8 top tips on farming with your family

Dairy farmer David Homer shared his advice on working with your family during his talk at the recent British Cattle Breeding Conference in Telford, Shropshire.

He runs a dairy business in Wiltshire with his wife Jane and three children Chris, Geoff and Anne. The family milks a total of 520 cows.

See also: 10 things only a farmer’s child would know

According to Mr Homer, his eight top tips are:

• Don’t expect your family to do labour for free. Always reward your children.
• Encourage your children to have an input into the business. Ask them about their aspirations and objectives. Just because you’ve done something for years, doesn’t mean you can’t change.
• Identify everyone’s roles and responsibilities on the farm so day-to-day tasks are clear.
• Meet regularly to monitor progress and identify new KPIs.
• Play to people’s strengths. If someone is good with people, get them interacting with the public.
• If family members want to leave the business farm for themselves, let them.
• Never make any assumptions or pressure them to farm. Let them follow the career paths they choose to take.
• Don’t whine about how difficult farming is – be positive.