be Ready? – Part 1

Back in 2010, I recall writing an article that asked the very same question I listed in the title of this blog: Will You Be Ready? Ready for what, you might be asking, and my answer would be ready for the higher levels of profitability that await us in the next several years.

Dairy Revenue Protection – Is it for me?

As you probably already know, the new Dairy Revenue Protection Program was introduced in early November. Is this the answer we’ve all been looking for? I don’t see it as the whole answer to our industry challenges. However, it does represent another tool to use in setting minimum milk prices. Like any other existing tool, it can only benefit you if you learn how to use it and then, most importantly, take appropriate action to move forward.

Leadership Lessons

I recently read about an interview on leadership lessons that Head Basketball Coach Mike Krzyzewski completed with the Dean of Duke University’s business school, Bill Boulding. I believe it offers some great lessons for each of us, so I am passing its highlights along to you in this blog. After winning five national championships in his 40 years at Duke, Coach K probably can provide us with some excellent guidelines.

Building Your Management Success

Do you ever have that feeling that others seem to be building more management success than you in certain areas of their operation? I think everyone has felt that at some point. The more significant question, however, assuming that might be partly true is: “Why?” What is their advantage over the way you normally operate?

These Three Things…

Recently, I’ve had an opportunity to do some thinking about what tactics have really helped me to be more successful, and perhaps more resourceful, in my own business. One of the techniques that I have found to be very beneficial is what I call “These Three Things.”