Episode 45: Maine Dairy Workforce with Dr. Ashley Marshall

Ashley Marshall
Ashley Marshall, Ph.D.

On this episode of the Maine Farmcast, Dr. Glenda Pereira, Assistant Extension Professor and State Dairy Specialist for the University of Maine Cooperative Extension, has a conversation with Dr. Ashley Marshall. Marshall is currently working as the Dairy Industry Workforce Specialist with Eastern Maine Development Corporation. She returned to Maine after her time as a Professor of Dairy Science at SUNY Morrisville. Marshall received her Ph.D. from Colorado State University in reproduction and has a wealth of experience and is passionate about the dairy industry. This conversation revolves around the program she is conducting which focuses on bolstering the Maine dairy workforce. In her downtime, Marshall enjoys spending time with her family on her farm.

If you need more information, please reach out to Ashley Marshall, the Dairy Industry Workforce Specialist with EMDC at amarshall@emdc.org or 207.949.2472.

Episode Resources

Automated Transcript

Glenda Pereira: 00:19

Welcome to The Maine Farm Cast. This is your host, Dr. Glenda Pereira. On today’s episode, we have a featured guest from the Maine dairy industry or who has a lot of experience within the Maine dairy industry. And today’s guest is Dr. Ashley Marshall. Before we get to our topic with our guest today, I just wanted to mention to folks that we have an upcoming dairy seminar in the state of Maine.

Glenda Pereira: 00:45

The dairy seminar is going to be held in the Augusta Civic Center in Augusta, and it’s on March 19. Our program will start sharply after 9 a.m. and wrap up right around two. And this year’s featured speaker, is going to be discussing succession planning, transition, business planning, and it’s gonna be sort of like a workshop on succession planning, specific to folks in the dairy industry. So you can go to Extension’s website to find the registration page or certainly check out our livestock newsletter or even, you know, just reach out to me if you wanna register for the upcoming Maine dairy seminar, which again is gonna be on March 19 at the Augusta Civic Center. Alright.

Glenda Pereira: 01:32

So, Ashley, would you introduce yourself, please? Sure.

Ashley Marshall: 01:35

I don’t even know where to start, but I am originally from Maine. I went through the program here at the University of Maine, the UMAD COWS program. I graduated back in February. From there, I went out to Colorado. Like a lot of young people in the AVS program, they think they want to be a veterinarian.

Ashley Marshall: 01:52

So I went out there and then actually realized that that was not my path. And so from there, I started working with a gentleman who managed reproduction on dairy farms out there in Colorado. So I got a lot of experience breeding cows, sounding cows, managing the repro side of things there. And then I went through my grad program, which focused on dairy cattle management, and welfare. And then once I graduated with my Ph.D. out there, I moved to Central New York where I taught at Morrisville State College or SUNY Morrisville.

Ashley Marshall: 02:27

And I was a part of the dairy management program there and helped also on the farm. They have a small college farm there. They milk about 200 cows. And so from there, me and my husband moved back here in May where we have a small farm, not dairy, but we have some beef cows and goats and chickens. And so we moved back to be able to, take over the family farm, if you will.

Ashley Marshall: 02:53

And so that’s what brought me back to Maine.

Glenda Pereira: 02:55

Oh, thank you, Dr. Ashley Marshall, for being on the podcast today. Like I said, we’re happy to have you here in the Maine dairy industry and the the livestock industry, overall because in your role, and we’re gonna talk some about this at the Eastern Maine Development Corp, you’ve kind of been sort of another service provider in this landscape. So I did also just wanna mention something. So you said that you came through the UMAD COWS program here at the University of Maine, and we just had a chance to go visit Witter Dairy Farm, which is changing quite a bit. So I kind of just wanted to briefly talk about, you know, your path to, your role today.

Glenda Pereira: 03:36

It it was nurtured or it started here at the University of Maine.

Ashley Marshall: 03:41

Oh, there’s no doubt. I mean, I was just talking with Dave and you about this earlier, and I’ll say this to anybody. When I went through the program as an undergrad, I had every goal of graduating, going to vet school, probably working in a small animal clinic. I had zero desire to work with dairy cows or livestock animals, and then I was forced. And I would tell people that I was forced because I had to go you know, it’s a requirement for the program.

Glenda Pereira: 04:06

And Dave makes you take that class. Like, there’s no option. You don’t get out of taking the UMAD COWS dairy management class if you’re, a pre vet student here at UMaine.

Ashley Marshall: 04:16

Yeah. And so I’m so grateful for that because as soon as I did that, I always tell people, like, I got bit by the dairy bug because that is where my passion is now. And I who knows where it’d have been if I hadn’t had to take that course. Right? And because I fell in love with it, and I was the student herds person when I was here because I was just really involved and invested in it.

Ashley Marshall: 04:35

And then, yeah, everything was dairy related from then on out.

Glenda Pereira: 04:38

Do you have any thoughts about what the the current status of the dairy is?

Ashley Marshall: 04:42

It’s exciting to go over there and see these changes. Again, I have a lot of experience on, you know, a college dairy. And then it’s a challenge. It’s, there are few of them. And so seeing that the university has invested in the dairy program here is great.

Ashley Marshall: 05:02

Yeah. And so I think there’s a lot of, you know, positives to come out of that. Absolutely. It’s great to see where it’s gonna go.

Glenda Pereira: 05:07

Yeah. Yeah. And I think something we’ve been able to capture with the new robot that’s going to be installed here in the next couple months is that, the future of dairy does have a lot of data and technology in it. So, hopefully, as we’re, you know, building the future ag service providers here and training them, the opportunity to work with a robot, the opportunity to work with data will help them succeed in their careers.

Ashley Marshall: 05:35

Yeah. I think that will definitely help Yeah. Because there’s more and more dairies are put in in robots regardless of the size. It’s it used to be that it was just small ones because, you know, you can only feed 60 cows through it, but there’s large dairies that are using robots too.

Glenda Pereira: 05:51

Yeah. So awesome. Yeah. Like I said, we’re, happy to have you here on campus today. So, we’re gonna talk of some about your role with Eastern Maine Development Corp.

Glenda Pereira: 06:03

I mean, like, give us some background. Like, how did how did you even, you know, get this job?

Ashley Marshall: 06:08

So that is actually a great question. I remember I reached out, actually to Sarah Littlefield, and she put me in contact with Annie, and then they talked about this position. So it was really just the right place at the right time. I happened to reach out to the right person who said this might be a great fit for you. Let me put you in contact with this person.

Ashley Marshall: 06:29

And then, it kinda went from there. And so I applied for the dairy industry workforce specialist position, which is a position that the Maine Dairy Industry Association worked with Eastern Maine Development Corporation to get the funding for this position, because Eastern Maine Development Corporation has experience with workforce development and managing this type of grant. And so that’s kinda where that relationship started. And then, again, I just was again, right place, right time when I applied. Yeah.

Glenda Pereira: 06:59

And qualifications. So Yes. You you you were a professor at Morrisville. Mhmm. You’ve obviously, you know, been in involved in dairy management for well over ten plus years.

Glenda Pereira: 07:09

So what is so so folks maybe are more familiar with the Maine Dairy Industry Association, but what is Eastern Maine Development Corp?

Ashley Marshall: 07:18

So that’s a great question, and I will not pretend to know everything about Eastern Maine Development Corp. There’s a lot of different, areas that they focus on, but really the whole point is to try to foster relationships between the private and public sectors and then finding opportunities, to leverage those resources that help businesses, communities, and individuals achieve prosperity. That comes right from the website. But really, they are just an umbrella service there.

Ashley Marshall: 07:46

They can help I don’t wanna say anybody, but really anybody. Right? So if it’s somebody who is a job seeker or if it is a an employer who is looking for resources or, you know, employees, there’s lots of different, areas that they’re able to help, economic development, business development, things like that. So if you go to the website, you can learn a lot more, and there’s a lot of opportunities there and contact information to put you in, you know, contact with the right person who can answer those questions.

Glenda Pereira: 08:14

Yeah. And specific to the folks that might wanna reach out to you, so, where can they reach out to you? And I know we’re gonna talk more specifically about your role, but do you would you share your email?

Ashley Marshall: 08:25

Yep. So it’s amarshall@emdc.org. And then I think there’s also a work. So I’m under the workforce umbrella. And so if you go on the website, then there’s also a workforce email there.

Glenda Pereira: 08:49

Cool. Yeah. So, the reason why we were gonna have this podcast today was to talk a little bit more about the work that you’ve been doing. Mhmm. So as part of this workforce, development, assessment that you’re doing in kind of you know, the dairy industry is not unique in in sort of the labor challenges that we’re experiencing across the nation today, but it does create a little bit more of a different dynamic if you’re a dairy employee because we’re not seasonal.

Glenda Pereira: 09:15

So 365, 24/7. That’s the role working with an animal and one that specifically

Glenda Pereira: 09:22

lactates. Right? So dairy house, you know, need to be fed, need to be milked every single day. So this project, was was kind of developed in a in a response to it’s been difficult to source skilled employees to fit the roles that we need on our dairies here in the state of Maine.

Glenda Pereira: 09:42

Again, not specific to Maine. This is in other states, but we were able to find some funding to potentially address this need. So talk to us more about that.

Ashley Marshall: 09:52

Yeah. So there’s the whole goal is to help, establish a pipeline of skilled workers who are able to, you know, start on a dairy farm, and be able to fill the various tasks. And depending on the size of the dairy operation, you know, there’s not a one size fits all. Some smaller ones, you’re gonna be the, you know, jack of all trades, maybe a larger dairy operations. You’re gonna be focused on certain areas on a farm.

Ashley Marshall: 10:18

So that is a challenge again across the nation. Like you’ve said, any dairy has that challenge or the dairy industry as a general rule has those challenges. So just figuring out, like, if there is a pipeline, a way to just prepare people to start working on a dairy farm. And then also we’re looking at retention incentives and focusing on being able to keep skilled employees because, it’s very costly to onboard an employee, and it’s even more costly if they only last for six months or nine months. You know?

Ashley Marshall: 10:49

So, trying to figure out what some of these challenges are, why are people leaving, and things like that. And so right now, we’re I’m in the process of conducting a survey to help answer some of those questions and then figuring out if there’s a training program to help, scale employees or train employees, and then there’s also upscaling of current employees. So, like, what is needed?

Glenda Pereira: 11:11

Yeah. And for the folks who are dairy farmers in the state of Maine, if you’re listening to this episode, please reach out to me or Ashley. She is conducting a survey. And even if it’s a phone call, she’d like to get a broad scope of of what the challenges are across the entire dairy industry in the state of Maine. So feel free to reach out.

Glenda Pereira: 11:32

You know, she’s happy to take a phone call. She’s happy to come out to your farm. So I hope we can continue and you can continue to, gather more data so then you can have a wholesome assessment. So you’ve done a lot of farm visits.

Ashley Marshall: 11:44

You’ve talked to a

Glenda Pereira: 11:44

lot of people. Team.

Ashley Marshall: 11:46

The whole point is to strengthen the program and so that we can really just develop it and make it so that it’s gonna fit and benefit dairy farmers. And plus, any dairy farmer that I work with, I talk more about the program and what opportunities there are. Like, we do have funds to help with the onboarding of employees and then retention and things like that. So what have you learned? So I’ve learned well, so I guess to back up before we did it, when I developed the survey, and we talked about how it’s a pipeline of qualified employees.

Ashley Marshall: 12:15

And so, you know, before this happens, you’re like, okay, we’re gonna come up with a training program or we’re gonna have everybody almost like a boot camp and people are gonna come and do this, like, dairy one zero one or something. But so far, that is not the biggest need. A lot of dairies understandably, want to train employees in their own specific techniques. I’ve heard time and time again and at Morrisville, I remember this all the time when you bring, like, a dairy kid into the parlor versus somebody that’s green. It’s a lot easier to train new practices than it is to break bad habits.

Ashley Marshall: 12:45

And so I completely understand that that’s why a dairy producer doesn’t wanna bring in somebody that has a lot of experience in a parlor or somebody something like that. So that kinda just, you know, throws a wrench in things and not in a bad way. But, so we’re it’s not like we’re gonna have a universal training program to help scale those employees. Another thing that keeps coming up is housing and how much of a challenge that is. Housing is just so expensive now.

Ashley Marshall: 13:12

Some dairies, depending on where they’re located or the size of them, they don’t even have the ability to provide housing for an employee. So that is an additional challenge, express and then paying a competitive wage is another challenge. So if you can only offer a minimum wage and you can’t provide housing, it’s really hard to get an employee on your dairy farm. And then other, like, larger dairies that are able to provide housing depending on the demographic of their workforce, it’s expected. It doesn’t even matter that you’re, going to provide a more competitive wage or whatever.

Ashley Marshall: 13:47

You are supposed to provide housing. It’s a huge challenge. Yep. And then I think the other thing, again, is that competitive wage, being able to pay that competitive wage when, you know, they only have so much control they have zero control about what they get for milk. Right?

Ashley Marshall: 14:03

I mean, other than milk quality and things like that. So

Glenda Pereira: 14:07

Yeah. I think we’ve briefly touched on the topic about how the dairy industry, unlike other commodities, the market is very volatile. It changes drastically from month to month, and it’s multifactorial. Yeah. So you’re absolutely right about that.

Glenda Pereira: 14:23

That milk price, unfortunately, is just something that, you know, is is something you can’t really, like, pay a higher wage on because it’s gonna be better and it’s not gonna fluctuate. Mhmm. It’s not fixed. Mhmm. So from talking to the farmers, you’ve been talking, you know, what’s like, you you learn those three things, but what’s been a a potential?

Glenda Pereira: 14:48

Like, do do farmers say, you know, this worked really well to secure employ like, has there been some feedback about what’s worked really well and how other farmers can use this information to improve their workforce that they’re currently having? I know as part of this project, your role will be to give us, you know, the nitty gritty. Like, here’s where I really think we need to go to improve workforce development, to create this pipeline, whatever. There’s a lot of objectives. But what are some things that you’ve heard as a success from farmers that you think would be worth sharing so they can improve, employee and staff management on their farm?

Ashley Marshall: 15:31

That’s a good question. Luckily, I’ve had a lot of farmers say right now, they’ve been lucky with their current crew. Right? Right? They haven’t had to hire a new employee in the past x amount of years.

Ashley Marshall: 15:40

Right? And so I think that is a culture on that farm, that, you know, the employee employees are treated with respect, and they will also let people know that it’s a good place to work. A lot of dairies don’t advertise when they need a new employee because it’s word-of-mouth, especially if it’s a good place to work. It seems like as a general rule, they’re able to find employees, but that also is a challenge. And I don’t think this necessarily answers your question, But a lot of dairies don’t post a job like a normal

Glenda Pereira: 16:12

Right. Say

Ashley Marshall: 16:12

normal, but a different business would. Right? I mean, everybody knows when McDonald’s is hiring or another place like that because it’s posted all over the place. And so that’s where EMDC can help, promote that as well.

Glenda Pereira: 16:24

That’s great. Yeah. Advertise Yeah. Our positions. Okay.

Glenda Pereira: 16:27

Cool.

Ashley Marshall: 16:27

I’m gonna say, if nobody knows that you have a job position, then nobody is going to apply. Right. So

Glenda Pereira: 16:31

Yeah. Housing is one. I don’t think there’s really much opportunity to kind of say, you know, we we can learn from this. The the main market right now is what it is even when I was buying my house. Mhmm.

Glenda Pereira: 16:44

Oh my it was crazy.

Ashley Marshall: 16:47

Yeah. And then land park, a lot of dairies are locked into what they have. Right. And so and then they need that to produce their crops to feed their animals. They can’t turn it into housing or something like that.

Ashley Marshall: 16:57

Yeah. Not that they even have probably the ability to put a house Right. Yeah. On it. So it’s a

Glenda Pereira: 17:02

lot of challenges. Are there any other things for from the success side that you’ve captured in some of your data? Maybe do do like some farms who seem to be, you know, really successful at retaining employees have SOPs, so standard operating procedures, or even, you know, like, where where do you see a lot of opportunity for expanded programs with other ag service providers, not necessarily you, but even with an extension where there’s, you know, a gap in what farmers need that would help with workforce development.

Ashley Marshall: 17:36

The biggest takeaway, and I think this is universal across all business owners, right, is that they want reliable, employees with a work ethic. And so if you can get them that employee and then they can, they’re gonna show up, and they’re not gonna be looking at their phone the whole time. And so that is a challenge. And, yeah, then they can train them how they want as long as they are dedicated to do the work. Yeah.

Glenda Pereira: 18:01

Before, we wrap up our episode today, is there a resource or a program external you know, in the state of Maine or externally that you recommend for dairy managers or dairy owners that they can send dairy managers? I know Cornell has some programs specific to how to improve or become, you know, a dairy manager. Are there any other things like that related to employment or staff development?

Ashley Marshall: 18:25

Well, I know that there’s, like, a national apprenticeship. It’s the dairy management one. It’s a registered apprenticeship. But then that is it’s a two year program and there’s a, like, pretty big, commitment to it. But if there’s a dairy owner who is interested in, growing their manager that way, then that is are things that I think are opportunities here in Maine as far as growing those apprenticeship opportunities.

Ashley Marshall: 18:48

I have a resource sheet that I hand out that lists some of those as well.

Glenda Pereira: 18:51

And maybe if you can share it, we can attach it to the show notes. Definitely. Yep. As a link for folks. So for folks out there, definitely reach out.

Glenda Pereira: 18:59

We can maybe steer you in the right direction if you wanna get your employees some professional development opportunities. And I think we just need to continue to do that so then we show that we’re invested in our employees, and our employees are then maybe invested in us. I don’t know if you have any thoughts on that.

Ashley Marshall: 19:15

No. I think that’s great. I think one of the benefits or benefit to an employee or retention is just being able to see that they have the opportunity to grow in a position. Not everybody wants to, and so I won’t pretend that. But there are people that would like to, be promoted within the company and just be given a little bit more responsibility.

Ashley Marshall: 19:35

And so I think programs like that would be super helpful, and be able help them to retain those employees.

Glenda Pereira: 19:41

Yeah. Well, we will be hearing more from you, Dr. Ashley Marshall. We’re so like I said, we’re so happy to have you here as an ex service provider to the livestock industry. Any other things you wanna mention, here on the episode about your role or even just about, you know, the dairy industry as a whole? We’re happy to have you back from New York.

Glenda Pereira: 20:04

Different dairy industry out there. Similar, though, similar things, you know, dairy’s dairy’s dairy. But any last thoughts?

Ashley Marshall: 20:14

I mean, I’m just super excited to be back, and being able to be a part of the dairy industry is very important to me. And so I just whatever my future brings, I just like, if I can help support the dairy industry, then I’m happy to do it. And so I will be at the seminar like you mentioned. And so if anybody has questions about the program, I can answer them then, and we can schedule visits Yeah. And things like that.

Ashley Marshall: 20:39

Because the more, again, producer feedback I get, the the stronger the program will be.

Glenda Pereira: 20:43

Yeah. Well, with that, folks, if you’re listening, you’re a dairy farmer, feel free to reach out. Ashley is doing the survey through the rest of the spring summer.

Ashley Marshall: 20:54

Yeah. Spring. I mean, it’d be great to wrap it up by the end of the spring. But, you know, the more outreach, the better.

Glenda Pereira: 21:02

Yeah. Okay. So with that, thank you so much again. You’re welcome. Doctor Ashley Marshall on the podcast today.

Glenda Pereira: 21:09

Like I said, we’ll be hearing more about this dairy workforce development. For the folks who are frequent listeners, if you have questions, recommendations on topics, or you just wanna reach out and say hello to us, you can email us at extension.farmcast@maine.edu. Thanks, Ashley. Thank you.

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