Tips for a safe silage harvest: Part 2

Things to keep in mind during the frantic nature of harvest time

 

When many of us think of harvest we think of both chaos and long days. The difficult task of getting machinery, people, and crops all on the same page. It is far from an easy job. This article will have several reminders to keep in mind during the frantic nature of harvest time.

One of the first things that should be on your mind is only having experienced people operating equipment. These environments are full of large, fast moving machinery. Experienced operators at the helm of harvest equipment will ensure a safe and fast harvest when time is of the essence. Now is also the time to make sure all harvest machinery has both ROPS (rollover protective structures) and seatbelts to ensure the safety of both yourself and your fellow operators. These pieces of safety equipment will literally save your life and should be operational anytime your machinery is used.

Requiring equipment operators to remain in their vehicles can minimize risks and prevent them from being run over. Also consider if one or more dump trucks is being used to haul silage around the horizontal bunker, establish a procedure before making the pile to minimize risk of collisions. This procedure will encourage mindfulness and patience by all on site in this fast-paced environment. Another tip is to have workers wear brightly colored safety vests or t-shirts to increase their visibility in or around the work zone.

Construction and harvest machinery is also infamous for being fascinating to children’s and visitors. Make sure to keep visitors and children out of all farm work zones. It is also important that children should never be allowed in the silage making area. A good rule of thumb for safety around a silage pile is that adults should not be closer to the silage face than three times the piles height. For example, if the pile is 15ft high you should be no closer than 45ft from the front of the pile. These practices will promote a safe environment for farm members and staff.

Harvest is an exciting and turbulent time on any operation. A season’s work, and patience is gathered to feed livestock high quality feed. Use the tips shared in this article to allow your family and employees to have a safe season. The information for the above article was from Penn State (https://extension.psu.edu/horizontal-silo-safety) and South Dakota State University (https://z.umn.edu/SDSUSilageMakingSafety). Residents of Stearns, Benton, and Morrison counties can direct questions to either my email (adam1744@umn.edu) or call my desk phone at (320) 255-6169 x 3.

Click here to read Part 1.