Spring truly feels like it is here to stay with the mild weather conditions and spring showers. As I make my travels I can’t help but notice how ahead the season truly is, pastures are growing, trees are budding, babies are being born, wild flowers beginning to bloom and the smell of fresh cut lawns fill the air.
Soon farmers will be hitting the field planting a new seed of hope for the 2023 growing season. Springtime is a very busy time for farmers, from planting corn, making hay, and delivering newborn livestock, farmers are constantly faced with many health and safety risks. The week of March 27 – 31 wass dedicated as Grain Safety Week. March is a very popular month to wrap up grain deliveries, this means many producers will need to enter storage facilities to clean out grain that the augers and mechanical cleaner cannot reach. Thoroughly cleaning grain facilities is a critical step to avoid spoiled grain, pest harboring, and damage to the grain facilities. To clean, many managers will enter the storage facility to sweep, blow, or shovel grain out. Grain storage facilities propose many physical and long-lasting health risk to producers. Dust, mold spores, false floors from bridged grain, or risk of entrapment from flowing grain are all major risk involved in entering a grain storage facility during the cleanout process. Here are a few steps you can take to safely deliver your last bit of grain to the market this spring.
1. Never work alone- always have someone close by to call for help, observe, or pull you to safety by use of harnesses.
2. Wear properly fitting clothes- avoid wearing loose fitting clothing, jewelry, secure long hanging hair.
3. Lockout tag out- make sure all guards, electrical wires, boxes and other moving parts are properly locked and shields are in place.
4. Train family- Make sure family members know safety steps and practices. Review an emergency action plan with family and employees, making a emergency contact list is very helpful, allowing EMS to get to the farm faster potentially saving a life in case of an accident.
5. Were the proper PPE- This can be hard at times, but it is a must- silo fillers disease and green lung is no laughing matter. Wearing properly fitted respirator, mask, safety glasses, and some situation safety harnesses are a must.
At the end of the day, farming will always be a very dangerous occupation but by following safety steps, taking your time, and always having someone standing by to help in case of emergencies. Stay safe emptying the bins this spring so you can fill them again this fall!
Other information:
· Deadline to enroll in General Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) is April 7. Call your local Farm Service Agency for assistance.
· Crop Revenue Loss Assistance though the second phase of Emergency Relief Program (ERP), deadline is June 2. To learn more, call your Local Farm Service Agency.
· April 10, Adams County Farm Bureau Public policy meeting, 8 a.m. at Frisch’s Restaurant back meeting room, 11157 State Route 41, West Union.
· Ag Educator Words of encouragement – “If you eat you are involved in agriculture”. Wendell Berry