The Moos Room™

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Dr. Brad Hines: Welcome to The Moos Room today. Yes, it is a different voice bringing you in this afternoon. I am Dr. Brad Hines, along with the other members of the OG3. We are going to talk about safety today, and spring safety. As we move from winter into spring, talk about tractor safety, thinking about planting. There is also safety with livestock coming as we move from winter to spring. We have, of course, our esteemed safety expert with us today, Emily Krekelberg. She is going to talk to us all about safety. That is her specialty.
Emily Krekelberg: I'm so honored to be esteemed.
Bradley: Hey, I try. I try hard.
Emily: I'm not a doctor, so at least I can be esteemed. Right, guys?
Joe: Exactly. Exactly.
[laughter]
Bradley: Safety. What are some things that we think about when we're moving from wintertime to springtime for farm safety? What are the main points that come to our mind?
Emily: Well, I think we know that a big thing that happens from winter to spring is snow melt, more rain, so it's really wet. Around this time, also, a lot of traffic is picking up. More tractors, more cars are on the road, four-wheelers, all of that, side-by-side skaters, whatever you use. We're dealing with soft shoulders. That's when we can see a lot of cases of rollovers, or people just getting stuck and then something else going wrong. That's something that I really always caution people to be mindful of, especially on our gravel roads. Be in mind if they're soft, or if it hasn't rained and they're really dry. It can be a really big issue, and I think we don't really think about that, but we're just moving so much more in the spring.
Joe: I think this year is unique as well. We're getting to the point where things are actually looking like we only get vaccine sorted out, and COVID maybe, we might be able to return to some normalcy. There's all sorts of articles and safety data out there to show that people have forgotten how to drive during the pandemic. One of the things I think about most often when I see farmers on the roadway, and I think what is the most dangerous a lot of times, is the other people on the road. Give me some of that, Emily.
Emily: Yes, absolutely. Roadway safety is probably-- it's all-encompassing of what I just said. It's the biggest thing that comes to mind in spring is how important roadway safety can be in general. I think that it's always a combination of, the farmers need to be practicing safe driving habits and the other people on the road need to be practicing safe driving habits as well. It's a give-and-take. It's a two-way street, as it were. [chuckles] Anyways, with that, we're just thinking about, again, being smart, being aware, being attentive. Don't be distracted by your phone or eating or loud music, and also visibility. For cars, vehicles, make sure you have your headlights on if it's dark, be aware of your surroundings, be driving the speed limit.
Then for farm equipment, flashers, absolutely check those bulbs this time of year and make sure that they're ready to go. It is Minnesota law for all vehicles traveling under 30 miles per hour to have a slow-moving vehicle sign on them. That's that red and orange triangle. It should really be affixed to the back of the last thing. If you're a tractor hauling a wagon, make sure there's one on the wagon and honestly, I would say, make sure there's one on the tractor too. You can never be too safe. That's a big piece in that visibility. Just, yes, being mindful, being an attentive tractor operator as well.
Bradley: I think about there's almost two sides to safety, or tractor safety, whatever it might be, in the springtime. You have the farmer or person in agriculture that's working with the tractors or planters or everything, and then you have the consumers that just want to speed past a tractor as fast as possible because they don't want to have to slow down. How do we merge those two together to have a safe environment?
Emily: That's a really great question, Bradley. When I think about other drivers and perhaps the frustration they get with tractors and farm equipment in general, because yes, they are big, they are slow, and they cause traffic delays. I get that. I think that it's up to all of us when we're driving, when we're in the tractors, et cetera, to make sure that we're reminding each other that, "Hey, you're sharing the road," and especially if you know you're driving on a road that is used by a lot of farm equipment, you need to be aware of that. Be mindful of that. I think of where I am in Southeast Minnesota, a lot of our roads are very curvy and hilly.
There's a lot of blind spots, a lot of no-pass zones. People just seem to think if it's a piece of farm equipment, they don't need to follow some of those laws, but they do, and so I just throw that out there. I mean, this is with anything safety-related. We all need to be champions for it and we all need to hold each other accountable. You, as when you're driving your regular vehicle, be respectful. When you're in your farm equipment, be respectful, be patient. I know people honk and probably make obscene gestures, but that is their problem, not yours.
Joe: One of the things that I think about all the time is, I was in practice, I was always in a hurry. Veterinarians are always late, and we're always trying to get to the next place. I think everyone's fully aware of that, but you have to remember, that person that's on the road with their farm equipment, that's their job. They're at work. You need to remember that, that that's part of their job, and having to be on the road is part of the job. You just have to keep that in the back of your head whenever you feel like you're frustrated or you're running behind, remember that person's at work. That's their day job.
Emily: Yes, that's similar to anything. Truck drivers, even emergency vehicles. Yes, you need to respect that the roadway is for everyone.
Joe: Besides the roadway, we talked about how you need to have your flashers and your slow-moving sign and those kinds of things on the roadway. Watch out for the soft shoulder this time of year, for sure. What other things are we worried about in the spring? I guess we could stay with vehicles. I always think about everyone dusting off the four-wheeler in the spring and with it being soft and everyone going out to check fields and stuff, it seems like that could be an issue in the spring as well.
Emily: Yes, absolutely. ATV safety is a huge, huge concern in the farm safety and health realm. ATVs are a major component of accidents involving youth, especially those aged 14 to 17. This is an issue that spans all ages, really. Soft shoulder's a big part of that. Again, just being mindful of the road and who is coming. Cars, trucks, et cetera, they're bigger than the ATV is. Plan accordingly. Again, it's just those basic good driving habits. Being attentive, not going too fast, and yes, paying attention, sharing the road, being courteous.
Bradley: We talk a lot about farm safety, thinking about tractors and farm equipment. What about from a livestock perspective in spring safety? What do we think about there, and what can people be mindful of?
Emily: In the spring, of course, it is wet, as I've already mentioned. I think that's the main thing a lot of us think about weather-wise when we think of spring. Just being aware of increased incidents of disease, all of that thing coming up, and that can include zoonotic disease as well, being spread more readily. Watching out for those kinds of things. Joe really wants to talk about beef calving, so I'm going to let him do that because he is the resident calving expert.
Joe: Well, that's my job on the show sometimes I think is to make sure we don't forget about beef in the spring.
Emily: I was speaking in generalizations.
Joe: Calving in the spring, big deal. Big safety concerns, where you really are trying to process those calves as they hit the ground sometimes, and you got to be careful with the moms, and the dams that have really strong mothering instinct. We talked about this. Actually, Emily and I talked about this already today once, but the big thing is knowing your cattle, working with them year-round to get to a point where you've built enough trust that when you do go out to work those calves, those cattle know you, and they have some trust in you, so that that is less likely. Safety-wise, it's less of concern, but you also have to never fully trust that mom. You have to have an out. You want to be working with someone else if possible. Working alone is always not a great idea when there's a risk for that, having the four-wheeler or the ATV or the truck with you so you have some place to go when you're out in the pasture if that's how you're doing it. Those are all things you need to be mindful of.
When in doubt, stop, take a break, and then come back in 48 hours to see if her demeanor has changed, and often it will. That's my big thing in the spring. Unfortunately, a lot of the things, a lot of the issues that people have in the spring when it comes to calving pretty much all of the issues that come to calving, whether it's scours or moms that are a little aggressive, it's something you fix by being with those cattle and fixing things year round so that things go well for just those two months.
Emily: So that they're used to you and that is a true statement for any livestock. Livestock in general, and especially cattle, whether beef or dairy, never completely trust them. Never have your back to them. Just those simple things like you were saying, Joe, make sure you have an out. Those are so important year-round. When it's spring and we're calving in all of that it's really important to be mindful of how you are behaving around the animals and how they're behaving around you. I always say livestock safety has two goals: we have to keep ourselves safe from the animals and we also need to keep the animals safe from us, because we can cause accidents with livestock just like they can cause them with us.
Joe: Absolutely. I'm hoping that Bradley has a good story because I'm wondering if he's ever had a cow on the dairy side go after him with the calves.
Bradley: Of course. There's always-- [crosstalk]
Emily: It shouldn't be always, Bradley, because you should have learned your lesson by now.
Bradley: Oh, well I always learn my lesson. That's right. I'm far more cautious now than probably I used to be when I was younger. When you're younger, you're invincible but definitely a lot more cautious now, story time with Brad. We're raising calves on cows. It's just like in the beef world, we have to be careful. Just because it's a dairy cow doesn't mean that she doesn't have the same motherly instincts that a beef cow does. We've had to watch our calves that are being raised on the cows and if we go in to make sure some of the cows are okay but there have been some that you just don't turn your back to because they might come after you.
These are cows that are seven, eight years old that have been milked many times and worked with a lot. They still have that motherly instinct when you put a calf on them. We got to be careful even with the dairy cows. Not just raising on if they have calves, you have always attentive to where you are in a pen of dairy animals because you never know when there's a boss cow or something that wants to come up and just headbutt you and all of a sudden you're laying on the ground and that's never good either. Always got to be careful and safe around livestock. Even if you think they're friendly, you always got to watch it.
Emily: Even those docile Morris cows, you do need to keep one eye on them [crosstalk] when they're in pasture.
Bradley: That's correct.
Joe: Even the friendliest cows sometimes are the worst for it. They want to rub on you and headbutt you. If you got one in heat, sometimes you get cows pretty excited and they're trying to mount you. That's dangerous. They're just too big to take lightly. Let's get away from cows. I know that's weird to say on this show, but let's talk.
Emily: One time only folks?
Joe: The only time ever. There's other things that happen in the spring. One of the things is a lot of people are working with augers and we always have to cover PTOs when we're talking about tractor safety. Let's go to augers first. Tell me what people should be watching for.
Emily: The biggest thing with augers is make sure they are functioning properly, get repairs done, do regular maintenance, and make sure there's a guard or a shield. Guards and shields have been added and thus been improved over time. If you have an old guard, consider getting a new one. This is something I will always harp on because of my family's history. As you're all aware, both my dad and my brother have lost limb in agricultural accidents and both of them involved machinery with augers that they got caught in. I take this very seriously. Guards, shields, they're fairly inexpensive and I guarantee you they're cheaper than a hospital bill for amputation.
I'm going to put soapbox away and go back. Guards are really important. Also, just like with driving, just general attentiveness, being aware. This also ties in with PTOs, being mindful of your clothing. If you have long hair, making sure it's tied back and you have a hat on because in both augers and PTOs, things can get caught and then you get pulled in and you can be injured, you can be killed. It's really, really serious. We've all seen the videos of the dummies stuffed with paper or straw being sucked into a PTO on a twined string. Those things, you can be wrapped up in six rotations completely and you know how fast those rotate. We're talking seconds.
Joe: That stuff's incredibly dangerous. I think what makes it even more dangerous to me is how used to it people are. They're around them all day every day, they grow up with them, and then all of a sudden, it's really easy to get complacent. A lot of what we're talking about today, and I see this happen with cattle too, people grow up with cattle, they've been around cattle their whole life, and then all of a sudden, they start to lose some of that caution. When they don't have that caution, you're just tempting fate every time. No different there. It sounds like we're close to adding another management topic which is just having the mindset of being situationally aware of what's going around you at all times and that's exhausting, I think.
Emily: For me, it ties back to having a culture of safety on your farm, where safety isn't this big massive effort that you're working on every day. It is just a part of every day. It's not this big, special, it's just safety is how we do things here. Back to the augers and the PTOs, another big, big one for me is do not walk over them. Do not step over them. I do not care if the tractor's off. I do not care if there's a guard or a shield, freak accidents happen. People always tell me, I do it all the time. I've done it a million times. All it takes is one time. That's what I tell people with all the safety stuff. You've done it a million times, but it only takes one time.
That's with any type of accident. We don't step over a PTO with the hope of there being an accident. Of course not, but take away that risk entirely by not stepping over it. that's something that I really try to practice on farm and around my family and remind people of. Even sometimes farmers are like, "Oh, that's okay, you can just step over that." I can just as easily walk around it too. Then setting that positive example and, again, just being that champion that advocate for those things just in the way we go about our day-to-day on the farm.
Joe: I've been trying to keep track of what we've been talking about today. I think we're just going to run down the checklist for basic spring maintenance or what you need to be thinking about for safety in the spring before we get out of here. Check your flashers. Make sure the bulbs are ready to go. Slow-moving signs, make sure they're on the piece of equipment that's farthest back for sure, but always have one on the tractor as well. Review for wither safety with especially your kids or your youth that are going to be working on the farm. They tend to go much faster than you do because they think they're invincible and young. Review all of that. Check all the guards on your augers and your PTOs. If you took them off, put them back on. If they're old, get new ones if you can. That's all.
Emily: If they're damaged, also get new ones.
Joe: Absolutely. Then perform routine maintenance on everything that you can as you go into planting season just to make sure everything's in working order. Then be situationally aware around all your livestock at all times. Don't completely trust anything even if it's a dairy cow. I think that's all we talked about today. Keep that in mind. Run through that checklist before you get going this spring.
Emily: Sounds great. So glad we have you around, Joe, to keep track of all the things that I rant about. I appreciate it.
Joe: I'm just trying to prove that I'm also listening.
Emily: Oh, I appreciate it. Likke Joe said, all those items, super important. I always give my little farm safety slogan which is slow down, think twice, be safe.
Joe: Perfect.
Bradley: Be safe out there. With that, we will make it a wrap this week.
Emily: All right.
Bradley: Thank you Emily for enlightening us about farm safety. Feel free to check us out anytime on the web. You can email us if you want to know more about farm safety or anything at--
Joe: Themoosroom@umn.edu and that's T-H-E-M-O-O-S-R-O-O-M@umn.edu.
Bradley: Check us out on Facebook, UMN Dairy and UMNBeef. Check us out on our Facebook--
Emily: You already said Facebook.
Bradley: I knew that I said it.
Emily: You can also find us on Twitter @UMNmoosroom and @UMNFarmSafety. We're also on YouTube U of M Extension, Farm Safety and Health and U of M Extension Beef and Dairy Teams.
Bradley: I also have an Instagram page. You can check me out, WCROCDaily, and learn what's happening at our dairy.
Joe: Perfect. I'll fix it later. Bye
Emily: Bye. Hey, Bradley. Say antibiotic.
Bradley: Antibiotic.
Emily: Antibiotic.
Bradley: My brain is frozen.
Emily: [unintelligible 00:20:18]
[00:20:22] [END OF AUDIO]
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