Good Management Practices
= Team Concept
Transcript of Select Sires' Reproductive Moment Program
on DairyLine Radio Which Aired Jan. 20, 2005
With Mel DeJarnette,
Reproductive Solutions Specialist™,
Select Sires Inc.
Mel, the NFL season is winding down and the Super Bowl is coming up. You have a correlation between the dairy herd manager and the NFL football coach when it comes to good management practices.
Yes, Bill. We are rapidly approaching the end of one of my favorite seasons of the year, and no, I am not talking about winter. It is the end of the football season, and I hate to see it go. It won’t be long before we football junkies will have to relinquish the remote control back over to the wife and kids, and they are going to pay us back for five months of college game day and NFL prime-time with probably never-ending episodes from either the Home and Garden Network or Sponge Bob Square Pants. However, if there is any consolation, at least we in the dairy industry can tide ourselves over until next year by making use of those valuable winning characteristics that we gleaned from watching football to help develop a more profitable reproductive management program.
The most obvious lesson is the team concept of winning. The dairy herd manager is the equivalent to the head coach, who is supported by the assistant coaches and the veterinarian and nutritionists, and our daily tasks are like plays in the playbook. The best coaches in the league are basically worthless without the players on the field. Although there is usually a quarterback or running back or wide receiver on the field that gets an inordinate amount of credit for the team’s success, 90% of the yardage gained or lost is due to what happens between the tackles.
That is why you seldom hear an interview with a football coach where he doesn’t mention the word execute. Winning or losing is seldom decided by who has the best coach, the best playbook, or maybe even the best players. Rather, it is decided by which team did the best job of executing plays.
Championship-caliber coaches and players know that the success of the season may ride on the attention given to the basics of blocking, tackling, or simply holding onto the football during each and every play of each and every game. One play can cost you the game and one game can cost you a season.
Similarly, the reproductive success of your dairy is seldom solely due to the efforts of the herd manager, the A.I. technician, the nutritionist, or the veterinarian. Rather, it is the result of the cumulative effects of all members of the team. How well does your team execute the basics of semen handling, heat detection, feed-mixing and delivery, or good milking-parlor hygiene? Routine tasks can easily become mundane without good coaching to instill a sense of importance in both the plays and the players. How many times have you heard the phrase, "offense wins games, but defense wins championships"? That is where sound nutrition and a herd health program are essential to insure cows are capable of conceiving to the numerous offensive breeding programs we throw at them. So, during the off-season focus on implementing these championship philosophies, make sure your herd has a chance to make it into post-season play. If there is ever anything Select Sires can do to help, don’t hesitate to call.
Thank you, Mel. That is Mel DeJarnette, Reproductive Solutions Specialist at Select Sires Inc.
™Reproductive Solutions Specialist is a trademark of Select Sires Inc.
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