Food Animal Matters: Skills for working with farm employees

It is common that our clients’ farms, even small farms, have hired farm workers. Canadian data on on-farm labor from 2023 reported that 15 000 food animal farm businesses employed approximately 85 000 people on their farms (1). Other Statistics Canada data showed that more large farms had employees, although even farms with lower gross income used hired labor (2). Approximately half of the farm workers in Canada are temporary foreign workers. As most temporary workers in Canada come from Central America (3), there could be cultural and linguistic challenges.

If hired farm laborers are heavily involved in providing animal care, it is inevitable that food animal veterinarians will rely on these workers to implement health and management recommendations. In this column, 3 veterinarians who have worked with hired animal care providers share some of their learnings from those experiences. Dr. Lauren Lyzenga worked for a large, primarily dairy practice; Dr. Terra MacDonald works in aquaculture; and Dr. Ana Maria Ayala Arboleda is a veterinarian in the swine industry.

LAUREN LYZENGA DVM, FORMERLY OF ABBOTSFORD VETERINARY CLINIC, ABBOTSFORD, BRITISH COLUMBIA

Working with farm employees as a part of a team

Usually, employees are the farm’s greatest asset in providing exceptional animal care, so capitalizing on these relationships is key! Here are some suggestions I’d offer, based on my experiences and observations on dairy farms.

Provide your recommendations in writing

Write down any protocols you would like to be followed, e.g., cleaning, handling, or treatment, and post them in an obvious place. That way, all employees, on all shifts, have access to the information, not just the owner.

Once I received an email from an owner that said, “I was in the calf barn today and there’s some protocols posted, but the guys told me that’s old and not what you told them to do. Can you please clarify the protocol?” The owner was correct; I had verbally updated a protocol based on laboratory test results, but I hadn’t written it down.

Hot versus cold climate cultures

When working with employees from Central America or tropical countries such as the Philippines, it is useful to read the book “Foreign to Familiar” by Sarah Lanier (4) to find out more about social norms and values that differ between North American/European culture and tropical regions. It’s a short book that can make a big difference in how you interact with foreign workers. It would take a whole article to summarize, but if this scenario is part of your work environment, take time to read it.

Build relationships

Ask about their families, their kids’ names and ages, their hobbies and then relate about yourself as well. Once a relationship is in place, they’ll be more willing to follow your advice, and to tell you what they need.

Bridge the gap

The owner may assume employees know their job and things are ticking along fine, but you see a different story unfolding. Let the owner know what’s needed and how you can help. For example, if animals aren’t being euthanized in a timely manner, offer to do a training session on euthanasia decision-making. If there is inconsistency in maternity protocols across shifts, ask to hold a meeting with all staff and the owner to reiterate protocols. Let the owner know there is a gap, but also provide a path to move forward.

Don’t be afraid to show them how you would like things to be done

If employees are being too loud and fast when they move heifers, demonstrate how you’d like them to do it. If calf bottles are dirty, show them how to clean bottles properly (in addition to posting a protocol). Often, you might find out they don’t have what they need to do the job properly (e.g., there is no scrub brush that fits in the bottles or no sprayer for the disinfectant you want them to use). Make sure that they get the necessary tools.

Find what motivates

When working with owners or herd managers, motivators often used to promote change are monetary savings or gains — increased average daily gain (ADG), decreased morbidity/mortality, decreased labor, etc. However, some employees may have a “what’s in it for me?” mentality. If a management change or adhering to the protocol feels like more work, they might resist. Often, they nod and say “sure Doc” when you tell them what needs to be done, but at the next visit you can tell they didn’t follow the protocol. The owner doesn’t want to babysit employees to ensure compliance, and with capable labor in short supply, employees won’t be fired for protocol drift. So sometimes it falls on the veterinarian to provide motivation. It’s amazing how minor things like pizza parties or cinnamon buns can gain employee compliance while building new habits. For example, if there is resistance to implementing a new protocol, offering to bring pizza and beer for lunch once they’ve tried it for a month. Or bring in coffee and donuts when they hit a quarterly goal for reproduction, treatments, etc. Employees seem to get a kick out of knowing the veterinarian is spending their time and money on bringing them something, and if you can make it into a bit of a game or competition, that helps too.

TERRA MACDONALD DVM, MOWI CANADA WEST, CAMPBELL RIVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA

Farmers know best

As an aquaculture veterinarian, I am of the firm belief that the farm staff are the ones who know the fish best. With many of the sites I oversee being hours away by road, boat, or plane, it is impossible to have eyes on them all at the same time. Although I get daily reports of mortality, feed rates, environmental conditions, and other data, these are just numbers, and it is the observations of the farm staff who are living on site 24/7 during their shift, that tells me the most about the true condition of the population. Many of the farmers have years (even decades) of experience in fish farming and have an in-depth understanding of the behaviors, activities, and environmental interactions that make their fish happy and healthy (or not).

It is also important, however, to ensure that the fish health expertise that either myself or my skilled technicians bring to the farm translates over to someone who may have decades of practical experience. There can be a challenge of “this is the way we’ve always done it” from some, and there can be resistance to change or updated protocols. Or there can be simply a disconnect between the importance of what we are saying and the worker’s knowledge of the topic. It is very important to recognize that and modify our approach depending on to whom we are talking. Are we training a new farmer, who is just on their first few shifts on the farm? Do they have a university degree in fisheries and have a strong scientific background, but little practical experience, or are they coming from years in the commercial fishery with a lot of hands-on experience but may need more guidance about technical things such as proper necropsy and lice counting? Or are we talking to someone in a management position, who wants their information on percentages and costs per kilogram of production? How you effectively get your point across will vary greatly depending on these factors.

The common thread with all these scenarios is to make sure you explain the “why.” Give the background data, even if it seems redundant or perhaps too technical — I’ve been really surprised by the level of understanding and follow-up questions even when discussing more advanced topics such as vaccination and immunity. The extra level of detail can really drive home points like the importance of biosecurity, or daily mortality collection. Having the staff review written standard operating procedures (SOPs) during on-boarding is one thing but having the fish health team come out and talk to the staff face to face, and explain why we do these things, is often the step that really makes things “click.” It also gives staff a chance to demonstrate their skills and ask questions, which may sometimes be intimidating for them to ask their direct manager.

I have discovered in my career as a veterinarian that one of the best skills one can have is the ability to take these denser, more technical topics, and bring them to a level that most people can understand. Whether in a clinic room talking to a dog owner about the why their dog developed bladder stones, or in a feed shed explaining to a farmer how a certain disease can enter and spread within a farm, you need to have “buy in” to your proposed solution. And unless they understand what you’re describing, that will be a lot more difficult to get.

Another important part of our communication starts with just standing back and observing. When we visit a site, I often state my goals and objectives for the visit but then stand back and let the farmers initiate things such as gathering gear, setting up seines and nets, handling fish, or collecting mortalities first. By passively observing their routines I find I get to see what the “norm” is and if it is varying significantly from the protocols, and if so, what can be corrected. I often try to come at it from a place of curiosity rather than immediate correction — “I notice you’re doing it this way. I’ve seen it done this way at another site. Is there a reason you do it that way?”

Sometimes they’ve actually discovered a way that is more efficient, but still effective. Perhaps they are missing a critical piece of equipment or there is a knowledge gap that can be addressed. It also helps to determine if a deficiency is just an individual lack of knowledge, or a product of site culture. Each farm is individually managed, and with the primary on-boarding falling on the site manager and senior farmers, if a certain practice becomes common-place on the site it is often passed down and can become a sticking point when change is attempted.

At the end of the day, all farmers are doing their work because they have an interest in, or even passion for, fish and fish production. They often enjoy learning new things and getting a deeper understanding of the animals in their care. They love their workplace on the water and find their work as farmers rewarding. When we can tap into that intrinsic motivation and tie it to the importance of fish health and welfare, my job as a veterinarian becomes easier and more enjoyable.

ANA MARIA AYALA ARBOLEDA (ANA AYALA) DVM, DEMETER VETERINARY SERVICES. WOODSTOCK, ONTARIO

Bridging barn aisles and language gaps: Communication as a tool for swine health

As a bilingual swine veterinarian from Colombia now living and working in Ontario, Canada, I’ve come to see language — and more broadly, communication — as one of the most powerful tools we have in food animal medicine.

In my professional role, I support swine producers across Ontario, but it is often not the owners I work with most closely — it’s the farm employees. These are the people who interact with the pigs every day. They are the ones following protocols, administering treatments, recording data, and noticing the subtle signs that something may not be right. If there is a breakdown in communication at that level, it doesn’t matter how good our protocols are — they won’t be implemented effectively.

When I first arrived in Canada, I worked on a pig farm as an immigrant, speaking limited English, trying to make sense of the systems around me. I remember standing in the farrowing room reading SOPs I couldn’t fully understand, wondering if I was doing things wrong — but too afraid to ask. I didn’t want to be seen as slow or incompetent. I just didn’t know how to ask the questions in the right way. That experience has shaped the veterinarian I’ve become.

Now, when I step onto a farm, I make it a priority to ensure every person in the room understands why we’re doing what we’re doing — not just how. And often, that starts with switching languages. For many farm employees, Spanish is their first language, and being able to train and communicate in Spanish instantly creates a sense of trust and openness. Suddenly, we’re not just talking protocols — we’re having real conversations. Questions come more freely. Misunderstandings are resolved before they become problems.

This is especially important in areas such as biosecurity, animal handling, and vaccination protocols, in which small errors or inconsistencies can have big impacts. Being able to connect directly with the people doing the work — and doing so in a way that respects their knowledge, background, and language — translates into better outcomes for animal health, welfare, and productivity.

Of course, communication goes beyond language. Having hands-on experience working with pigs myself has been just as valuable. I know what it feels like to process 200 piglets in a morning. I understand the time pressures and physical challenges of the job. That background helps me explain recommendations in ways that are practical and realistic. It also helps me listen better — to understand when a “yes” might actually mean “I’m not sure how,” or when a protocol needs adjusting to fit the realities of the barn.

I’m passionate about pigs and I’m equally passionate about people. I believe food animal veterinarians are in a unique position to empower farm staff, not just by providing medical expertise but by fostering understanding. When we take the time to explain the “why,” when we remove the fear of asking questions, when we meet people where they are — that’s when we see real change.

Effective communication, especially across language and cultural barriers, isn’t just a “soft skill,” it is a critical part of service delivery in veterinary medicine. And for me, it’s one of the most rewarding parts of the job.