Survey of work processes on German dairy farms

The objective of this study was to conduct a survey to gain insight into the organization of work processes on commercial German dairy farms analyzing the use of standard operating procedures (SOP). Practices and routines were surveyed regarding the existence, creation, and use of SOP. A total of 250 survey forms were returned, and 248 could be used for final analysis. The existence of SOP was indicated by 82% of all respondents, but only 54% stated that these SOP were written down. Existence of SOP correlated with farm size such that larger farms were more likely to implement SOP than smaller farms. However, many farmers lacked the time (41%) or ability (42%) to create SOP to provide the employees with detailed instructions on how to perform a specific task. The majority of respondents (59%) were interested in using ready-made SOP that could be adjusted to their farm. An obvious discrepancy exists between the motivation of the farmers to improve the performance on their farm and their expertise in attaining these goals and intentions.