Andy Dietz

“I love making a change on farms that yields results" 

Andy Dietz, Dairy Consultant at Barton Kiefer Dairy Consulting After graduating from Michigan State with a degree in Animal Science, Andy Dietz spent 9 years with another dairy consultant company before going on his own. Now, with 13 years under his belt as an independent consultant for the Barton Kiefer Dairy Consulting team, Andy works directly with dairy farms all over Michigan. 

What makes Barton and Kiefer such a force in the industry isn’t just the hands-on work the company does with farms, either. “It’s the level of freedom that we have as independent consultants coupled with the collaboration between a group of guys that have a common goal,” Andy says. For Andy, a lot of that freedom comes from the workday routines he’s created himself. “I’m up in the morning doing ration work on the computer, and then I get out and see customers for the bulk of the days,” Andy adds. “I go out to the farms five days a week, typically. Office days are fit in as needed and I often end up doing rations at night.” The amount of customers Andy works with daily can fluctuate from anywhere from two to eight, a typical range for any Barton Kiefer Dairy consultant. 

The dairy nutritionist industry’s evolution is just like any other industry, and Barton Kiefer Dairy Consulting has been adapting by hiring more and more specialized workers over the last half-decade—showcasing a slow and steady growth of diverse employees, as the geography of the company’s covered farms continues expanding West and South. “I think it’s going to change even faster in the next decade,” Andy adds. “I think the group at Barton Kiefer, as a whole, will also naturally become more of a group of teammates rather than a group of individuals like it has been in the past.” 

Despite the rapid changes in dairy nutrition and each consultant’s adaption to that growth, Andy still finds pride in the personal successes that couple with a client’s success. “I love making a change on farms that yields results,” Andy says. “Especially once you make a rations adjustment and the cows respond either in health, production, and/or profitability for the dairyman.”