Machinery part of Penn State’s 2017 safety calendar

Oct 20, 2016

Each month highlights potential risks and improvements

By Diego Flammini
Assistant Editor, North American Content
Farms.com

The Penn State Extension Dairy Team and members of the school’s Agricultural Safety and Health Program have teamed up to create a calendar focused on safety around the farm.

Each month will highlight a specific farm hazard and offer suggestions on how to minimize the risks of injury.

The topics include power takeoff, tractor safety, horizontal silos, skid steers and electrical systems.

"A calendar is a great way to keep safety practices front and center for dairy farmers," said Dennis Murphy, Nationwide Insurance professor of agricultural safety and health, in a release. "It is an efficient way to remind dairy workers to keep safety in mind as they go about their daily work."

The calendar features check off lists of possible improvements to monitor safety throughout the year.

"Posting in a prominent area and holding monthly safety meetings to review key points are two ways for dairy managers to encourage safe habits in their workforce," said Lisa Holden, associate professor of dairy science in the Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences, in a release.

Calendars are being sold for $10 and are available through the Penn State Extension.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.