Hillside Farm, featured in Progressive Dairyman

Laura Flory of Hillside Farm, a Red Wing Software customer, writes for Progressive Dairyman. She recently shared a touching story of her daughter’s first smile, while on a walk to see the cows. See the story here: A time for everything: A dairywoman’s transition from farmer to farm mom.

SunBurst Dairy, featured in the Dairy Star

SunBurst Dairy, a Red Wing Software customer, was featured in the story: Variety of factors help SunBurst Dairy achieve 36 percent preg rate, in the December 24th issue of Dairy Star. In the story, Yogi Brown details how they achieve their success. Click Here to read the whole story.

I often write and talk about the great people we have working at Red Wing Software, and how long many of them have been with the company. Of course, when you have the kind of dedicated, long-tenured people we have, they eventually think they have earned the right to retire. Greg, one of our Senior Support Specialists, after 20 years with us, has rightfully earned his place among the retired.

Even though Greg will no longer be blessing us and our customers with his presence in the office, he will certainly not be slowing down.

Greg has been a go-to person on our support team with his vast knowledge of our products, and especially payroll processes and requirements. I’m sure many of you have talked to Greg over the years, and really appreciate his ability to answer any question you have without even thinking about it. Greg was thoughtful enough to give us many months’ notice of his retirement to prepare us for his absence. After February 3rd, when you call for help, and Greg is not available, you will have the opportunity to learn what a great job Greg did of passing his expertise on to the rest of our excellent support team.

We at Red Wing Software, as well as our customers will certainly miss Greg’s knowledge, but even more important, we will miss having Greg around. We were fortunate to have Greg as a member of our team for so many years, and we wish him the best in his new adventures.

- Ken Hilton, President

Greg Lahaie is retiring from Red Wing Software this week. You’ve most likely spoken to Greg if you’ve called our support team in the last 20 years. Greg has been employed with Red Wing Software since 1994, was away for a couple of years, and has been back since 2000. Greg and his wife, Jean, have been married for 42 years. They have three children that live in England, Virginia and Minnesota, and five grandchildren. Their grandchildren keep them busy watching their softball and soccer games, going to concerts, etc. They also love to travel. Having traveled to all 50 states, over 30 countries, and four of the seven continents, Greg is our go to person if we have a travel question.

Retirement plans include traveling to more national parks and monuments and convincing his wife to go to Antarctica. They will continue to be Minnesota Twins season ticket holders and will go watch them in different cities to add to the 11 they have seen them at so far. Grandkids, reading, riding bicycles, occasionally playing golf, and fishing will fill in the rest of the time.

We’ve tried many different ways to get Greg to come in and work occasionally or even provide his cell number to call so we can ask him questions, but so far he hasn’t agreed. We will miss his professional expertise and his friendship. Hopefully he will have some free time to stop in or go to lunch. Best wishes in your retirement Greg!

Good internal communication is important to the success of any organization. How often does someone know something that should really be common knowledge, but for some reason that information is not shared with others in the organization who could benefit from it? Obviously, there are some things that need to be kept confidential, like personal employee information protected by HIPPA laws, etc. But most information, while not necessarily public, should be shared within the walls of the organization so everyone has an opportunity to contribute to the success of the business.

At Red Wing Software, we use a weekly internal newsletter to provide employees with the happenings inside the organization. Leaders of each department contribute information from their respective areas that they feel the rest of the team should, or would like to, know. In addition to structured departments, we also operate many teams that are specific to a particular project and include members from multiple departments. This is where communication can break down.

In the team meetings, ideas for new features, changes, or even new products are created. As these ideas are discussed, requirements are defined and refined, user interfaces are designed, test scenarios are determined, programming and documentation are completed, and voilà, the project is complete. The only problem is, sometimes everyone on the team becomes so involved in the process and has spent so much time talking about every detail, that they assume it is common knowledge to the entire organization, so they occasionally, and unintentionally, forget to share an important detail. I only use this as one example of how information can unintentionally be kept secret, when it should be shared with the entire organization so they can be included in the excitement about new happenings in the organization. Does this happen in your organization?

- Ken Hilton, President

Vir-Clar Farms, featured in Progressive Dairyman

Vir-Clar Farms was featured in the December 12, 2016 issue of Progressive Dairyman. In the story entitled “Visitor Center Gives Modern View of Dairying”, Katie Grinstead shares details about the farm’s new visitor center.

Yorek Farm, featured in Dairy Star Magazine

Yorek Farm was featured in a story in the December 10, 2016 issue of Dairy Star Magazine. In the story, “A Fine-Tuned Dairy”, the entire Yorek family helps explain their progress in expanding their operation.

SunBurst Dairy, featured in Hoard’s Dairyman

SunBurst Dairy was featured in a story in the November 28, 2016 issue of Hoard’s Dairyman. In the story, “Nutrition Sets up Reproductive Success”, Brian Brown of SunBurst Dairy explains their nutrition program and methods to increase reproductive success.

Shrimpf Farms, featured in Dairy Star Magazine

Kristin Schrimpf of Shrimpf Farms was personally featured in the November 12, 2016 issue of Dairy Star Magazine. In the story, “What is the Value of Networking with Other Women in the Industry?”, Kristin shares her background in dairy farming.

Dorrich Dairy, featured in Dairy Star Magazine

Dorrich Dairy was the subject of the story, “A Novel Bedding System”, which appeared in the November 26, 2016 issue of Dairy Star Magazine. The story elaborates on Dorrich Dairy’s new composting system.