Tyler Reynolds: I’m not sure what I expected, but I didn’t expect this

Today, we’d like to share an interview with Tyler Reynolds, owner of Reyncrest Farms in western New York, and Artem Timanov, CEO of Cattle Care. Read on to discover how the program helped increase efficiency across the farm, reduce SCC, and how it can be like bringing on a full-time parlor manager!

Artem: 

Hello, Tyler! I appreciate you taking the time to join us. Could you please share how you first discovered our product and the problem or need you were hoping it could help solve? 

Tyler: 

To do better on our milk quality. I think, at least on a personal level, I always struggled with quantifying how good our team is doing in the parlor. It's very easy for me to walk into the parlor for 10 or 20 minutes at a time, analyze a guy, try to fix something, and we can be right back to the same spot that we were before I walked in.

So, when I learned about Cattle Care, it really fits how we like to manage people. I don't want to micromanage our team, but we want performance and we want a good job on a daily basis, on an hourly basis, on a minute basis.

For me, it's basically like hiring another,  full-time parlor manager that we don't have to manage.

Artem: 

And when you talk about quality, did you want to achieve a bigger premium from your milk processing company to get better quality?

Tyler: 

That definitely was a big thing. We were at 180,000 somatic cells. Under 150,000, we get another $0.30. Under 100,000, we get another $0.30. There's quite a bit of money on the line.

The profits, for sure, are a major benefit, but also felt like it was our duty to do a better job. So it's kind of a personal goal to do better than what we were.

Artem: 

Could you describe what did you try before? Did you approach the same problem in a different way?

Tyler:

We would do weekly or monthly milker meetings telling all the guys,“This is the routine, this is what we need to do.” They leave the room, how do we know whether that was executed or not?

Artem:

And how did the managing process change after you started using Cattle Care? 

Tyler:

We started doing weekly meetings, We would give every guy their report card. Our best guy that week got a $20 bonus, just to kind of incentivize that the better job we're doing, you're going to be rewarded. To this point, I guess I'll back that up, we always talk about animal abuse and how that's not acceptable, how we can't do anything like that.

So when we brought your system on, I also had every guy in the parlor sign a sheet that if there was serious animal abuse reported, they would be terminated immediately.

Since then, I went to basically every other week meetings, I would say the last two months, because things have improved so much. I would have six milkers, and the meetings only last five to 10 minutes. I like that not every meeting we're explaining the whole routine, I'm able to just focus on where are areas of opportunities.

It's also nice because it gives you a strong feeling of who are the best guys and who are the worst guys when you walk into the parlor. I can quantify that and that also helps as far as doing raises or who's gonna move up the ladder faster.

Artem: 

What was your experience with us launching the product during the demo?

Tyler:

I would say it was essentially seamless. Within three to five days, you guys had a solution that you were going to put the cameras in and that they would be your responsibility. And ever since they've been up, we haven't had a single glitch with them. Within, I think, two weeks, we started to have our first reports. 

Artem: 

Thank you! Did you have any initial concerns? Where did we meet or fall short of your expectations?

Tyler:

I would say once in a while there'll be a hiccup where a guy maybe isn't identified correctly or I'll watch a video of something being done incorrectly and I'll say to myself, I guess I disagree that I think it was acceptable, it was fine, but for the amount of information that we're getting out of you guys, I really can't complain at all for the small percentage that it is.

Artem:

We’re always working to get better, so it’s good to hear it’s just a small percentage — thanks for that! Are there any areas where you’ve found the system especially helpful?

Tyler: 

One thing that was quite alarming was the number of towels that we're using for multiple cows. When we started I was having like 80 events a day. Now I'm down to zero. 

Artem:

Has your somatic cell count improved, and would you say that’s directly connected to our product?

Tyler:

When we started your product we were 180,000 somatic cells. Today we are 110,000 somatic cells. That being said, we have changed other things on the farm as well on an outside basis that I can't directly say that you guys dropped the 70,000, but we kind of found three different things that we did that all had a major contribution to dropping our somatic cell.

Artem:

Got it. You haven't done any A/B testing, right? With all these changes, it's hard to say specifically.

Tyler:

Right, I mean dairy farmers are the worst at it. We want to make a change or do better at something, so we change three things at once instead of changing one thing and monitoring and seeing how it goes. But we always want to move as fast as we can, right?

Artem:

Yes, of course. You want the best results. Is there anything else that’s had an impact on you personally, outside business metrics?

Tyler:

I would say the animal abuse thing is still something that's real. There are a lot of good dairies that have been affected through some bad videos that came out and having that peace of mind all the time for me is almost worth it as much as anything.

Artem:

Absolutely! How was your experience with our customer support team?

Tyler:

I haven't had a ton of requests to do better or change anything. That being said, Katie Darnell has done a really good job at checking in at the perfect amount of time and not being a pest but also making sure that everything is going well which I really appreciate.

Artem:

Perfect, I’m glad to hear that! Tyler, do you have any interesting stories related to our product?

Tyler:

The first week [of using the product] we did lose a whole shift. Our parlor basically runs 24 hours a day. And guys were nervous, they were trying to do a better job, and we ended up losing a whole shift.

I had to kind of compromise to start with and find a happy medium, which that's where we're at now, and we made the progress. I know that we're doing a way better job than we were. 

Artem:

Okay. Got it. Thanks for sharing!

Tyler:

And today we're back to getting the same number of cows to the parlor. I mean, it was a little bit stressful for the first week. You're kind of saying to yourself, what did I do here? Was this the right decision? But then as stuff gets better and you see progress, it makes it all worth it, right?

That's the only way we can move forward. We're on a daily basis looking at how do we do better, whether that's with cows, whether that's with people. Yeah, there's a lot of moving parts, but if we can make a positive change, it's gonna benefit everybody.

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We would like to thank Tyler for participating in our interview. We are extremely happy to see the advancements that our product has brought to the dairy. We will continue improving our product and greatly appreciate all the feedback and recommendations shared.

If you want to discover how the program can increase efficiency across your farm - book a free demo. Fill the form or contact us via or just call or text us at (209) 308 8466

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