Work routines

When weaning pigs without medicinal zinc or antibiotics, it is not only feeding strategies and feed solutions that the farm in particular should bring into focus.

The work routines for the individual employee will also change to a greater or lesser extent.

In order to produce a World Class Pig and achieve success with the concept, it is therefore important that the individual employee participates in the process. But how do you in the most effective and least intrusive way change the habits and routines that employees have built up?

At Vilofoss, we want to give the owner, the farm manager and the employee a set of tools that can assist in achieving the changes you want to make in the daily work in the stable.

As a manager, your most important task is to:

Introduce: Show the way

Listen & Communicate: Understand the kind of information your employees need

Engage: Motivate your employees

The following four management steps will help optimizing the work routines:

• Clear communication
  • Be clear about the goal of "low/no diarrhoea with lowest possible use of antibiotics"

• Why do we do it?
• How do we do it?
• Clear roadmap for the process
• Invite to dialogue/give opportunity for questions

• Education
  • Training of the entire staff

• Feed content
• Feeding plan
• Checklist
• Etc.

• Celebrate the successes

• Recognize progresses (even small ones)
• Reward the effort
• Involve in continued development

• Hold on

• Follow up
• Give feedback – “good/not that good"
• Use mistakes to improve

Cooperation between departments

To the achieve the best results, it requires across the cross-department collaboration.

• Visualise all goals from the various departments - this provides greater mutual understanding
• Set up common goals – it increases the sense of community
• Make a clear matching of expectations - thus everyone understands what it takes to achieve the goals
• Follow up on goals together
• Remember to celebrate the successes

Reactions to change

Humans react differently to change, and therefore it is important to decode the type of reaction patterns that are present in the group. Management should be adapted to the individual staff member’s reactions, so that the changes will become a reality for the entire farm.

There are overall four reaction patterns:

Each reaction requires the following management style: