Farm Safety

We are in that tough phase between decent residue grazing and great stockpile grazing. It is the hardest time of the year for grazing management.

Mark Seib, a grain farmer in southern Indiana, has finished soybean harvest and is closing in on corn.

Warm, dry weather is helping farmers in northern Illinois to quickly harvest corn and soybeans with little need to run the crops through a dryer prior to storage.

We hosted a farm and mill tour as part of our county’s Farm Stroll. The local University of Illinois Extension office coordinates the day with small farms and more in Boone County participating.

Between harvest and preparing for the state corn-husking competition, From the Fields contributor Clay Geyer has a busy October ahead of him.

Will we someday return to a more diversified Midwest agriculture economy incorporating livestock into row crop operations?

A garden tool that will be making an appearance in many yards and gardens can also help prevent combine fires.

Harvest is in full swing for Mark Seib, a grain farmer from Posey County in the southwestern corner of Indiana.

Corn harvest started on the Rahn farm at the middle of September, which is typical for them.

The mill is buzzing with activity to prepare some of our fiber for sale and complete customer orders. We make felted batts from our Scottish Blackface wool.

Motorists should be alert and stay patient on the roads during harvest season, Indiana State Department of Agriculture leaders advised.

You are so much more important than any crop you will ever harvest. Don’t get in a mad rush. Don’t cut corners.

As summer presses onward, From the Fields contributor Mark Seib continues balancing farm and family life.

National Farm Safety and Health Week will be observed Sept. 15-21 this year. The theme, “Don’t Learn Safety by Accident,” encourages people to take a proactive approach to safety education.

Many farmers quietly struggle with mental health and are reluctant to ask for help. If you or someone you know needs help, reach out to the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988.

Small steps go a long way when it comes to protecting your cows, employees and neighbors against H5N1.

As summer pushes onward, Mark Seib continues raising his crops in southern Indiana, where growth progress is good and the weather has been a wild card.

Illini FS and Growmark continue their long-term partnership with Historic Farm Days as the official fuel suppliers to keep the vintage equipment running.

The race to keep up with grass growth is about to start here. The sheep and cattle are now content with the rye and volunteer wheat, saving on the hay supply.

No matter a farm’s size, it’s important for farmers to be mindful of their responsibilities when hiring young workers.

Alongside the benefits of young people working on farms, there are also risks — especially when youth are assigned jobs beyond their capabilities.

It wasn’t that long ago that harvest was in full swing on our farm. Our dryland and irrigated field corn had all been picked and the only thing left was cornstalks and a lot of dry organic material that kicked out the back end of a combine.

Tim Gauck is the new president of the Indiana Corn Marketing Council, the state’s corn checkoff program.

A free agricultural safety resource called “Tools of the Trade” provides information for farmers and others trying to create a safe workplace. It includes an online collection of video demonstrations and handouts.

I hope you all enjoyed Thanksgiving with family and friends. I hope you had the opportunity to take some time to relax and reenergize your mind and body. I hope you allowed yourself some time to rest.

Once the harvest season wraps up, the off-season is a good time to focus on farm shop projects to get ready for next season.

This morning suddenly feels like late fall. If they are going to get the beans cut, it needs to stop the misting and sprinkles — although we are already at the point where the beans are getting too dry.

We have not received any real precipitation since we started chopping corn, so the dusty roads have been an issue, but on the flip side we haven’t had the chain hooked to trucks yet.

ATV-related injuries and fatalities are increasing, according to experts at Virginia Tech. An average of 500 persons die and another 100,000 are seriously injured each year while operating ATVs.

National Farm Safety and Health Week was themed “No one can take your place.” This annual promotion by the National Safety Council has been proclaimed by each U.S. president since Franklin Roosevelt.

A milling company has agreed to plead guilty to federal charges that employees at a Wisconsin corn plant falsified records in the years leading up to a fatal corn dust explosion.

One of the most rewarding aspects of my role is the chance to see how farmers are developing and implementing new innovative solutions as we work together to feed, fuel and clothe the world.

It has been a challenging year for many farmers, making harvest for many more stressful than usual across much of the Midwest. More farm accidents happen when those crops are coming out of the fields than at any other time of the year.

Last year saw a roughly 40% increase in the number of reported cases nationwide involving agricultural confined spaces, according to a report recently released by Purdue University.

Farmers will soon be getting their combines ready for the harvest season. Justin Render, senior product specialist for Kinze Manufacturing, said it’s also important to perform basic maintenance on grain carts.

Illinois AgrAbility will host a health and safety tent Aug. 29-31 at the Farm Progress Show in Decatur. The aim is to provide resources to farmers, as well as access to free screenings and services.

Slow down! If there’s one thing that Craig Long, who directs safety and security at the Half Century of Progress Show, wants to get across to everyone attending the event, it’s to slow down.

There was a 40.7% increase in the number of reported cases involving agricultural confined spaces last year, according to the 2022 Summary of U.S. Agricultural Confined Space-Related Injuries and Fatalities report.

The 1908 belt-driven sawmill will be cutting logs into planks each day July 13-16 during the Historic Farm Days.

A fire and explosion at a dairy farm in the Texas Panhandle that injured one person and killed an estimated 18,000 head of cattle was an accident that started with an engine fire in a manure vacuum truck cleaning part of the massive barn.

The number in the headline was practically unbelievable: “About 18,000 cattle are killed in fire at dairy farm in Texas,” reported the New York Times on April 13.

A grassy lane rutted with tire tracks leads to Volodymyr Zaiets’ farm in southern Ukraine. He is careful, driving only within those shallow grooves — veering away might cost him his life in the field dotted with explosive mines.

Free propane safety guidelines are now available through the Propane Education and Research Council.

Life is often marked by a series of defining events: graduations, marriage, the birth of a child or grandchild, or in our case the day our 2-year-old son, Scott, was run over by a tractor.

After the revelation that Packers Sanitation Services Inc. had illegally hired at least 102 teenagers to clean some of the nation’s most profitable industrial meatpacking plants, one child at the center of the story has “watched her whole life unravel.”

It only takes 20 seconds to become fully engulfed in a bin of flowing grain. It takes 3.5 hours, on average, to extract someone from a grain bin.

The annual summary recording nationwide grain dust bin explosions reported nine incidents in 2022.

Sleep deficiency is a public health problem, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

An estimated 100,000 hens died in a fire at a Connecticut farm owned by one of the country’s largest egg producers, officials confirmed.

Changes in weather can create unexpected changes in surfaces — which means an increased chance for slips, trips, falls and wrecks. Linda Emanuel, community health director at AgriSafe Network, shared a blog about the importance of preparing for weather changes.