Harvest Safety Considerations for 2024

BY Dairyland Seed Agronomy Team

2024 In Season

As we move forward into the busy harvest season, our Dairyland Seed agronomy team would like to remind you of a few safety concerns. Larger equipment, reduced sleep, less daylight, and more people around fields this time of year all lead to situations that pose risk of injury. Perhaps the best advice we can give is to take a few moments each day with your team to slow down, stop, and think about potential threats around you. Think about the fields you plan to harvest and what is around them, the roads/highways in which you will encounter traffic, and the people that may be around your equipment as you operate. Pay special attention to overhead powerlines and how to avoid them with combine augers and chopper spouts. Discuss hours of operation into the nights and reduced visibility conditions. Most importantly, watch out for family or friends that may be approaching you to visit…especially kids. The excitement of equipment and harvest can get to us all, but it is tenfold in our children. They tend to move quickly and not realize the danger around them!

In a large percentage of the Dairyland Seed footprint, we have experienced dry and warm conditions in September. With these drier conditions we are pushing our crops to harvest sooner than normal. Silage harvest is wrapping up in some areas and in full swing in others. In our southern territories we are seeing some soybeans and corn coming off the fields.

While the hot and dry weather is welcomed by some of us to finish out our crop, it poses some risk as we enter the fields with heat-generating equipment.

Listed below are some suggestions to avoid fire danger while harvesting in a drier environment:

Routine maintenance to ensure that all bearings and gear boxes are well lubricated to prevent heat buildups.
Fire Extinguishers: Have multiple working fire extinguishers on your equipment. One in the cab and another closer to the implement or trailer for easy access.
Crop Residue Build Up: Removing crop residue from the machine paying attention to the head or platform, feeder house, exhaust system as well as fans and spreaders. Utilizing a leaf blower or compressed air to remove the residue at night or during the day if it starts to build up, is a quick way to get through a dusty job.
Tillage Equipment: Having a disk or other implement hooked up and ready to go in case you need to create an area with little or no residue so the fire has no fuel to burn or the area that can burn is limited.
Water Truck: Having a water truck, full of water and ready to go, near or at the field you are working is a great tool to help limit a fire’s spread.
911 Address: Knowing the 911 address of fields for yourself and your employees will help expediate getting help to an equipment fire.

Lastly, taking the time to walk around your machine and removing residue that is in moving parts, or investigating that strange vibration or sound, goes a long way in preventing a fire in our drier environments.

We wish you a safe and bountiful harvest season!