When it comes to the day-to-day tasks of managing cattle during the winter period, is your farm a safe working environment?

With shorter days, farmers are under pressure to get essential jobs completed during daylight hours. In the case of part-time farmers, routine jobs such as feeding cattle are normally carried out late in the evening when it is dark.

Tiredness can cause lapses in concentration and entice farmers to cut corners to get jobs finished. In both scenarios, accidents can easily happen.

Farm safety should be a major priority on every family farm, for your own safety and that of family members lending a hand.

Outlined are five areas to review in terms of safety levels on farm during the winter.

1. Machinery

Winter feeding sees machinery moving in and out of cattle sheds and silo pits every day. When machines are reversing during feeding tasks, the operator’s vision can be easily impaired.

Always check for people, obstructions and other machinery when reversing. Clean windows regularly and ensure machines have functioning wing mirrors.

If someone is helping to manually push in silage blocks, ensure they are always working in front of the tractor where they are more visible. Ideally, these people should be wearing a high-visibility vest.

If using a diet feeder, make sure the PTO shaft is properly guarded. When handling silage bales, make sure the spike is pointed into the ground when the tractor is parked.

2. Removing the silo cover

When possible, remove the silo cover during daylight. For part-time farmers, this may mean pulling back enough cover every Saturday to last the week.

Don’t worry too much about silage getting wet when the cover is removed. It is a safer option compared with clearing plastic late at night.

When climbing on to the pit, use a ladder placed which is firmly anchored. Having the ladder tied to a side rail will prevent ladders from falling over.

3. Lights

With so many jobs being completed in the evening, sheds should be fitted with good-quality lights both inside and outside.

LEDs greatly improve visibility, as well as being more energy efficient. Replace lights as necessary or install a couple more fittings to make sheds safer to work in.

4. Bedding cattle

On farms where cattle have straw lie-back areas, be careful when bedding animals. When dropping a new bale in the pen, cattle usually become much more active and seemingly 'playful'.

Animals can quickly turn aggressive, particularly cows with young calves or intensive-fed bulls, and the risk of an accident increases.

Pen cows on to slats as lie-back areas are bedded to reduce the risk if injury. Where this is not an option, offer fresh silage and meal to distract cattle before bedding animals.

5. Children

Farmyards are not playgrounds. If children are in the yard to help with the workload, make sure they are always within eyesight, particularly when machinery is being operated.

High-visible jackets are recommended when working in the evening and are always a good idea to improve the safety of the working environment.

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