Farm Safety

Farming is a very dangerous occupation, ranked 6^th in US (see below) and cattle farming has to be one of the most dangerous.  I personally know 2 farmers who got trampled by cattle and died.   So we make every effort to make things safer for us and our employees.  Prior to last year we tagged new born calves in the pasture as they were born.  Last year when I got to spend more time than normal on the farm and did most of the spring tagging myself I got reminded of how dangerous it can be.  A Momma cow wasn’t too happy with me grabbing her calf and chased me around our ATV and then tried to come through it.  It was about then that I said there has to be a better way. 

So we combined a calving method from out west that separates calves by age with our own thoughts.  Now every 2-3 weeks we bring a group of cows with their recently born calves to a barn.  We sort off the calves separately which is safe in a group setting.  Then we push the calves into a corner of the barn with gates.  The calves stay calm in a group like this and the mothers are 100’ away in a separate coral.  Then we can walk in with the calves and tag them, we can do 1 per minute with a couple of guys.  Then we let the calves into a bigger corral with water but keep them separate from their mommas for about 6 hours.  Then we put them back together and the calves go right to their mommas to get that milkshake they’ve been craving.  We then write down the calf ID for each momma.   

Finally we move the cow/calf pairs to a new fresh pasture and have a group that is all born in the same 2-3 week period.  So we can wean them at the right time and keep them healthy.  But the main benefit is keeping everyone safe, we have eliminated the most dangerous job on the farm. 

Most Dangerous Jobs in US

1) loggers; 2) fishers; 3) aircraft pilots and flight engineers; 4) roofers; 5) refuse and recycling collectors; 6) farmers, ranchers, and agricultural managers; 7) structural iron and steel workers; 8) truck drivers; 9) power line workers; and 10) taxi drivers and chauffeurs.