Do You ask Why?

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Gerard Finnan (FCG Midwest)

At a recent FCG Training Day, my colleagues Phil Cooper and Becky Miles who run Lean Farming UK ran a practical on-farm session on the application of LEAN principles on a dairy farm.

One of the techniques used to drill down into operating procedures is called The Five Whys, to help solve farming issues by finding the true root cause of a farm issue instead of just fixing surface symptoms.

What is the 5 Whys?

  • Core Idea: You ask “Why?” repeatedly (typically five times) when a problem occurs, digging deeper with each answer until you reach a systemic cause you can fix.
  • Focus on Process, Not People: It shifts the team away from blame and toward fixing equipment, routines, training, or workflows.
  • Flexible Count: You do not have to stop rigidly at five—it can take three, four, or six steps depending on how complex the farm issue is.

A practical application of this could be with SCC control in the milking parlour:

 The Problem: The bulk tank Somatic Cell Count (SCC) has risen above 250,000 cells/ml, indicating a subclinical contagious mastitis issue. 

  1. Why is the herd SCC climbing?
    • Answer: Contagious bacteria (like Staphylococcus aureus) are spreading from cow to cow during milking. 
  2. Why are the bacteria spreading between cows during milking?
    • Answer: The milking cluster liners are transferring pathogens because the post-milking teat disinfection is inconsistent or failing. 
  3. Why is the post-milking teat disinfection failing to protect the cows?
    • Answer: Milkers are rushing the teat-spraying step, leaving many udder quarters entirely uncovered or dry.
  4. Why are the operators rushing the teat-spraying step?
    • Answer: They are falling behind on the parlour throughput timeline and trying to cut down on total milking time.
  5. Why are they falling behind and feeling rushed?
    • Root Cause: The parlour layout creates unnecessary “Motion” and “Waiting” waste. Specifically, the teat spray bottles are frequently misplaced or stored far away from the point of use.
  • Solution: Review parlour operating procedures andinstall dedicated, ergonomic holsters for the teat spray directly at the point of use, so milkers never waste steps or time searching for equipment.

By going through this procedure, you are more likely to find a longer-term sustainable solution which the whole team can buy into and implement. The solution may cost a lot less than jumping to conclusions in one step. For example, in the above example, some solutions could be installing an automated teat spraying system costing tens of thousands of £s if conclusions were reached after the second or third why, when persevering with further Whys results in £1k-£2k being spent on a simpler solution which the operators have bought into and implemented.

This problem-solving technique got me thinking that this could be adopted to review almost any procedure or series of actions in a business from handling paper in an office to processing and using information, to practical day to day procedures.

All these procedures we have been carrying out because the previous person doing them trained us to do it in the same way. Farms spend vast amounts of labour and machinery moving items and bulk around farms. Some do it a lot more efficiently than others as is highlighted in our annual costs of production report https://www.fcgagric.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Milk-Cost-of-Production-Report-2026.pdf .

Cost of Doing Work (CODW) is the financial benchmark which helps us compare this and there was a difference of over a £118k between top and bottom 10% of dairy farms costed.

Are you asking Why often enough? Could your business benefit from an independent person asking WHY?  If so, contact Gerard at gerardfinnan@fcgagric.com or your local FCG office, or Phil Cooper at LEAN Farming UK at pcooper@fcgagric.com .

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