Diving head first into the dairy industry

Week two in my new job as financial advisor at TINE Rådgiving (TINE Advising) complete. TINE is Norway's main dairy producer...but so much more than that as well.

It's interesting, because the farming and dairy industry in Norway has been kind of like a black box for me up until now. Completely mysterious as to how it actually all hangs together. Massively regulated, and subsidized, by the government, right down to how many liters of milk each specific dairy farmer can produce each year, as well the basic price per liter milk the farmers will get.

On the owner side of TINE, it's the dairy farmers themselves that are owning members. One person one vote.

Right now it's massive immersion for me, as I am not from the farming or dairy industry. So I have been sitting with colleagues asking questions about all aspects of dairy farming, reading lots, and been a couple times visiting one dairy farm near our house. Next week I'll visit another farm, and also go with colleagues out on farm-visits.

It's kind of a shock to the system, in all respects. The hardest has been the long days. Not in terms of work, but in terms of not being with the kids. Not being there for sweet, slow mornings, when everyone is shiny happy. Not being there at pick-up for.

When Leona was 9 months old and I started working again, I was gone for the same amount of time each day as I am now, but a huge difference lays in the fact that she was still nursing a few times a night, and slept beside me, so I was with her all night. Now say goodnight to them at around 7:30pm and then don't see them again until almost 4pm. That doesn't leave a lot of hours to be together. I don't like it.

Another challenge for me is the industry itself. As I am not vegan, I have to accept the fact that the animals' value lays in the quality and quantity of milk and meat they can produce. It is an economic equation, where animal personality matters as well. If you make trouble you get slaughtered. If you're injured then economically it may be better that you are slaughtered. Knowing that the end result is the same whether they have a great personality and are healthy and produce a lot of quality milk and then get slaughtered when their milk production falls below a certain level, or they are not and get slaughtered earlier, helps me see that they are here for our consumption. The point is that up until they get slaughtered, they need to be treated well and taken care of.

Thankfully science and experience shows that the quality of the milk and meat is highest when the animals are healthy and comfortable, so their health and well being is a priority for the industry and regulations as well as most farmers. But their view of well being and my view is still pretty far from each other. My view isn't so economically viable, and I am not used to not considering their life in itself as being important.

So it's an adjustment. My goal as a financial advisor is that I will be able to help the farmers run their farms more efficiently through the information I can provide them, or help them in the process when they need to make strategic decisions, so that they can run their farms in a manner that they earn enough and that the animals are healthy and have a high standard of well being.

[When I came home from my first day of work the girls had drawn this for me: Glatulere me da gen mama for du hr fåt job på TINE til mama fra Leona og Eliana => Congratulations mom for getting the job at TINE To mom from Leona and Eliana]

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