Who: Mark and Pat Towns, Scott and Nancy Towns, Steve and Debi Towns at Towns Farms, Inc., milking 440 cows in a herd of 480. "The dairy, as it is today, was expanded in 1999," says Mark.
Where: Janesville, WI
Cool stat: 150 year-old family dairy farm.
The Team comes first: Consultants retained by the dairy have stressed that the Towns brothers and spouses all collaborate closely in owning and running the farm. Towns' parents are involved as well.Towns works with an outside nutritionist. "We don't have enough acres to produce all of our feed, so we also rely on our nutritionist for purchasing advice, Mark says.
Towns also works closely with a financial consultant, "but he's more than that," says Mark. "He helps us with benchmarking, both with costs and with performance numbers of the herd, so we see areas that are working and areas that need attention."
Their bank lender is also part of the team. "We meet quarterly, so we all understand the direction we're headed," says Mark. Also, Diamond V Regional Sales Manager Kristy Pagel is part of the team. "We love her HR background and knowledge of the industry," says Mark.
Why such emphasis on The Team? "Ever since the expansion we always thought our cows should be doing better. The team has evolved over the past three of four years," Mark says. One simple example of team-driven changes is the conversion from mattress bedding to sand. "We have an emphasis on cow comfort, and it does make a difference."
Communication is key: "Not long ago we had monthly team meetings, says Mark. "Now we are doing weekly conference calls, maybe 30 minutes or so. We don't need to reinvent the wheel. We just want to be focusing as a unit on the direction we're heading."
On the future: "We want to upgrade the herd," says Mark, "but we also need to look at our management and ownership succession plan." Mark says the current family ownership team may not all be in place five to ten years from now. "That (ownership transition) will impact a lot of what the future holds, especially the investment of money and resources."
