5 Dec 2023
Owen Atkinson explains how vets can work collaboratively with farmers as herd health leaders to better understand their goals.
Owen Atkinson
Job Title
Image © didiksaputra / Adobe Stock
Farm vets evolve – both in general and as individuals. For myself, when I started out in 1994, I was a fixer of broken animals; a proper good old animal doctor. Sometime later, I became a measurer of performance, a health checker and a protocol writer. One might describe this as a herd health planner.
Now, I’d say I’m also a strategist, a people developer and a motivator of change. Perhaps this is best described as a herd health leader. It’s difficult to unpick to what extent I have simply moved with the times and to what extent it’s me who has changed. A bit of both I guess.
At one time I was as happy as Larry with my arm up cows’ backsides all day long – and this is still a very defining thing for a “proper” farm vet – but it is no longer how I choose to use my skills and knowledge.
Don’t get me wrong, plenty of demand still exists for farm animal doctors. In fact, there’s a shortage right now. But this article is about developing as a herd health leader – something I believe appeals to many farm vets because prevention is better than cure, after all.
If one desires to be a herd health leader, it helps to understand a little about leadership. Leadership seems to be a new buzz word, so sorry to impose it on you here, too. It can be a complicated concept, because all farm vets will be leaders during their work, regardless of whether they know it.
Most obviously, when conducting a procedure such as a caesarean, the vet will be taking the lead. But in what other ways, too? A nice car analogy exists for this, considering where a leader should sit – in the driving seat, the front passenger seat or the back passenger seat? Well, there’s a potential leadership role in all of those positions.
As a farm vet, except during a caesarean, we aren’t usually in the driving seat – unless we own the farm, too – but we might be found guiding our farmers sitting alongside them as a front passenger. Or we may provide just a few directions from the back seat. And hey, how about sitting on the roof? Then we can better scan the horizon for new things coming along.
In fact, we might not be in the car at all – we could be riding alongside as an out-rider or simply standing by, confident in the driver’s ability to do perfectly well without us.
Leaders, it seems, can be anywhere. A good leader probably moves around a bit, sometimes being inside the car, sometimes on it and sometimes somewhere else entirely.
Getting a bit more technical, perhaps, we can consider a few different leadership styles. Transactional, transformational and agile leadership are three distinct styles, each bringing a unique approach to the table, catering to different needs and contexts.
Delving a little into each of these leadership styles, it is possible to highlight their strengths, weaknesses and applications with respect to herd health.
Transactional leadership is a traditional, task-oriented approach that focuses on achieving specific objectives and maintaining efficiency within a farm. It is characterised by well-defined roles and a system of rewards and punishments to motivate farmers and their workers.
Transactional leaders often use a “carrot and stick” approach, offering rewards for meeting performance expectations and applying disciplinary measures for non-compliance.
Transactional leadership can help ensure day-to-day operations run smoothly: setting clear expectations and providing immediate feedback can be effective where precision and consistency are paramount, such as milking routines. However, transactional leadership has its limitations. It can stifle innovation and creativity as it tends to discourage risk-taking.
Workers become disengaged if they perceive their work as purely transactional, leading to a lack of commitment and motivation. Furthermore, because the nature of livestock farming is dynamic and unexpected events often happen, this style of leadership can prove inadequate as it is too rigid to adapt to evolving circumstances.
Transformational leadership, on the other hand, is more visionary and people-centric. It focuses on inspiring and motivating people to achieve their full potential, and exceed expectations. Transformational leaders lead by example and are passionate about their vision, often instilling a sense of purpose and shared values for the farm.
A major strength of transformational leadership is its ability to foster creativity, innovation and long-term growth. By empowering farmers and creating a culture of continuous improvement, this style can lead to breakthroughs and sustained success. Transformational leaders excel in dynamic industries such as farming, where adaptability and change are constants.
However, transformational leadership may struggle in situations that demand strict adherence to procedures or where quick decision-making is required. The emphasis on vision and inspiration may sometimes lead to a lack of attention to day-to-day operational details, potentially causing inefficiencies. Moreover, not all leaders possess the charisma and vision necessary to effectively employ this style.
Agile leadership is a relatively new concept, closely aligned with the principles of agile methodologies in project management and software development – and it has a place in farming, too.
Agile leaders prioritise flexibility, collaboration and adaptability. They encourage experimentation, rapid iteration and a willingness to learn from failure. This style of leadership is particularly suited to industries marked by uncertainty and frequent change, hence livestock farming.
A key strength of agile leadership is its ability to navigate complex, unpredictable environments. Agile leaders are skilled at fostering cross-functional teams, breaking down silos, and promoting a culture of continuous learning and improvement.
However, agile leadership may face challenges on more traditional, risk-averse farms. An emphasis on autonomy can be unsettling for farm workers accustomed to a more hierarchical structure.
In comparing these three leadership styles, it’s important to recognise that they are not mutually exclusive. Effective leaders often employ a combination of these approaches, depending on the situation. See Panel 1 for a further comparative analysis of the leadership styles.
Transactional leadership is results-oriented and suitable for maintaining stability and efficiency. In contrast, transformational leadership is visionary and encourages innovation and long-term growth. Combining both can be powerful, allowing leaders to balance short-term objectives with a broader vision for the future.
Transformational leadership is people-centric and fosters a culture of creativity and improvement. Agile leadership, on the other hand, thrives in rapidly changing environments and emphasises adaptability. Combining these styles can create a farm environment that embraces change while nurturing its employees’ growth.
Transactional leadership provides clear structures and accountability, making it suitable for stable, process-driven tasks. Agile leadership excels in uncertain, dynamic environments. Combining these styles can be challenging, but necessary when a farm needs both stability and adaptability.
Enough of the ethereal. How can a farm vet use any of these leadership styles in their day-to-day work? Using dairy herd health as an example, here’s how each style might impact the tangible responsibilities and interactions of the farm vet.
With regards to transactional leadership:
With regards to transformational leadership:
With regards to agile leadership:
Ultimately, the needs and scale of each individual dairy farm will shape the expectations and contributions of the farm vet in terms of the leadership they might bring. Adaptability may be the watch word here, alongside an open mindset to rise to the challenge of increasing leadership roles – especially where farm businesses expand in size and organisational complexity.
Herd health planning and herd health leadership are distinct, but interconnected aspects of managing the health and well-being of herds, and the vet plays a crucial role in both. They differ in the following ways.
Herd health planning involves the operational aspects of managing dairy herd health. It includes the development, implementation, and maintenance of a structured plan to achieve the health and welfare goals.
These goals may be set by the farmer, an external stakeholder (for example, retailer-aligned milk contracts) or a combination of both. In fact, the farm vet, in a herd health leadership capacity, is often instrumental in goal setting, in collaboration with the farm owner.
The vet’s role in herd health planning tasks would include:
Herd health leadership, on the other hand, involves the overarching strategies, vision and management of the entire dairy farm’s health programme. While the ultimate leadership role will typically be held by the farm owner, the dairy vet increasingly has a supporting role.
Many farm owners are in desperate need of help here and a farm vet’s transformational leadership skills in developing the farm owner’s own ability to lead can be the make or break of a dairy farm enterprise.
Summarising the vet’s role in herd health leadership encompasses the following:
In summary, herd health leadership is about setting the strategic direction and overall vision for dairy herd health on the farm. On the other hand, herd health planning is the practical implementation of strategies to achieve the health and welfare goals set by the herd health leader(s). The farm vet can and should be central to both.
Herd health leadership might not float every farm vet’s boat, and certainly in developing oneself in these roles, the very structure of how some vet practices charge their services may need to evolve, too to support the financial viability of undertaking this work. However, I hope this article has set out some of the exciting opportunities that exist for farm vets. They’re yours if you want to grab them.
Personally, it has taken me a career of nearly 30 years to gain the insights and skills necessary to develop myself as a more effective herd health leader – particularly as a transformational leader. Always keen to give other farm vets a leg up with their own careers, I offer a herd health leadership course that explores the topics touched on in this article, and creates a nurturing environment to practise some of the communication skills required, with colleagues eager to do the same.
I also recommend becoming a mobility mentor (Healthy Feet Programme), as it is a great entry point for many of the herd health leadership skills.
Finally, I’m aware that some farm vets beat themselves up over their role in herd health. Many would like farmers to value them more for preventing problems than for fixing things when they go wrong, which is frustrating, and there can be a temptation to blame ourselves for this failing.
As stated already, farm vets are all leaders, and most farmers appreciate that and the support we give them. Most farmers also want to do a better job, too, but they don’t always know how to ask us for our help, or what we could do for them.
Start small and don’t let perfection be the enemy of good: find a farmer you are friendly with and open up a conversation about what they’d really like for their herd health. Go from there.
