Facility design is a process of compromise, a study of available choices and their consequences. A challenge is to understand the full consequences of inevitable compromises to avoid surprises later on. Steps in the decision-making process are i) know and understand the options, ii) examine consequences of each, and iii) arrive at a compromise.

For example, udder preparation procedures prior to milking have a direct bearing on parlor selection. A minimal routine improves parlor throughput. But, a full pre-milking hygiene routine may be beneficial to udder health, milk quality and milk flow rate, requiring more time and slowing throughput. Because work routine impacts the size of parlor selected for a particular labor force, the decision about udder preparation routine must be a deliberate decision, made after weighing the pros and cons of each choice and understanding the full consequences of each option. Parlor selection follows.

Selecting facilities for calves from the age of birth to weaning is another example. A calf hutch that is clean and dry with ample amounts of dry bedding is a desirable option. From an environmental view, the benefits of a calf hutch are:

• No contact between calves (reduces spread of disease)

• Well-ventilated (air inside hutch is similar to outdoor air)

• Adequate space (keeping bedding dry is easier)

• Can move to a clean spot (breaks a potential disease cycle).
  

The calf hutch is the gold standard for calf housing. Thus, before making a decision to choose something else, consider the attributes listed above. Losing an attribute places the calf in jeopardy—the more attributes lost, the greater the jeopardy.

Yet another example of compromise involves facilities for cows during the period of time surrounding calving, a time very critical to the success of a high-producing dairy herd. The management practices to be followed during this time have profound consequences and lasting impact on animal performance. Recommendations for facilities at time of calving that appear in the literature are consistent and straightforward:

• Place a cow in an individual pen before calving

• Provide an environment that is clean, dry and well ventilated.
  

These recommendations are very clear. Yet, cows calve under less desirable conditions on some farms. Why? Perhaps the labor requirement is thought excessive. Perhaps the cost of a facility that would allow implementing a recommendation is perceived as too high. Perhaps, because the farmer is not aiming for exceptionally high milk yields, risk to cow health is of less concern.

A systematic decision-making process is essential to successful dairy management. Choices are made on the basis of best available information regarding consequences and their costs. This process is the conceptual basis for facility design

NEW FARM RESCUE PUBLICATION

Rural firefighters, emergency medical personnel, and rescue squads need specialized training and preparation to respond to farm-related injuries, entrapments, fires, and chemical incidents. Farm Rescue: Responding to Incidents and Emergencies in Agricultural Settings, NRAES-10, describes the most common farm emergencies in which rescue, extrication, or other emergency response may be needed. The information will enable rescuers to approach a farm rescue with more confidence and a greater awareness of the risks involved. Responders to emergencies say having a better understanding of what to expect when responding to a farm emergency is important, not only for the welfare of the victims, but also for the safety of those providing assistance. This handbook identifies potential hazards to the victims and responders.

The publication discusses introductory topics such as organization of the rescue team, general rescue procedures, and contacting help. Another section provides detailed information about tractor overturns, power takeoff driveline (PTO) entanglements, hydraulically operated equipment failures, mixer-wagon and self-unloading wagon entanglements, auger and elevator entanglements, electrocution, and harvesting equipment injuries and emergencies.

Other sections cover grain entrapments, silo incidents (gas exposures, unloader entrapments, and fires), and emergencies involving manure storage sites and facilities. A chapter on farm chemical exposures, fires, and spills discusses exposure to anhydrous ammonia, agricultural chemical fires, and pesticide exposure and spills. The book concludes with a chapter covering farm animal incidents, which discusses animal-related injuries and rescue procedures.

The book includes three appendices: rescue tool inventory guidelines, agricultural operator control symbols, and follow-up training and suggested readings. Eighty-seven illustrations supplement the text.

The 1999 version of Farm Rescue: Responding to Incidents and Emergencies in Agricultural Settings is a complete revision of Farm Accident Rescue, which has sold more than 136,000 copies since 1980. The previous version has been used as a training manual for agricultural safety programs throughout the United States and Canada. The revised form should continue to be a valuable resource for years to come.

The book sells for $8.00 and is available from Nancy Aitcheson, Plan Service Secretary, Agricultural Engineering Department, Farrall Hall, MSU, East Lansing, 48824, 517-353-3297. A no-cost office copy is also available from Nancy.

Howard Doss

I hope and pray that everyone who reads Hoard's Dairyman will listen to the lesson this story teaches. It is the story of a good family farmer turned extension agent who died because of our failure to buy a $700 piece of safety equipment.

On July 25, 1999, my father, James Michael Barrett, was killed when one of our older tractors rolled on top of him – killing him instantly. If only we had equipped this tractor with a roll bar and seat belt, he may have survived.

If you currently own a tractor without a roll bar and seat belt, please put a roll bar on your tractor. This goes for other missing safety equipment – safety shields, lights, slow-moving vehicle signs, and so on.

Oh, I know we all have a thousand excuses: "It costs too much," "We don't have the time," or "We'll do that later when we get this job done." Let me tell you, folks, sometimes later doesn't come. It can happen to anyone.

My dad farmed all his life and was a full-time dairy farmer for six years. He became an Ohio State extension agent for agriculture in 1988, and I became a full-time dairy farmer in May of 1997.

If you love your family and don't want to put them through this agony, please update your safety equipment– especially tractor roll bars and seat belts. The time and money spent will be well worth it – a limitless return per dollar spent.

We all get caught up in making a living on the farm. Remember to live a little bit. Take breaks, time off for lunch, and quit early every once in a while. No amount of money can ever bring my dad back. Don't let a preventable, careless accident take away the life of a love one. Life is too precious.

J. J. Barrett, Ohio

Each county extension office is being sent a copy of the latest edition of "A Guide to Agricultural Tractor Rollover Protective Structures". Keep this copy to answer the question: "Can my tractor be retrofitted with a ROPS frame or cab?

Howard Doss

A national conference, "Dairy Housing and Equipment Systems", will be held February 1-3, 2000, in Harrisburg, PA, sponsored by NRAES. The conference is designed for a diverse group of agricultural and industry professionals, including dairy farm owners and managers; advisors and consultants; builders and facility designers; extension and university educators and researchers, equipment suppliers, etc.

The conference program includes sessions on cow comfort, decisions and management; planning new facilities; system management; environmental control for cow comfort; freestall design and management; facilities management and health; designing and managing the feed area; and special cow needs and management. Panel discussions and a trade show will supplement the numerous presentations.

For more information or a conference brochure, contact NRAES at (607) 255-7654 or NRAES@CORNELL.EDU. A web site is WWW.NRAES.ORG.

Bill Bickert

According to a news clip, two farm workers, ages 18 and 19, were killed on September 30, 1999, after entering a silo on a Sanilac County farm. The article indicated that the silo was filled and closed about five days before it was re-opened by the two workers. Silo gas was the cause of death as well as the injuries that were caused to three rescue workers during the recovery of the victims.

Safety Tip: Treat all silos as a potential threat for silo gas exposure. The highest concentrations of silo gas (nitrogen dioxide plus other oxides of nitrogen) usually develop within 48 hours after the silo has been filled. No one should enter a silo for four to six weeks after filling. Always consider every filled silo as a potential health threat regardless of the crop put into the silo or the crop year.

Whenever the silo is entered by the farmer/owner, even in the winter months, the silo filler blower should be run for at least 30 minutes. Even with this practice, silo gas could still be present inside the silo, especially in a low area or pocket on the surface of the silage. Farm managers must make sure that employees follow the rules for entering a "confined space" containing potentially hazardous gases as defined by the Michigan Department of Industry and Consumer Services.

Anyone exposed to silo gas should seek medical attention, regardless of the degree of exposure. Silo gas damages the respiratory system when nitrogen dioxide combines with the moisture in the lungs to form nitric acid.

Howard Doss

On September 16, 1999, two passengers in a farm wagon being pulled by a farm tractor on a public road in Mecosta County were struck by a car near dusk. One victim was air lifted to a regional medical trauma center and the other victim was transported by EMS to a local hospital according to an MSUE supplied news clip.

Safety Tip: Optional red tail lights are now just beginning to appear on some new farm equipment along with the new, highly reflective marking tapes to show the outboard edges of farm equipment. Retrofit lighting kits are available for farm equipment and farm wagons.

A SMV emblem is required on the tractor also. If not visible when you attach equipment, a second SMV should be attached at the proper height and centrally located on the attached farm equipment.

Lights must be used from a half hour after sunset to a half hour before sunrise, or when visibility is reduced to less than 5000 ft. (Michigan Compiled Laws 257.684). Also, an escort vehicle can follow a farm implement without lights behind the unit not more than 50 ft. with headlights on the escort vehicle that illuminates the implement of husbandry.

Last year we had about 280 farm equipment traffic crashes on Michigan public roads.

Howard Doss

Everything around us (including us) emits electromagnetic energy (assuming they are at temperatures above absolute zero). However, much of this is at wavelengths outside the visible band. Sunlight is important in remote sensing. The spectral reflectance of soil is controlled primarily by four variables:

• moisture content – water absorbs energy primarily in the NIR band; research has also shown that well drained soils are more reflective in all wavelengths

• organic matter content – soil reflectance will decrease as organic matter increases; dark soils (low reflectance) are higher in organic matter than the lighter, sandy (higher reflectance) soils

• particle size distribution – large diameter particles have more surrounding air space, which acts as a "light trap"; assuming the other soil factors are equal, the finer particle sizes exhibit greater reflectance

• iron oxide content – exhibits a broad absorption feature centered at 900 nm; organic matter and iron oxide content are the two most important soil properties affecting the spectral responses of eroded soils

It is important to note that much of this reflectance is from a shallow layer on the surface of the soil. Remote sensing of soils depending on the reflection of sunlight gives little clue to the sub-surface characteristics of the field.

Roger Brook – Abstracted from The Physical Basis of Remote Sensing
by Dr. David Lusch, Center for Remote Sensing & GISci, Michigan State University

Agricultural Engineering Extension Faculty

William G. Bickert. Livestock Facilities and Environment.
Roger C. Brook. Handling, Storage and Drying of Agricultural Products; Computer Applications in Agriculture.
Howard J. Doss. Safety Leader for Michigan Cooperative Extension Service; Agricultural Safety Specialist.
Daniel E. Guyer. Post-Harvest Storage and Handling and Value-Added Processes for Fruit and Vegetables; Machine Vision and Pattern Recognition.
Timothy M. Harrigan. Forage and Field Crop Power and Machinery. Ag Expo Chairman.
Richard L. Ledebuhr. Fruit and Vegetable Mechanization. Chemical application equipment.
Theodore L. Loudon. On-Site Wastewater Treatment; Agricultural Water Quality Impacts; Irrigation; Drainage; Livestock Waste.
Howard L. Person. Livestock Facilities; Environmental Control; Management Of Manure and Organic Residues.
Robert D. von Bernuth. Irrigation and Water Management; Coordinator, Animal Waste Management Programs. 

Nancy Aitcheson - Plan Service Secretary, Co-Editor
William Bickert - Extension Agricultural Engineer, Co-Editor