When northeastern Iowa farmer Erick Oberbroeckling graduated college, he was looking for more to do during the winter. So he put commercial plates on the trucks the family farm already owned and began hauling grain, sand and milk. His team now consists of 50 people and 23 units.
Oberbroeckling recently joined the Top Producer podcast with host Paul Neiffer to share how the addition of this business has served a risk management tool and steady income stream for the farm.
“By having the trucking business around, we’re hauling ag products, but they’re not really tied or dependent upon the price of what we’re hauling–they still have to move,” Oberbroeckling explains. “The good thing about milk hauling is we have work available seven days a week. The bad thing about milk hauling is we have work available seven days a week.”
Oberbroeckling estimates spending over half of his time on the trucking business, and his brother’s day-to-day responsibilities mostly pertain to their hog business. He says this diversification provides a consistent workforce and a better way to allocate salaries.
“We need a certain number of people here, whether we were trucking or not,” he says. “Our grain operation is not burdened with 100% of salaries of four or five people. We can diversify those salaries and allocate those salaries a little bit better among both entities.”
No Silver Bullet For Management
Through growing these entities, Oberbroeckling has found himself managing a large group of employees–a task he compares to herding cats.
“You’ve got 50 different personalities you’re dealing with, and you have to really figure out what makes people click on their own level,” he says.
He says his management style stems from the golden rule and offers these three pieces of advice to each of his new employees:
- Take criticism and learn from it.
- Raising your voice will never accomplish anything.
- Once something is said, you can’t take it back. Sleep on it for a day.
To hear more from Oberbroeckling, listen to this episode of the Top Producer podcast.
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