In her own words:

Farm: Oak View Dairy, LLC Location: Jamestown, N. Y. Owners: Shawn & Tara Cotter in partnership Tara's father, Bruce Kidder Produce: 300 milking cows, youngstock and 500 acres of forage

Shawn and Tara Cotter operate Oak View Dairy, LLC in partnership with Tara’s father, Bruce Kidder. Oak View includes 300 milking cows, youngstock and 500 acres of forage.

Tara says that Red Wing’s^® AgCHEK^™ and Payroll software, AcroPrint’s^® time clocks and Farm Credit’s on-farm service offer just the right combination of software and support for their business. Here is more of what Tara had to say:

"When we were looking for a computerized time clock last summer, Farm Credit recommended AcroPrint’s TimeQ +Plus system to us. Anna had just helped us set up AgCHEKand Payroll a few months earlier.

"Farm Credit came to our farm to install AcroPrint, interface the software and set our employees up in the system. Then she tested to ensure a smooth transition.

"Payroll is simple for us now. I just take a disk to the barn every Monday afternoon, download the hours worked and export the data to Payroll software which, in turn, flows to AgCHEK. AcroPrint reduces processing time, eliminates errors and gives us ‘to-the-minute’ accuracy. Plus the Payroll software computes all payroll taxes, which is a very nice feature.

"We also like the individual plastic swipe cards, which eliminate the hassle of time sheets. Our employees like the process, too. When they swipe in and out, AcroPrint displays the amount of time they worked for the day and week, right down to the minute.

"I don’t worry about payroll late fees anymore and I like having accurate reports to compare labor expenses."

Farm Credit on accounting and payroll tools:

"Tools, such as AgCHEK and AcroPrint, can help you reduce the time you spend on record-keeping, but these tools are only as efficient as the accounting, balancing and consistency behind them. That is, you need to set your systems up properly and learn the system’s time saving features.

"When you don’t, we need to make revisions and retrain entire processes. This means you lose a lot of time, which could be avoided if your tools are set up correctly the first time.

"We recommend you hire a Farm Credit specialist to set up your chart of accounts, develop payroll processes and provide training. This kind of personal support gets you off to a fast start, and gives you the confidence to develop efficient and accurate reports.

"At Farm Credit, we’ll help you get the most out of software tools that will improve your business’s bottom line."

Contact us at info@farmcreditwny.com for more information on how we can help with your payroll.

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