Farmers Assuring Responsible Management: Training U.S. Evaluators in Animal Care

The National Dairy FARM Program (FARM) was launched in 2009 by the National Milk Producers Federation. This program helps to support the U.S. dairy industry by ensuring success and demonstrating that American dairy farmers are held to a high standard and are committed to producing safe, high quality milk on their farms.

ACER Consulting has worked with the FARM program since 2020, supporting their team in a variety of capacities. One of our primary roles is designing and implementing annual certification and recertification training for 2^nd party evaluators and 3^rd party verifiers in animal care.

Each year, we train roughly 100 evaluators on how to evaluate U.S. dairy farms for animal care in the context of the FARM Animal Care program.

Our Approach

Pre-Work Preparation

The FARM program offers trainees a variety of online pre-work modules that cover core elements of the training. These learn at your own pace modules are self-directed and allow trainees to get up to speed on the training content prior to entering the classroom.

Core Content & Concepts in the Classroom

Our training starts with one full day in the classroom, where we focus on adult learning best practices to training. More specifically, we offer a combination of lecture-style presentations, scenarios and role-playing, and small group breakout discussions, which offer individual self-reflection and thinking, partnered discussions, and group feedback opportunities.

Application & Calibration on the Farm

The following day, we take trainees out on farm to apply what they have learned. While each training is customized to the farm(s) and the needs of the group, we typically offer a rotating station approach, where trainees visit different areas of the farm to discuss, review, observe, evaluate, and practice with one another and an assigned trainee/coach. We also take time to offer calibration of common animal-based observations, such as body condition, lameness, and body injuries.

Evaluating Impact

Our trainings culminate in a final exam to test the knowledge of our trainees and certify that they have obtained an acceptable level of knowledge to remain in good standing with the program. Following completion of the exam, we also implement post-training feedback forms to ensure we can timely and constructive feedback to improve our trainings. Each year, we also partner with the FARM program in releasing an annual evaluator survey for more in-depth feedback, as well as a series of interviews and/or focus groups to ensure we continue to refine and improve our training approaches.