View From the Cab
Farmers Note Sobering Safety Challenges as Harvest Rolls
DECATUR, Ill. (DTN) -- A movie changed how Quint Pottinger approaches farm safety on Affinity Farms. Sure, he was aware of the dangers of the profession. But the opportunity to have on-farm scenes for the moving picture, Silo, filmed on his New Haven, Kentucky, farm made the realities of grain entrapment so real that it forever changed how he and his team work together.
"It became clear that we needed to do a better job in many aspects of our operations -- not just working around grain bins," said Pottinger. "Top of that list is communication and knowing where we are always -- that goes for every person that steps foot on this farm."
This time of year, especially during harvest, the temptation to run faster ratchets up. This week Pottinger and his farm crew launched into shelling corn just as Hurricane Francine threatened to deliver rainfall.
"Sometimes our rules about not taking shortcuts or having multiple people available to do a job to be safe requires that we must stop and wait and be patient," Pottinger said. "That's easier to do when we're all on the same page and have a common understanding as to why we are taking these steps."
In other words, the goal is: "Don't learn safety by accident." That's also the theme of this year's National Farm Safety and Health Week, which runs Sept. 15-21.
Tractors move. Power-takeoffs (PTO) can entangle. Power lines hover. Traffic snarls. Cattle kick. Working safe without being overwhelmed is a challenge.
Unfortunately, the topic is raw for Dan Lakey, of Soda Springs, Idaho. This week several tragic incidents in his area served as cruel reminders that life is often fragile.
Lakey and Pottinger have been reporting in since May on crop conditions and other rural issues as part of DTN's View From the Cab feature. This is the 20th installment in the series.
Read on to learn more about harvest prospects and some of their thoughts on managing safety and health.
DAN LAKEY: SODA SPRINGS, IDAHO
Frost, and the possibility of that other white stuff -- snow -- was pushing all of Lakey's buttons this week. With most of his specialty crops harvested, the top priority has turned to getting 640 acres of durum wheat out of the field.
"If it gets much rain after it gets ripe, durum will bleach and becomes unacceptable to the processor," said Lakey. Loss of premium means cutting the expected price by 50%, he added.
The fields were set back by a late-June frost. "They should have been ripe by now, but there's still a lot of green in them. We expect the durum to yield poorly but should get into some nice spring wheat and malt barley after that," he said.
Lakey had expected yields to be dinged after the beating they've taken from drought, frost and hail, but has discovered some have been hit harder than he thought. After waiting for rain all summer, it showed up in September when he'd rather have a dry spell. The only good reason for a rain right now is to give winter wheat and canola a good start.
DTN Ag Meteorologist John Baranick noted that deep troughs have been digging into the region and while showers haven't been as frequent as the pattern would suggest, it has brought in some cold air at times.
"Another one of these troughs dove in over the weekend (Sept. 14), but pushed farther south, into California. That may grab some more moisture from the Pacific than previous ones and bring some rain through the area for the front half of the week and I wouldn't be completely surprised by a few showers at the end of the week. That's a colder trough and temperatures likely stay in the 50s (Fahrenheit) in the afternoon with risks of frost at night, especially when skies are likely to clear out more later in the week," Baranick said.
Weather often puts the hurry into harvest in this part of southeastern Idaho. Moving equipment on busy highways requires patience for both farmers and motorists.
Only weeks ago, the farm crew was negotiating local town traffic when a combine axle broke and a tire fell off in the middle of an intersection.
Road time is a given for Lakey Farms as fields are stretched over some 50 miles. What complicates matters is some of those roads are twisty and hilly and involve scenic byways popular for reaching destinations such as Jackson Hole (Wyoming) and Yellowstone National Park.
"Meeting a rental car or a tour bus on top of one of those hills in a combine or tractor has required hitting the ditch multiple times," Lakey said. "People will sometimes stop in the middle of the road to take pictures or watch us, which is another safety concern."
Take those road signs that cattle roam freely here as gospel, too. This is open-range country and cattle have the right-of-way.
Trailering headers is a must when traversing the state highways, Lakey added. Driving defensively is the order of the day and being hyper aware isn't always hyper enough.
Combine fires are also a constant concern in this drought-prone region. "We've had bearing fires that we've been able to catch and extinguish before they got out of hand. It's a huge fear of mine -- we've had some close calls, but never lost an entire machine," he said.
Keeping fire extinguishers charged and available is key. "We purchased an offset disk this year as a fire tool and need to work on something that can be taken to the field to put a fire out -- some sort of tank and cannon setup is what I'm thinking," he said.
This year has been a struggle to keep upbeat when weather seems to keep throwing curve balls at each corner. Harvest coincides with fall seeding of small grains and that can make for some long days.
"I keep going with lots of caffeine. But it seriously is a struggle this time of year," he admitted. "I will get out of my machine and adjust or check something if I've been in the cab for too long just to stretch my legs and wake up. There's always something that can be fixed, such as a knife section or guard and you can always clean a radiator or blow off an engine bay."
QUINT POTTINGER: NEW HAVEN, KENTUCKY
What was he thinking? About two months ago, Pottinger decided to cut back on caffeine. The first big day of harvest, he started to question whether he was going to be able to hold the line on coffee and energy drink consumption.
"I realized that too much caffeine was just making my mind worry about stuff that I didn't need to worry about," he said. "Better to grab a water or something else in the afternoon. But those first big days were a struggle."
There's plenty to think about. Pottinger would welcome some rain. The U.S. Drought Monitor is starting to turn darker colors where he farms. "Our double-crop soybeans don't have a chance if they don't get moisture this weekend," he said.
Baranick noted that Francine didn't produce the expected rainfall for Pottinger's immediate area. "It appears a lot of that gets pushed southward this weekend and stays there through next week.
"However, we are watching a little thing off the Carolina coast that could turn tropical next week," Baranick said. "No confidence whatsoever in how that develops or where it tracks, but some models bring it westward that could mean some showers for Kentucky later in the week. Otherwise, it stays dry and warm. Temperatures will likely be in the mid-80s if there aren't any showers around."
The farm crews chewed through most of the early, dry corn this week. "It wasn't as bad as we thought it would be in June, but not as good as the 165 to 170 (bushel per acre) I was hoping for in July. It's coming in at the 155 (bpa) mark on average," Pottinger said.
A fungicide trial has him scratching his head somewhat. The 50 acres treated with Xyway 3D hit 180 bpa. Last year a similar trial showed no advantage. The fungicide offers protection from gray leaf spot, Northern corn leaf blight and other foliar diseases.
"Perhaps it held it back long enough to get it through pollination at a different time. We're just not sure," he said.
Planting conditions this spring led Pottinger to expect yield variations, but ear length has been noticeably inconsistent in the same field. This week he had one late-April planted field left to be harvested and it was running 27% moisture.
"I had one field that I planted early May that I shouldn't have planted. Everything else was planted after May 20. It looks dry, but it hasn't black layered yet and is still around 34%," he said on Sept. 12.
While others may get in a big fizz to finish harvest, Affinity Farms aims to work at a measured pace. Managing the storage at the farm helps monitor that workflow. "We're always carrying old crop grain," he explained, noting the on-demand deliveries to the distillery portion of their business.
While they've considered upgrading dryer capacity, the 60 acres per day the current system can handle fits with the farm's operating formula. After a full morning of work, the crew stops to eat lunch together at the same time each day. "We go through our plans for the rest of the day and figure how to be done by 6:00 p.m. so everyone can get home, enjoy their family and get some sleep," Pottinger said.
He looks at the work plan like a math problem. "We fit the number of acres we have with how much time it takes to dry it and we have six weeks to harvest. That's in our window," Pottinger said. Fitting soybeans into that period works too, even though the days tend to be shorter. Running two headers at the same time and no required drying keeps things flowing.
Pottinger still remembers the many cautions his parents stressed when he began working around grain bins in his youth. But it wasn't until he started managing employees and the Silo movie was filmed on the farm that he began to internalize the need for more safety measures.
"It reshaped how I think about everything we do," he said. For example, they revamped some entrances to fields to make them safer. The narrow winding roads of central Kentucky are difficult to navigate. They prefer to use a flag vehicle in the front and back of machinery convoys.
Two years ago, the farm had a field of rye ignite during harvest. While all equipment was saved, it was a wake-up call. "Now we check each day for scar marks; scorch marks on bearings and are looking at the rub marks on the headers," he said.
With conditions this dry, Pottinger is especially concerned about combine fires in soybean fields. "The biggest challenge, though, is in straw during the summer when it is dry and windy," he said.
When it comes to grain bins at Affinity Farms, no one is allowed to enter a bin without another person outside the bin. If a bin is being entered where the grain is deeper than the 6 feet or the shortest person entering the bin, that person must be in a harness and tied off from the roof. The farm has additional rules on how to enter a bin with a sweep. Employees are trained on all procedures.
Pottinger credits Dale Dobson, safety administrator for the Kentucky Department of Agriculture and a former firefighter and farmer, as the inspiration for much of the safety awareness in the state. Dobson is also one of the inventors of the Turtle Tube rescue devices depicted in the film and used in real life to extract those trapped in grain.
Pottinger's local fire department is now outfitted with these rescue tubes. Plus, area service organizations and individuals worked together to purchase the next step in extraction called the Great Wall of Rescue.
In the Silo movie, a teenage boy becomes buried inside a grain bin. As corn becomes quicksand, the locals work together to save him. How agriculture came together after the release of the film to address grain bin safety has been heartening for Pottinger. "The movie has helped educate a lot of people and make us all better prepared," he said.
For more information on the film, Silo, go to: www.silothefilm.com
Read DTN's coverage of the film: https://www.dtnpf.com/…
For safety resources and more information on The National Agricultural Center for Agriculture Safety and National Farm Safety and Health Week, go to: https://www.necasag.org/…
Pamela Smith can be reached at pamela.smith@dtn.com
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