Here you can find John Ellsworth’s appearances on Dairyline Radio where he gives insightful and useful tips in making your dairy farm more profitable.
Dairyline Radio Archive
Why Aren’t You Dancing in the Rain?November 12, 2024 - 12:28 pm
What Is Your Next Step?October 30, 2024 - 9:59 pm
Are You Facing Adversity?October 16, 2024 - 7:43 pm
How Can I Decide?September 21, 2024 - 1:37 pm
What Do I Do Now?September 10, 2024 - 5:39 pm
The Year in Review: Important Dairy Farm Lessons from 2011
Important conclusions and lessons learned from 2011 on the dairy farm.
Keeping Your Dairy Farm Expenses In Line
An important aspect of dairy farm profitability is keeping your expenses in line. Here John provides some insights into how to do this effectively.
100 Ways to Motivate Youself – Useful Lessons on a Dairy Farm
Author Steve Chandler, in his book, 100 Ways to Motivate Yourself, says, “Whatever type of problem you are facing, the most self-motivated exercise I know of is to immediately say to yourself, ‘I am the problem.’ Because once you see yourself as the problem, you can see yourself as the solution. When we see ourselves as victims of our problems, we lose the power to solve them. We shut down creativity when we declare the source of the trouble to be outside of us. However, once we say, ‘I am the problem,’ there is great power that shifts from the outside to the inside. Now we can become the solution.” This is equally true on your dairy farm and throughout the dairy industry.
Take a Lesson from Jeb Bush
Dairy farmers have a solid business lesson to learn from a recent article in the Wall Street Journal written by Jeb Bush, governor of Florida, in which he discussed his state’s efforts to reform education and how difficult the process really has been. He stated, “The reality of reform is vastly different from the theory, and change is a lot harder than it looks. But there are a few rules for real reform that makes it possible.” I realized many of the same rules apply to making certain we have our dairy operations “reformed,” especially after prosperous years like 2007 and 2008.
Achieving Success on Your Dairy Farm Loan
Given the difficult state of the dairy industry, lenders might, in some situations, be taking longer to make their credit decisions. Is this truly a tough year? YES!!! Is it the end of the world? Hardly. Is your dairy farm loan renewal taking longer than usual this year? Perhaps, but so are the renewals of many other dairy farms.
Control Your Production Costs
One of my favorite business quotes is Jack Welch’s: “Face reality as it is, not as it was or as you wish it were.” I recently read an article in Inc. magazine written by Adam Hanft that was entitled, “The Risk of Doing Nothing.”