The Moos Room™

00;00;11;03 - 00;00;23;06
Emily
And welcome, everybody to the movies room. Emily and Bradley here. And it is a very special episode today. We are in the same room.

00;00;23;08 - 00;00;35;22
Brad
That's crazy. We have not been in the same room in a long time. And it's always good to be here. And I see Emily's smiling face. We're all both excited because we're here together, and it's been a while. It's been a while.

00;00;35;29 - 00;01;01;28
Emily
It has been. Yeah, a very long time since we've recorded together in person. And we are in Rochester today. So Brad is is down in the area for a dairy field day. So he's got some programing he's doing. And so we thought we're doing that. We we went out and had breakfast and solved all the world's problems. And now here we are, recording our episode and it's probably my favorite annual episode of the year.

00;01;02;00 - 00;01;25;05
Emily
And if you guessed it, it is the episode where I harangue Bradley for not wearing sunscreen enough. So if you remember, last week, we were talking about heat stress and considerations for reducing heat stress in cattle. And so this week we're going to kind of flip that and look at it the other way and really talk about heat stress and sun safety.

00;01;25;08 - 00;01;47;15
Emily
In humans. And this is usually a conversation we have every year. And that is because I think it's important every year. Bradley still does not wear sunscreen with any regularity. Right. And we know the summers are getting hotter, right? Concerns about sun safety and heat illness are not going to go away. So I think it's important to talk about it every year.

00;01;47;17 - 00;01;53;09
Emily
And, and to just keep in mind, that it is important, you know.

00;01;53;11 - 00;02;03;26
Brad
So what you're telling me is, when I went to Florida for a conference a few weeks ago that I should have put sunscreen on, and I went off, turned bright red while I was in sunny Florida.

00;02;03;27 - 00;02;06;27
Emily
Yeah, you'd probably still have the top layer of your skin, Bradley.

00;02;06;28 - 00;02;16;11
Brad
I know, I know, but it's always fun for you to keep reminding me that I should use sunscreen. It's always a good it's always good. I, I do wear it some days I forget.

00;02;16;11 - 00;02;42;24
Emily
You know when. To be fair, I occasionally forget. Most often I walk my dog every day, right? Twice a day. So sometimes I will forget to put some on before I take her on a quick like ten minute walk. And that is bad for me and I know that. So let's start with sun safety here, right? For me, number one thing is you just have to protect your skin from the sun, specifically from the UV rays.

00;02;42;24 - 00;03;05;12
Emily
Right? Those are the ones that cause sunburns that can cause long term damage to your skin. And of course, we know melanoma skin cancer is also a thing that can develop from too much sun exposure without proper protection on your skin. I think I've shared on the show before, you know, when I was in high school, my summer job was a lifeguard and never, ever, ever wear sunscreen.

00;03;05;12 - 00;03;27;03
Emily
One summer as a lifeguard. Not once. And my senior year of high school, I got a big, ugly mole on my leg, and they removed it, and, oops, it was covered in pre-cancerous cells. So that was a big wakeup call for me to to take better care of my skin and and to, yes, be more mindful about sun protection in particular.

00;03;27;06 - 00;03;30;25
Emily
And I have not had any issues with cancerous moles since.

00;03;30;27 - 00;03;53;05
Brad
I'm always the guy that it's 90 degrees out and I still have a sweatshirt on, so I do use clothing to cover up. I don't know what it is you can, you will find me and it's 90 degrees out. Some of you that maybe know me, especially my wife thinks I'm crazy. It is 90 degrees out. I have a sweatshirt on long pants and sometimes I was stocking cap on.

00;03;53;05 - 00;04;08;09
Brad
So maybe that's how I help protect myself from the sun. But yes, I try to do my best, and we all have to do much better in making sure that we have proper sun safety. So what should we do?

00;04;08;10 - 00;04;29;20
Emily
Well, you know, you you grabbed an important point there right away. I know I've been talking about sunscreen, but you also mentioned clothing, and we can absolutely use clothing to protect us from the sun as well. Again, I'm not going to get into all the science of it because that would it's a whole thing. The main point is, right, we want to be protected from the UV rays of the sun.

00;04;29;20 - 00;04;55;09
Emily
So we need some sort of physical barrier between the sunlight and our skin. So maybe that is a product like sunscreen. But yes, clothing also works great. So making sure you're covering your body with clothing. So Bradley mentioned long pants. Him and I are both like diehard jeans wearers. So we both have very white legs. Even in the summer, right?

00;04;55;09 - 00;05;14;19
Emily
But that's part of it is I wear pants so I don't have to put sunscreen on my legs. Right. That protects that skin down there wearing long sleeves if you can, especially if you're wearing like a breathable cotton long sleeve, you should still be comfortable even in the heat, and again, your skin will be protected. A big, big one.

00;05;14;21 - 00;05;36;29
Emily
And I think a lot of us do wear them without realizing that they're helping us. And that's hats. Any sort of hat with a brim baseball hat. Yes. Could be, what I would call a gardening hat. Bucket hats, you know, are huge. I have this cute pink bucket hat I like to wear when it's sunny. You may see it at Farm Fest this year, so stay tuned.

00;05;37;01 - 00;05;52;03
Emily
But, yeah, there's a lot of things that we can wear, you know, besides just sunscreen, like our clothing. So, you know, Bradley, you mentioned a stocking cap, but do you ever wear a hat that helps provide shade specifically to your face?

00;05;52;06 - 00;06;07;20
Brad
Once in a while, I do, if I'm out mowing the lawn on the weekend. I have this wonderful college days bucket hat that I wear, from my old fraternity days that I wear around it. Everybody hates it. But yes, it would.

00;06;07;23 - 00;06;32;17
Emily
Shout out farmhouse, builder of men. But anyways. Yeah. And again, I like my bucket hat. I also like my stocking or my baseball cap. I actually have one, for my sorority. So. So my sorority is a neighbor to Brad's fraternity. That's my, like, go to hat to my old college hat. But yeah, that's really nice because again, those Bruins will block your, face.

00;06;32;17 - 00;07;00;26
Emily
And so sunglasses help, of course, to protect your eyes from that bright light, because you can damage your eyes from sunlight. But also, yes, a hat with a wide brim. Something that will not only shield your eyes from the sun, but again, it's shades your face. That's really the purpose of it. I think most of us think our eyes, but it's really to help shade your face and that skin on your face, which is thinner, more sensitive, and much more susceptible, to sun damage as well.

00;07;00;29 - 00;07;04;08
Emily
So, Bradley, when is the last time you wore sunscreen?

00;07;04;10 - 00;07;12;13
Brad
I actually had some sun in March when I was in the South, so that was the last time I used it. So I have used it this year.

00;07;12;17 - 00;07;13;28
Emily
Okay.

00;07;14;01 - 00;07;40;01
Brad
You should not take advice from me. I do not provide sunscreen advice of any time, but I should say I'm probably guilty like everybody else does. That says I'm only going to be outside for ten minutes. I don't need to put it on or I'm gonna I'm going to just run out there quick or and then you end up spending way more time outside than what you should, and then you come back in and go, oh, man, maybe I should have done something.

00;07;40;01 - 00;07;58;21
Brad
My arms are a little red today. So I think that's the biggest thing that we often forget about. Yeah, we can say put your sunscreen on. But I think sometimes we all forget and we're in such a rush to do something or be outside or for me, be in the pastures or be out with cows. And I'm like, I don't I?

00;07;58;27 - 00;08;26;05
Brad
Yeah, it's kind of a, an afterthought to maybe put sunscreen on or find a good hat or find protective clothing that can cover up the sun because it doesn't take much, even because most of us think, oh, well, I'm not going to burn or anything because it's only 70 degrees out and the sun isn't very bright. Well, I think I probably will be proven wrong, but if it's just a little sunny out in seven.

00;08;26;07 - 00;08;44;14
Emily
You absolutely can still burn. And the first thing I'll say is, right, I've been there to, like I said, with walking the dog, like we're only going to be out ten minutes. I don't need the sunscreen. Your skin can burn in as little as ten minutes of sun exposure. Between 10 and 15 minutes is is the minimum it can take for.

00;08;44;19 - 00;09;11;07
Emily
Yes. Your skin to get irreversible sun damage. On it. So even if it's ten minutes, put on some sunscreen. I think that that's important. Yes. We sometimes think like, oh, it's 90, so I need sunscreen. Temperature is not always directly related to what is the UV index. Right. So the UV index is the number that actually tells you how powerful the sun is.

00;09;11;09 - 00;09;36;15
Emily
I'm pulling this out of the top of my head. I'm pretty sure it's a scale of like up to ten, right? So like ten is like, holy crap, you're going to burn in a second, right? And so on, like an average July day. I mean, I took the UV index before I walk the dog every day. And lately it's been, you know, depending on the time of day, but it's been hovering, minimum five, usually upwards of eight.

00;09;36;17 - 00;09;58;22
Emily
So the UV index is high. And there have been days where. Right, it's a chilly morning. It's maybe only 68 degrees. It's chilly for July. Right. But the UV index will already be six. Right. So even though it's not hot, you might not be outside sweating. The sun is still damaging your skin actively. And that's also like you've probably heard in the winter, right?

00;09;58;22 - 00;10;28;13
Emily
You can get sunburn. So, UV rays are not exclusive to the summertime. Of course, they're more powerful in the summertime because our portion of the Earth is closer to the sun. So the UV rays are more intense, but we still run the risk of sunburn of high UV exposure year round. So yes, we may associate needing sunscreen or protection from the sun when it's hot, but think less about when it's hot and think more about if the sun is out.

00;10;28;13 - 00;10;31;26
Emily
If the sun is out, it is shedding UV rays.

00;10;31;28 - 00;11;01;19
Brad
Well, that's a good point. I think sun safety is definitely important, but it also leads in. Sun safety is important even at 60 or 30 degrees out Fahrenheit here. But when it gets really hot out, then you start talking about heat illness and heat problems with people. So what do we do about them? And how can we make sure that we don't have any concern about heat illness when we're going on, and we're probably all guilty?

00;11;01;19 - 00;11;18;05
Brad
I know I, I've probably had, heat problems being outside when it's 95 degrees, you're dehydrated and you have some problems or issues or things that come up right away. So what can we look for when we're trying to think about heat illness?

00;11;18;05 - 00;11;38;08
Emily
Yeah. So I will share a story. It is a little bit embarrassing, but I think I did have a little heat illness, just last week. So I was at the county fair. You know, I go to a few county fairs for work and stuff. So I was at one recently for work at our booth. It was a very, very hot day.

00;11;38;11 - 00;11;57;28
Emily
I was exhibiting there in the afternoon, I think, like noon to four. I had had a busy morning. I had not eaten breakfast. I had had my coffee, of course. I'm like, have my coffee right in front of me right now. Had my coffee, didn't have as much water as I should have. And so yes, I was at this fair and I got myself a little something to eat.

00;11;57;28 - 00;12;19;09
Emily
It was fried cheese curds and a pop. That was a mistake. I should have gotten something with a little more protein, a little less fat, and I should have just had water. Because then about two hours later, I just was so warm and kind of overcome by that, I. I did get a little sick. So I did go outside and I did throw up.

00;12;19;12 - 00;12;35;16
Emily
I felt much better afterwards. And I can't believe I am sharing this with all of you now, but, you know, learn from my mistakes. And I also tell it to be clear that, you know, even as the safety person, right, is the one telling you to do all of this stuff. I don't always get it right myself.

00;12;35;23 - 00;12;58;23
Emily
Right. I, I learned a very important lesson, and I really, it was a useful reminder, right? That if you're going to be out in the heat, I think we think a lot about the practices we should do while we're actively in the heat. But I really want to emphasize, just for a moment, the importance of also preparing yourself to be in the heat.

00;12;58;26 - 00;13;15;10
Emily
So I was at another county fair, the one where I was helping my niece and nephew, and I knew it was going to be hot and it was show day. So it's busy, it's stressful. There's no time to sit down. So I made sure I ate a really big breakfast with a lot of protein. I drank a huge glass of fair life milk.

00;13;15;10 - 00;13;36;09
Emily
So I got not only the water for hydration, the extra shot of protein there. And yeah, and so I was just my body was more prepared. It was better at regulating its temperature because it had enough calories, it had enough protein, I had drinking enough water. And, before we got on, Bradley and I were singing the praises of liquid IV.

00;13;36;12 - 00;13;54;16
Emily
This is not an ad. But that is a great product. Add some, extra electrolytes into your water. So that's something like, if I know I'm going to be at a tractor safety all day and it's hot, we'll drink a liquid I.V. before I go. So, you know, we'll get into the what to do while you're working in the heat.

00;13;54;16 - 00;14;18;03
Emily
But I think it's really important to think about the preparation for being in the heat. Right. And especially if you're going to be moving your body, because we know once we get hot, we're usually not hungry. We don't want to eat anything, even if we are feeling lightheaded. So getting ahead of that. So Bradley, do you ever think about like do you do specific stuff to prepare for being out in the heat?

00;14;18;05 - 00;14;38;20
Brad
I'm going to drink a lot of fluids. That's probably the one thing that I've learned because like you, Emily, I also have had a story. This was quickly Brad's, heat exhaustion story from when I was 17 and invincible. It was very hot. But some of you know, in Minnesota here can be very hot in July. Baling straw.

00;14;38;22 - 00;15;02;22
Brad
You're not drinking any water. It's really hot out. And imagine Brad in bib overalls. I used to wear bib overalls a lot when I was a teenager. I loved them and we were baling straw. There were other people around me and somehow the strings got caught and we did shut the tractor off. Everything was good. So we did follow safety protocols, but I was sitting on the baler.

00;15;02;24 - 00;15;24;04
Brad
Next thing I know, I'm waking up. People are pulling me out. I was kind of caught in the baler, so I basically I passed out from not drinking enough water, being too hot and thankfully I was fine. Didn't have any really bumps, maybe a few bruises here and there, but I should have known better. When you're 17, you don't ever think about these things.

00;15;24;04 - 00;15;40;29
Brad
But now I look back on it go, yes, I was dehydrated and it was too hot out, and we should have probably been properly hydrated to be able to do that. So we all have those experiences and I think we learn from them, but maybe we should think about them before we get to that point.

00;15;40;29 - 00;16;12;08
Emily
Yeah, absolutely. I appreciate you sharing that story, Brad, because I think especially when we're teenagers, we all, have that story and I'm happy to hear it sounds like the biggest bruise was just to your ego. So, you know, it could have been a lot worse, right? If you hadn't had that equipment powered down properly or something. So yeah, that's that's a huge concern, you know, and, and we were talking a little bit about the prep, but then yeah, Brad was getting to, you know, as you're doing the work, and I just want to talk briefly to like the symptoms.

00;16;12;08 - 00;16;32;11
Emily
Right. Things to look for. There's the stuff we know. Right. When it's hot, you're going to have excessive sweating right like that I get that. But again, excessive sweating if you really feel like, wow, this is a lot more than I might usually sweat. And when I was feeling ill just the other week at the fair, that was definitely part of it.

00;16;32;11 - 00;17;02;16
Emily
I could tell I had a little more perspiration than usual. But it's also things like dizziness, lightheadedness, even a little bit of, like, confusion or just kind of some cognitive, like, slowing down. I would say I noticed when, when I was sick, a few weeks ago, like, I just started to get shaky, like my muscles were just kind of weakening and they were just shaking slightly, out of control.

00;17;02;18 - 00;17;28;20
Emily
So, you know, that's a thing to look for. Muscle weakness. Yeah. The sweating, the dizziness, headache. Feeling ill. Right. Again, I, I mentioned I had some stomach upset. So those are all things to watch for, you know, general fatigue. And then, of course, what what do we do when we notice we are feeling those things. So, Bradley, I'm going to go back to you.

00;17;28;20 - 00;17;46;03
Emily
Of course, you learned your lesson the hard way when you were 17. But now let's say you're on the dairy and Morris and you start to notice some of those symptoms I just described. Right. You're like, wow, I'm really sweating. Or I'm starting to feel just a little lightheaded or a little shaky. You know, does that happen to you?

00;17;46;03 - 00;17;47;01
Emily
And what do you do?

00;17;47;01 - 00;18;10;15
Brad
Let's take a break. That's probably our biggest thing. If we notice it's hot out and we notice we're getting tired or fatigued or dehydrated, we just have to take a break. And I tell that to our workers. Students that I'm working with. Let's just take a break. It's fine. We don't need to get everything done immediately. So rest and hydration are probably the two biggest things.

00;18;10;18 - 00;18;23;11
Brad
And we do have some spots where we can get into air conditioning. It's like, let's go sit in the cool building for five minutes and cool down here. So those are probably the biggest things that we do. Rest cool and hydration.

00;18;23;11 - 00;18;45;18
Emily
Yeah, I think that that's the big one right? Is is you have to stop when when your body is telling you it needs a break. You have to stop and give it that break. And, you know, you brought up a few key points there, Bradley. One, getting into air conditioning or at least somewhere cooler. Right. So if you are working outside, at the very least getting a person into the shade, right.

00;18;45;18 - 00;19;07;26
Emily
Or, you know, again, I think of fairs, after I start to not feel well, then I went and I found a barn fan that I could stand in front of for, like five minutes, and that just helped immensely to cool me down. It was not air conditioning, but it with some evaporative cooling. Like we were talking about last week for for, how sweaty I was.

00;19;07;26 - 00;19;30;28
Emily
So find a way to cool down, get some water. Right again. Sometimes when we're really warm, we might not feel hungry or thirsty. But, you know, really try to drink some water. I hate to say forced yourself, but, you know, just a couple sips, just one little sip to start if you can. Cold water especially, another thing I like to do to help myself.

00;19;30;28 - 00;20;11;18
Emily
Cool down. I don't know how based in science this is, or if it's just an old wives tale. It's something my track coach taught me, and I feel like I've maybe said it on this podcast before, right? And that is like, if you were really hot, try to get ice water running over areas of your body where you know your veins are closer to the surface of your skin, for example, your wrists and your ankles, the back of your neck running cold water over there, those areas again, your vessels are a little closer to the surface of your skin there, and that should help, in theory, cool your blood down as it continues to

00;20;11;18 - 00;20;30;08
Emily
circulate through your body. Again, I don't know how true it is, or if it's just an old wives tale. Or like a placebo effect, but I find that is something that works. So if I am really hot, I try to go into the bathroom, run cold water and not my hands, my wrists. I will hold my wrists under that cold water.

00;20;30;10 - 00;20;49;28
Emily
Another thing you can do. I'll take a frozen water bottle and just hold it between my ankles. And that can help as well. And even if it's not frozen cold water. Right. So, so just those little tips and tricks, right? That can help get you cooled down. Because that's the biggest thing is bringing your core body temperature back down.

00;20;50;05 - 00;21;20;00
Emily
So that's why cold water in particular is going to work the best. Whether you are running it over your skin or ingesting it. Right. Drinking water also helps. So, Bradley, I'm curious, you know, the one thing we haven't kind of talked about is sometimes heat illness does get severe to the point that it needs some medical intervention. I'm curious, Bradley, have you ever had any of your employees or anything at the dairy or maybe even you that have maybe needed a doctor at some point?

00;21;20;07 - 00;21;22;01
Emily
Due to heat illness?

00;21;22;03 - 00;21;45;19
Brad
We have not. So we've been lucky that way, as I've heard lots of stories about people needing to go to the hospital for dehydration or other aspects related to the heat, but I think just watching out for each other and making sure that everybody is okay while you're working with them is probably the most important part. And being able to see those signs.

00;21;45;19 - 00;22;06;24
Brad
We had talked about some of the signs that you can see in people that are dehydrated or may need help. Certainly recognizing those and getting them to the doctor or getting them help right away is probably important. But yes, we have been lucky where we we probably are a little more on top of things when it comes to that going, no, we just need to take a break.

00;22;06;24 - 00;22;23;29
Brad
We're not we don't need to get these last five cows. Let's they can wait for three minutes while we go get a drink of water or go cool off for a little bit. So yes, we talked about heat stress in cows. Yes, the cows are heat stressed as well, but I think we need to be cognizant of our heat.

00;22;24;01 - 00;22;45;09
Emily
Right? Because those cows are going to be a lot more stressed. If you're calling an ambulance out to the pasture to pick somebody up. Right. So, so yes, on that kind of how do you know if potentially some medical intervention is needed? I would say, you know, they're just again, use your instinct. And like Brad was saying, watch out for each other.

00;22;45;09 - 00;23;07;12
Emily
One thing we didn't mention is like anything, right? Heat is going to impact each person differently. You know, for example, some of you know, I have a sister who lives in Texas now. So like when she she always comes home every summer for the state fair, and I might just be dying from the heat. I will be so sweaty, bright red.

00;23;07;14 - 00;23;28;27
Emily
And she is perfectly fine and comfortable and normal. Right. Because she lives in a warmer climate now, so she's a little more acclimated to heat. So it does not impact her as quickly or as hard as it impacts me. So keep that in mind too, is that everybody just like stress, just like pain, just like many things, everybody's going to have their own individual threshold.

00;23;29;00 - 00;23;53;14
Emily
So keeping an eye out on yourself and others, you know, certainly, yes. If you notice, even if people are resting in the cool or are drinking water, but you know, the redness in their face isn't going down, or they say they're still dizzy or they're blacking out or seeing spots or right, seem a little out of it. Or like cognitively, they're not all they're, it may be time to, to go to the emergency room.

00;23;53;14 - 00;24;19;08
Emily
So typically in that case the person just needs to be cooled down. They need some more fluids. You know those pieces. And that can be very important. I mean, we know people can die, you know, heat illness, heat stroke that can be fatal. And people from Minnesota have died of it. So. So we know that, so it is important to to take it seriously and to again, know when is enough.

00;24;19;08 - 00;24;31;18
Emily
Enough. Right. When is it not just a break, but but we need to get this person some, some medical intervention. Because again, this is something that that can cause long term damage and, and can kill people.

00;24;31;21 - 00;24;35;03
Brad
Well, I'm glad that my favorite crackle bird can handle the heat much better.

00;24;35;03 - 00;24;35;18
Emily
How dare.

00;24;35;18 - 00;24;37;02
Brad
You? Than you can.

00;24;37;04 - 00;24;41;13
Emily
How dare you?

00;24;41;16 - 00;24;47;23
Brad
Yeah, I was a chaperon for a whole bunch of critical works at the National for Dairy Conference a long time ago. So we have. Yeah.

00;24;47;23 - 00;25;07;11
Emily
I'm just the one that never left, Right. Yeah. I'm just the one that never left. Oh, right. Well, you know, we've talked about a lot today. I think we're going to wrap it there again. We try to do this episode every year because the summers will not get any cooler moving forward. And so it's important to know that we are going to be working in the heat.

00;25;07;11 - 00;25;31;03
Emily
We are going to be working in the sun. Right? Agriculture is a primarily outdoor activity, so it's important to be prepared to work out in the elements, you know, and give us six months, it'll be winter and we'll be doing the cold weather safety episode again. Right? So so it all ebbs and flows and circulates, but we just really want to remind you to take the time to prepare to work in warm weather.

00;25;31;06 - 00;25;53;17
Emily
One thing I forgot to mention. Not only putting on your sunscreen, but reapplying it. Most sunscreen is approved for 80 minutes of use, so eight zero every 80 minutes to 90 minutes. You should be reapplying your sunscreen proudly. That one time you wore it in March. I'm guessing you didn't reapply at all. So there's your quick reminder.

00;25;53;19 - 00;26;23;10
Emily
On the sunscreen. Hydrate hydrate hydrate. Take a break. If you are not feeling good, if you notice somebody is struggling, encourage them to take a break. Get them some water. Stay safe out there everybody. If you have questions, comments, or scathing rebuttals about today's episode, you can email those to the newsroom at Umkc. Edu if you would like to learn more about weather safety and general farm safety, you can visit extension UMC Edu Slash Farm Safety.

00;26;23;17 - 00;26;36;09
Emily
You can also visit, the Upper Midwest Agricultural Safety and Health Center. Their website is UMass. Encore edu and we will wrap it there. Thanks for listening. We'll catch you next week. Bye.

00;26;36;13 - 00;26;45;08
Brad
We'll catch bye bye and tune in next year to see if I actually put on sunscreen.