Dairy Signal Speakers Announced for Week 41

Professional Dairy Producers® (PDPW), announces the line-up of speakers for week 41 of The Dairy Signal™. Episodes will focus on effective communications with employees and leadership teams and provide helpful strategies for proactive communications and well as conflict resolution. 

Liz Griffith, Market Development, Human Resource Consultant, Encore Consultants, will share communication techniques to build an effective employee team. Nicole Bettinger Zeidler, Consultant, Family Business Consulting Group, will focus on best practices for communications and resolving conflicts, especially between current and next generations of dairy farm leadership.

Dan Basse, Economist and President of AgResource Company, will return with the first update on agricultural markets and trends in the new year.

Developed by fellow dairy farmers from the PDPW Board of Directors, The Dairy Signal is a weekly series of free educational episodes offering insights and resources for fellow dairy farmers and other food system professionals throughout the value chain. The episodes air live from 12:00-1:00 PM CT each Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday; recorded sessions are available later in the day.

On Jan. 5, Dr. Gerard Cramer, DVM, Associate Professor, Department of Veterinary Population Medicine, University of Minnesota, led a discussion on strategies and protocols for preventing and treating lameness. He emphasized the importance of early detection and treatment, as well as developing a record-keeping system that will allow dairies to track incidence and trends in herd hoof health.

Dr. Heather White, PhD, Associate Professor of Nutritional Physiology of UW-Madison, provided an update on the Dairy Innovation Hub on Jan. 6, including research projects and additions to research and faculty at all three collaborating universities. She shared the latest research on feed efficiency and nutrient utilization including opportunities for genetic selection and how feed efficiency varies between first and later lactation cows.

The Jan. 7 episode was packed with information from George Twohig and Troy Schneider, Partners and Attorneys at Twohig, Rietbrock, Schneider & Halbach Law Office. Twohig shared insights on creating and staying current with succession plans. Schneider reviewed potential issues and questions that landowners should consider when approached with renewable energy projects such as wind or solar developments or manure digesters. 

Each live session offers attendees the opportunity to engage in open Q&A with the speakers through the newly-updated interactive platform.

Our dairy industry and lives are changing daily and our need for accurate business information is vital. Content on The Dairy Signal is updated as new information becomes available.

Here is a look at the upcoming presenters and topics:

Tuesday, January 12
Topic: Learn on-board training techniques, effective ways to retain and reward employees and ways to communicate using other means of technology when in-person meetings are unavailable. Episode presenter includes:

·       Liz Griffith, Market Development, Human Resource Consultant, Encore Consultants

Wednesday, January 13

Topic: Learn how to provide constructive feedback and manage challenging conversations. Find out what the next generation needs to know in order to be a successful contributor to the business. Episode presenter includes:

·       Nicole Bettinger Zeidler, Consultant, Family Business Consulting Group

Thursday, January 14

Topic: Hear the latest news and analysis of agricultural markets and trends as we move into 2021.  Episode presenter includes:

·       Dan Basse, Economist and President of AgResource Company

All Dairy Signal episodes are free and open to the public, with current and past episodes accessible through www.pdpw.org. For more information, contact PDPW at 800-947-7379 or by emailing [email protected]. Follow along digitally in advance of and during the sessions by following @dairyPDPW and using #TheDairySignal on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

Professional Dairy Producers (PDPW) is the nation’s largest dairy producer-led organization of its kind, focusing on producer professionalism, stakeholder engagement and unified outreach to share ideas, solutions, resources, and experiences that help dairy producers succeed.