Keeping the confidence of consumers is a job for all dairy producers, and the teams they rely on. One member of that team should be your dairy field representative.
Fabulous Farm Babe Pam Jahnke visits with FarmFirst Dairy Cooperative Field Representative Barb Grzywinski from Eden. The FARM program recently revised some of its guidelines for dairy farmers and how they care for their animals.
Grzywinski, who has been in the dairy industry for 20 years, is trained to be an evaluator in the FARM program. She focuses a lot of her energy on helping farms talk through the “what ifs” of animal handling.
“We want to make sure that our farms understand the standards so that nothing surprises them,” she says.
Grzywinski says farmers work hard to make sure a quality product goes into the tank. But once it’s shipped off, the processor needs assurance that the milk was produced well. The FARM program is a tool to share that message.
She says it’s important that farms view field reps like her as an asset instead of an enemy.
“For the FARM program (evaluation)… it’s a lot of paperwork, it’s overwhelming, and most farmers have lots of other things to do in the day. So, we are there to help get you ready for the evaluation,” Grzywinski says.
She adds that her job is to help tell a farm’s good story of how they’re protecting the milk and meat supply by assisting farms with their everyday documents and finding solutions. For example, a new FARM program guideline asks to see eight specific items in your treatment record.
“Really, this is to protect you,” she says. “If somebody came and said, ‘hey, I think there was something suspect with this cow,’ you can say… ‘that wasn’t me’. It’s all about having great records.”
Connect with supportive staff like Barb Grzywinski even if you’re not a FarmFirst Dairy Cooperative member (yet): https://www.farmfirstdairycooperative.com/about-us/board-and-staff/
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