K-State Research and Extension

“Who Are You? – Part I”

by Chris Reinhardt, feedlot specialist

I’ve heard the phrase, “Who people see when they look at you is not the same person you see in the mirror.” We are all bogged down by a self-image which is not true—at least it’s not the same image as others see. The healthier the self-image, the closer it will be to what others see. Some see themselves as less than they are, others see themselves as more.

Sometimes, it helps to take some time to try to figure out what others see. As a manager, this is the only way to get better. Maybe you don’t see any need to get better; that’s a problem. And it tells others who you see in the mirror.

If you’ve got a superior you report to, that is possibly the most available and honest source of feedback you can get on how you’re developing as a person and as a manager. But there is also a concept called “360-degree Feedback” which can be a further aid to your self-improvement. This means people all around you in the organization provide feedback on your development issues. That includes your superior/s, your peers, and those who report to you.

Obviously, the only way this works is if those providing feedback believe their input is valued, will be incorporated, and won’t be held against them in the future. This is where humility comes in. The manager who doesn’t think there is any need for improvement need not apply. But the truth is we can all get better.

During this very busy time of year, take time to get feedback from your entire team. Make this a development goal. Consider this: if you are a better manager, you will have a better team, a more productive team, and a more sustainable team. Employees who feel their input is valued are more content and more productive; they give more when the times require it. Employees who feel their manager is truly trying to get better want to help—why wouldn’t they?

“Preventative Maintenance”

by Chris Reinhardt, feedlot specialist

I’ll admit that I’m the last person to lecture on equipment maintenance; I can barely change my own motor oil. But that doesn’t change the fact that I’ve been berated by every good mechanic I’ve ever known on the value of periodic preventative maintenance.

Checking and changing oil, regular greasing, checking bearings and bushings, checking and changing filters, the list goes on. A small investment of time on a regular, scheduled, basis will, over time, save thousands of dollars and countless hours of lost productivity by preventing major mechanical malfunctions and providing a systematic means of detecting minor ones.

This tested and proven truism of heavy machinery is an excellent analogy for maintaining workplace relationships and morale. Late summer is a time when many agricultural operations have the opportunity to repair and recoup from the hectic spring season and when they must take the opportunity to prepare for the hectic fall work. This is true for both machinery and people.

Like mechanical devices, people need fuel, people need rest, and people sometimes wear out. In order to ensure that people are rested and refueled for the upcoming season, it is critical that managers monitor the well-being of the people in their charge, and perhaps even insist that people take time off. Suppressed tension could surface when the days get longer and the stress load increases causing a potentially volatile situation. This could easily result in friction between team members, increased sick days, or even an increase in accidents due to frustration and fatigue.

Managing people often requires uncanny observation of people’s behavior and the circumstances surrounding it. Heading into a very critical season for your operation, be proactive about investigating people’s attitudes, inter-relationships, stress level, energy level, and their need for some time off.

“Summertime: Time for Training”

by Chris Reinhardt, feedlot specialist

Summertime in agriculture often means time for cleanup after a wet spring and/or preparation for fall harvest. In the feedlot it often means a time of reduced headcount and preparation for the heavy run of fall calves. Along with spraying weeds and painting pipe, hopefully this is a time when we prioritize training and re-training on animal handling basics.

As managers, we’re proud of our long-term employees. When people stay around for more than a decade, either they don’t have any other opportunities (rarely the case for good people) or they’ve found a home. They feel supported, challenged, and productive. They’re also good at what they do and they’re good team members and team leaders.

The challenge mature employees can present for managers is confidence and complacency: confidence in their abilities and complacency in their need for ongoing training. The mature employee may be the most seasoned on the team and may provide excellent leadership in certain areas, but their animal handling skills or attitude may need improvement. To even suggest the need for improvement in this area may bring on conflict. But it is even more critical given the leadership role the person may hold in the eyes of the younger employees or those newer to the team.

I strongly encourage all feedlots to constantly evaluate animal handling practices, facilities, philosophies, and attitudes. Then, determine the appropriate steps to get better. We can always get better. Real leadership will be demonstrated by those who set ego aside and take a proactive approach to improving the organization—starting with the question “How can I get better today?”

“What Grade Do You Deserve?”

by Chris Reinhardt, feedlot specialist

How often do you grade your operation? Or do you regularly bring in an outside consultant to evaluate your organization? There is great value in having an outside expert critique your actual operating practices.

Do you view your operation with critical eyes? Or do you believe you’re already doing everything as “right” as possible? The problem with self-evaluation is that it’s hard for us to know what “normal” should be when we are immersed in what is “normal” for our operation.

I have visited some operations where “normal” animal handling procedures are less than ideal based on current standards and best management practices. How frequently do your animal handlers use a whip or hot shot? What is “normal” for your operation may not be considered “normal” for the rest of the cattle industry or, more importantly, acceptable by your ultimate customer—the beef consumer. Do your cattle handlers routinely yell and whistle while moving stock? If this has become “normal” for your operation, it may be time for you to either critically evaluate your standard animal handling practices or bring in an outside expert to do it for you.

How you train and monitor animal handling practices determines the message you send your cattle crew as to what is appropriate. People will fall into old habits when permitted. Just like any other operational procedure, good habits can be trained and reinforced. Catch people doing things wrong and re-direct them; catch people doing things right and commend them. Be intentional. Make this a priority. Have regular training sessions and solicit feedback. Communicate the importance and value of appropriate animal handling practices. Be transparent. Most folks desire to do things right, once they know what the right thing is. Animal caregivers by their nature want to know they are doing right by the animals in their care.

We are at a critical time in all of animal agriculture with respect to our management practices; we are being observed and graded by our customer. The question you must ask yourself is, “What grade do I deserve?”

“Safety When Working With Bulls”

by Chris Reinhardt, feedlot specialist

As breeding season rolls around there is an acute need to be reminded of the potential dangers when handling cattle, especially bulls.

First and foremost, hand-raised bulls do not have the same timidity of humans as those raised by their dam. These bulls view humans as their equal and constantly have the potential to become aggressive toward their handler. This is not new information, only a plea to take exceptional caution and give these bulls a wide berth.

Second, time should be taken to thoroughly inspect and repair all working facilities. The same facilities which successfully handled last season’s calves through weaning or even the cows at preg check may be sufficiently worn or stressed that the larger, stronger, and more aggressive bulls may push the system beyond its limits. An extra day of maintenance could prove a great investment if human or animal injury is prevented and the time and inconvenience of escaped bulls is avoided.

Third, take age into account when working with mature cattle. As the body ages, several things happen: response time slows, vision diminishes, and healing time is extended. At 18 the body is still nimble enough to quickly dash out of harm’s way; with advancing age, the need to plan for, avoid, and prevent dangerous situations increases. A mishap at 18 or 20 resulting in a muscle pull, a sprain, or even a broken bone will heal much more rapidly and permanently than the same injury after 50.

Take extra time this breeding season to slow down and consider the safety of both the livestock and their handlers; think through limitations posed by the animals, the facilities, and yourself.

“What do YOU need?”

by Chris Reinhardt, feedlot specialist

We all have needs, and my needs are different than yours. Maybe some of our ‘needs’ could be better classified as ‘wants’ when compared to the need for food or shelter. But within the human resources conversation, meeting people’s individual needs will mean the difference between a stable, productive, satisfying workplace and a high-stress workplace which seems to be constantly filling voids in staffing—a costly process all would agree.

The complicating factor is that some needs are more easily communicated and more readily recognized than others. For example, competitive pay and reasonable work hours are obviously desired by all employees; we only need to negotiate and fine tune our respective definitions of ‘competitive’ and ‘reasonable’.

But life throws us curve balls sometimes, and life can be downright messy at other times. These are times when astute managers will be looking out for the changing and often unspoken needs of their employees which most likely were not discussed during the hiring process. A recently single parent; a person recovering from a serious illness; a person grieving the loss of a loved one; these will all likely have unique needs which probably were not addressed during initial hiring conversations.

One skill which separates excellent people managers is their ability to constantly be on the lookout for signs of change which might not be verbally expressed by the employee. These changes will often be transient, but may be very foundational in the life of the employee. If not addressed in terms of what the person needs, these changes may lead to frustration and stress on the part of the employee and their team mates.

This is one more in a long list of reasons why constant, multi-dimensional, communication is so vital to a successful organization. If the manager is not communicating frequently and intentionally with employees to keep in tune with subtle changes in behavior or attitude, radical changes could take place in the team dynamic, leading to yet another possibly preventable, but certainly costly, loss of a valued team member.

“Spring Cleaning”

by Chris Reinhardt, feedlot specialist

A friend of mine was once the assistant manager of a large ranching corporation. He enjoyed the outside work and was very good at it. But his job as a manager required mountains of paper work to be completed on a daily basis. When the heavy work seasons of calving and weaning came around, his extra pair of skilled hands was always needed outside: by the chute, on a horse, in a feed truck, in the shop, etc.

The problem is that the paper work didn’t complete itself, and there was no “day-worker” for hire who could complete federal permits or tax ID statements. So when my friend came back into the office at 5 p.m. after an already long day, not only was his work not done, but it was piling up and getting away from him. This led to a great deal of stress and tension between himself and the general manager, not to mention a fair bit of confusion, frustration, and burnout.

As we head into the busy spring season, there may be a need to be exceptionally intentional about delineating job duties and priorities. In small businesses, everyone wears several hats, and that is especially true in agriculture. There will be opportunities for inside folks to get their hands dirty. The thinking is that the paper work will get done when the outside work slows down, and that may be true enough.

The question is, “What toll is that accumulating pile of inside work taking on those whose responsibility it will be to complete it?” Every properly designed job description will have duties clearly stated, and the duties will be clearly prioritized. If it is someone’s priority to complete payroll before Friday, then there shouldn’t be a ‘temporary’ priority change until after the field work is completed. That’s not to say emergencies don’t happen and flexibility isn’t required, but there may be unintended consequences. After the emergency is alleviated, what steps can be taken to assist the person who wasn’t permitted to complete their priority duties? Simply asking them to “go get your work done” is a good recipe for burnout and failed morale.

As we all get busy this spring, take time to discuss any potential deviations from “business as usual” ahead of time with all the affected parties, and then discuss ways to keep these deviations from settling around the shoulders of a few, key, individuals. They may be committed to the organization and may be able to deal with the stress for a short while, but concessions should be made to ensure their long-term satisfaction by rewarding their short-term sacrifices.

“Winter Therapy”

by Chris Reinhardt, feedlot specialist

Winter in Kansas can be a beautiful time of rest, rejuvenation, and relaxation—unless you’re in agriculture. In that case, winter in Kansas can be a time of exhaustion, cold, endless mud, and constantly broken equipment. Am I getting ‘warmer’?

Unfortunately, I can’t do anything about our glorious Kansas winters. But I would like to encourage you to find time to consider that if you are exhausted, how are your employees faring this long winter season?

If work hours have been abnormally taxing to all involved, consider providing extra time off. This may be especially essential if the hectic schedule of spring planting time will not allow for any extra breaks. Maybe there just aren’t enough people to do what needs to be done as it is and therefore there can be no additional time off.

Perhaps there are jobs which could be deferred or outsourced. On the one hand you can’t afford to increase short-term cost outlays by outsourcing equipment repair or maintenance. But burnout, frustration, and dissatisfaction are inevitable if we don’t actively prepare for and prevent it. And the natural product of that burnout is turnover. The costly part may be that the turnover could happen when we can least afford to be short-handed: calving time, spring planting, harvest, weaning, the fall run.

Consider workplace burnout like a huge boulder rolling downhill, gathering steam, directly towards your place of business at the bottom of the hill. The boulder has inertia, which could be defined as its ‘unwillingness to change direction’, and the ‘unwillingness’ is increasing. The only way to intervene is to invest energy and resources to stop or turn the boulder away from your workplace. The longer you wait, the more resources you’ll need to turn the boulder. Your INTENTIONALITY OVERCOMES INERTIA. Things will stay on the same course until you decide to actively change their course.

Keeping your workplace satisfying and rewarding in order to keep your good people engaged and working hard will require that you are an active participant in determining the course your work environment is headed.

“Safety Around Livestock”

by Chris Reinhardt, feedlot specialist

I have a saying that you can borrow sometime: “The good ol’ days never were.”

What I mean is, when we start to get a little more salt than pepper in our hair we start to reminisce about how good things “used to be”. The problem is, we almost always put on rose-colored glasses before we begin that process. I agree, some things may have been better in the “good ol’ days”, but when it comes to practices and equipment we use in modern agriculture, things have almost all gotten better, safer, more reliable, and easier to use.

One topic I think I would get little argument on is cattle handling facilities. Compare what is currently found on many cattle operations to what would have been common 30, 20, or even only 10 years ago. Hydraulics have made the squeeze chute not only easier to use but also safer for both the cattle and the people using them. And, if you’ve been reading along every month, that really should be our primary objective. Yes, the cattle need to be worked, and maybe you’ve got a ball game to get to tonight. But I cannot think of any ball game worth sacrificing human or animal safety for.

We’ve all heard and/or told plenty of stories about this ringy old cow that wouldn’t let us tag her calf or that mean old bull that chased us over a 5-wire fence. Those make great stories, but I sincerely hope the next generation of ranchers has fewer stories to tell than we or our parents and grandparents have. Disposition is genetic. Ringy old cows and bulls need to go to town, and by all means don’t keep replacements out of them. I don’t care how big of calf she raised, is she worth a broken arm, leg, or worse? Forget the monetary cost of an emergency room visit; what if that is your child’s or grandchild’s arm, leg, or worse? You simply cannot put a price tag on safety.

When it comes to working with livestock, think safety first. Think of what is the safest way to get that cow in, not the fastest. What is the safest way to get the calves gathered and processed, not the fastest. Ironically, in the long run, the safest way is almost always the easiest and fastest anyway.

“ATV Safety”

by Chris Reinhardt, feedlot specialist

Everybody likes ATVs–except perhaps OSHA. Let’s face it, these things are both useful and fun. But there very traits which make them fun also make them potentially dangerous. The good news is that there are some very specific, common-sense ways to minimize (although not totally eliminate) the hazards.

OSHA data (www.osha.gov/dts/shib/shib080306.html) indicate that of the 113 and 1,625 workplace ATV fatalities and injuries between 1992 and 2001, all could be attributed to one or more of the following causes:

1. Unbalanced or excessive loads
2. Excessive speed for given terrain
3. Operating on paved roads
4. Lack of protective helmet
5. Lack of proper training
6. Carrying a passenger

As we look through this list, and consider the ATV as a workplace tool, and consider our conscious efforts to develop a “Culture of Safety” in our workplace, we should see great potential to manage risk. Which item on the list cannot be controlled by the operator? Which cannot be trained and encouraged, if not controlled, by management?

1. They make vehicles designed to carry heavy/awkward loads; they’re called pickups. But if the ATV is required to carry loads much of the time, consider replacing the ATV with a longer, wider, more stable replacement side-by-side vehicle with a cargo bed.
2. Slow down: the job will be there when you get there. These vehicles are not designed for high speed; the high center of gravity makes them very easy to roll over. They are designed for low-speed maneuverability on rough terrain where traction is minimal. What works well for one purpose (by design) is very unsuitable for the other purpose (by design).
3. Stay off paved roads. Why? The smooth surface encourages excessive speed (see #2); the paved surface provides excellent traction beyond that of dirt, grass, or gravel, so in the event of a quick direction change, rollover is likely; other larger, faster, 4-wheeled vehicles occupy paved surfaces and may not see or yield for the ATV—a deadly scenario.
4. Wear a helmet. This one should be so obvious as to not need explanation, but it isn’t. If you roll an ATV, your head will give, the ground won’t—every time. Physics is not in your favor on this one.
5. Train ALL personnel (extensively, repeatedly, ongoing) on ATV use. Note: Accidents don’t occur because someone doesn’t know how to make the ATV go; the accidents happen if we don’t know how to stop.
6. Don’t carry passengers. Again, there are vehicles designed for this purpose: called pickups. Or the aforementioned cargo-oriented ATVs with a bench seat.

ATVs have become a mainstay in production agriculture; common sense, safe use, and training will ensure that they are a tool in our toolbox for a long time to come.