August 2004

All in the Family: Keeping the business in the family and the family in the business is featured in Digger (Farwest Edition), Aug. 04. “Many family-owned businesses struggle to survive beyond a single generation. The statistics are staggering. Two-thirds of family businesses never survive the passing of the founder, and only 10 percent make it to the third generation of family control. . . . the issue of liquidity can become a real challenge when it comes to separating the business value from the estate value. . . . Dividing the inheritance when there is a business involved often means having enough other liquid assets to be able to give the children involved in the business the business asset and give other assets to children who are not involved in the business. . . . A team of advisers made up of an attorney, a certified public accountant, an insurance agent and a financial planner becomes very important in helping you address these issues and to plan accordingly.”

Don’t let drugs and alcohol undermine your workforce recommends Dairy Herd Management (Aug. ’04) in its ‘Tools for Profit’ section. “Don’t assume because you have all family labor that the problem doesn’t exist. Drug and alcohol abuse is an equal-opportunity problem—it strikes both family and non-family labor. There is no greater threat to employee morale than having to work with an incapacitated person. . . . If an impaired dairy employee causes another person’s death or injury, the liability to your dairy farm business is astronomical. . . . It is management’s responsibility to provide a drug- and alcohol-free workplace. Technologies to monitor drug and alcohol use have become remarkable simple. . . . Before you start testing employees, establish a written protocol outlining your farm’s policy on drugs and alcohol in the workplace. . . . Get everyone to sign the policy.”

What affects dairy efficiency asks Hoard’s Dairyman (Aug. ’04). “Dairy efficiency, defined as pounds milk per pound dry matter intake (DMI), provides a readily calculated measure of productivity. It is not measured as commonly as feed conversion to weight gain . . . But calculating dairy efficiency can provide the farm important economic and nutrient benchmarks. . . . With feed comprising our largest operating expense, efficiency of converting feed intake to milk should be a good benchmark for potential margins.”

Milk Moves in at Wendy’s reports Pipeline (MD & VA Milk Producers, Aug. ’04). “In late July, Dairy Management Inc. (DMI) and Wendy’s, the nationally recognized fast-food chain, partnered together to provide a variety of milks in fresh new plastic packaging at 6,000 locations nationwide. What’s more, Wendy’s is the first restaurant chain to offer the new milk packaging with the dairy checkoff’s 3-A-Day-of-Dairy logo.”

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