MACHINERY

Oh, Deer — What A Day on the Farm!

Fri, 22 Nov 2024 19:28:00 GMT

Deer are both majestic and maddening. They make for an exciting pursuit during hunting season, but they also wreak havoc on vehicles, tires and fields.

With approximately 36 million deer in the U.S., those who call rural America home know deer-vehicle collisions are common, especially in October, November and December. Based on this November 2022 study , around 2.1 million deer-vehicle collisions occur annually, causing more than $10 billion in economic losses.

According to State Farm annual analysis , the top 10 states for animal collision, of which deer are the leading cause, are:

West Virginia
Montana
Michigan
Pennsylvania
Wisconsin
Mississippi
Iowa
South Dakota
Virginia
Rhode Island

A Farm Journal reader shared this run-in with a buck.

Deer – semi collision

(Farm Journal)

The Buck Stops Here
In addition to vehicle damage, unsuspecting tractor tires are often no match for deer sheds hiding in fields. Can you relate to these photos shared by fellow farmers?

Deer shed in tire

(Farm Journal)

Deer shed in tire

(Farm Journal)

Deer sheds in tires

(Farm Journal)

If you’ve had one of those horrible, no good, very bad days, or captured someone else’s, share it with Farm Journal. Whether you picked up a deer shed or sunk a piece of machinery in a mudhole, email images to whataday@farmjournal.com.

Shoo Deer — Not In My Field

Deer are a real pest when they graze, trample and bed down in crop fields. Depending on your crop’s stage, this can have economic consequences.

“Deer will feed on immature corn tassel tissue in the whorl during mid- to late-June and also on developing ears in early- to mid-August at the milk stage,” says Bob Nieslen, a retired Purdue University Extension corn specialist. “The decapitated plants usually survive, and ear development will continue through pollination and on to maturity, though the ears are usually less than full size.”

Thieves In Search of Antler Treasure
Awaiting the annual guarantee of antler drop in late winter or early spring, thieves hop private property lines to steal from those who manage. Lust or greed, the lure of shed treasure is a powerful pull to the public, despite purple paint, posted signs and fences.

Whitetail legend Steve Snow is on alert for shed poachers. Like a hot-nose coonhound, he zigzags through timber looking for fresh boot prints — the telltale sign someone is up to no good.

Snow is in hot pursuit of stolen sheds — a dose of frontier justice.

READ: Monster Deer Madness: Iowa Farmer Nabs Antler Thieves, Busts Multistate Shed Ring

Monster Buck Finds Its Way Back Home
Speaking of thieves, when 14-year-old Dave Richmond’s monster buck was stolen , he never gave up hope finding the spectacular rack. Following 14 years of cold-nosing dead-end trails, Richmond was stunned to receive an anonymous message: “I know where your deer is.”

Dumbfounded, Richmond was unable to accept the claim: “Impossible. Just no way. I figured it had to be someone pranking me.”

Two days later, he received a second message, along with an unmistakable photo.

“The picture told it all,” Richmond says. “I was looking at my deer.”

Welcome to a tale of deceit trumped by the enduring faith of a 14-year-old.

Dave Richmond recovers stolen deer antlers

(Photo by Whitetail Obsession Outdoors)

READ: Monster Buck Antlers Stolen from Teen Deer Hunter Recovered After 14 Years

Leap of Faith As Farmer Miraculously Escapes Burning Chopper

Wed, 20 Nov 2024 14:44:37 GMT

Burn in fire or die by electrocution? Stranded on the catwalk of a corn chopper engulfed in flames and wrapped in the deafening hum of 140,000 volts, J.P. Koop leaped into a crackling halo of current. Crashing into a smoking row of freshly cut stalks on super-heated ground, Koop’s body went to jelly on impact, electricity surging through his limbs. On hands and knees, the Michigan farmer made the crawl of his life—a bid to escape a deathtrap.

His incredible survival has no room for chance, Koop insists. Five hours prior, his crew sought protection: “We prayed for safety. We asked God to watch over us with full expectation that He’d meet our genuine need. That’s exactly what happened and I’m here to bear witness because there is no other explanation.”

Walk The Wire

On a Thursday morning, Sept. 12, 2024, Lucky 7 Dairy, helmed by Koop, approached harvest kickoff: corn was ready. Featuring 3,000 acres of light, fertile soil and 2,000 Holsteins set in the hilly topography of upper Michigan’s Missaukee County, Lucky 7 prepared for an ideal day of fieldwork: bright and breezy, low humidity, and a high expected in the upper 70s.

Just before tucking into a homemade breakfast, roughly 14 members of the harvest team—truck and tractor operators—gathered beside the Lucky 7 shop for a safety meeting and final emphasis on awareness. At the conclusion, Koop asked neighboring farmer Mike Bosscher to lead a safety prayer.

At the touch of chute to power line, 140,000 volts welded metal on metal and ignited a hail of sparks.

(Photo by Lucky 7 Dairy)

“We bowed our heads and Mike prayed in a sincere manner for God’s hand to be over all of us,” Koop recalls. “We asked in full expectation and we meant every word.”

A relative newcomer (six years) to the dairy industry after a lifetime spent around machinery as a long-hauling veteran and a 130-truck business carrying produce between California and Michigan, Koop had never experienced a major accident. He was about to walk a wire.

Ride Lightning

In work boots and Wranglers, Koop, 58, climbed the ladder of a forage harvester crowned by a distinctive, arched chute, and drove toward 80 acres of green corn to start the field opening process and cut enough space to ensure loading trucks had room to receive silage.

On its northern side, the field was rimmed by a main road and parallel power line suspended roughly 14’ high. “Every field is different,” Koop says, “but most everyone deals with frequent power poles and power lines, whether on the side or even in the middle of a field. You’ve got to stay alert to exactly where they’re at, but on this day, I reacted too late.”

“There was no rotating or getting away,” describes Koop. “I spun around and saw the chute sparking, and the heat just made it stick to the wire even more.”

(Photo by Lucky 7 Dairy)

Rolling at 5 miles per hour, Koop completed an outer pass of the field, and began a second revolution, with the power line directly to his left, and operator Denny Kamphouse driving a tractor and wagon to his right.

Koop’s two-way crackled: “Hey, you’re getting close to that line,” Kamphouse warned.

At roughly 16’ in the air alongside the low-lying power line, Koop’s chute bobbed like a crow’s nest. He tried to adjust. Too late.

Time to ride lightning.

Volts or Flames?

Supernova. At the touch of chute to power line, 140,000 volts welded metal on metal and ignited a hail of sparks, blowing the chute’s hydraulic cylinder and igniting the chopper tires.

“I should have died,” emphasizes Koop. “Cracking. Popping. Booming. Buzzing. The chopper was gone, burnt up.”

(Photo by Lucky 7 Dairy)

“There was no rotating or getting away. I spun around and saw the chute sparking, and the heat just made it stick to the wire even more.”

Koop shut off the chopper and took stock, his ears drowning under an overwhelming hum of surging electricity.

Seconds. Flashes. Family. Decisions. Calculations. Questions. Risk a step onto the steel catwalk? Dare to remain in the cab? Descend the ladder? Wait for the power line to short out?

As the back tires blew and the chopper rocked, Koop opened the cab door to his left and scrambled onto the platform, enveloped by smoke and the heat of expanding flames. “I didn’t know where to go or what to do, but I knew once those back rims were touching the ground, I’d be electrocuted. Think. Think. Think. Seconds were going by as I stood there and tried to gather my options. It was a major power line so it had no breaker and wasn’t going out. Also, I couldn’t go down the steps because sparks were flying out of them.”

Remains of a flames—Koop’s burnt-out YETI cup.

(Photo by Lucky 7 Dairy)

Looking down, Koop stared at cut corn rows belching smoke from pulsing current. Looking behind, Koop eyeballed a silage harvester in meltdown. Volts to the front; flames to the back.

Koop made his choice. He didn’t want to burn.

Dead Man Walking

In a frozen moment beyond the incessant buzzing and mounting heat, Koop found clarity. “Images were flashing across my mind and heart, but all of a sudden, in the middle of all that chaos, I hung on one clear thought. If I died, and no matter how I died, I knew where I was going because Jesus saved me from my sins and had given me the grace to stand before God.”

“That split second recognition came in a freeze frame that settled everything and took away my fear. I’ll jump. I’ll push out as far as my body will let me and maybe get far enough away from the current’s ripple effect to survive.”

“I’m blessed with my wife, Suzanne, who took such good care of me,” says Koop. “I have seven wonderful kids. I have a story to tell about how God protected me.”

(Photo by Lucky 7 Dairy)

Koop climbed on the handrail, balanced on the metal bar almost 10’ high, bent his legs, and pushed off with the kick of every muscle fiber in his 58-year-old body.

“I hit the ground, fell forward, and felt my body getting electrified. I couldn’t stand up or control my legs, but I could move on 100% adrenaline and I started crawling, trying to get out of the ripple effect before it killed me. It was such a weird sensation to feel the current blowing through me. I could feel it especially in my hands and knees, but it wasn’t painful.”

Roughly 20’ later, Koop crawled out of the ripples to safety. He stood up, ran around the chopper to get away from the power lines, and collapsed in an adjacent ditch, from where he was carried by Lucky 7 crew members to a neighbor’s yard.

No wounds or burns from electricity or flames. Miraculous, Koop insists. “I should have died. Cracking. Popping. Booming. Buzzing. The chopper was gone, burnt up. All the liquids superheated. All the aluminum melted and pooled on the ground. The cab exploded and blew glass everywhere. Tires gone. Steel was the only thing left behind.”

With a heart rate pumping off the charts and a heel sore from the jump impact, Koop was taken to a hospital. “The power company guys wanted to meet me before we left. They said they’d never seen anyone walk away from this kind of accident.”

“We prayed for safety,” says Koop. “We asked God to watch over us with full expectation that He’d meet our genuine need.”

(Photo by Lucky 7 Dairy)

Four hours after arriving, Koop was released from the hospital. He used the next day to rest and ease muscles sore from intense flexing during voltage conductivity. Two days after tapping 140,000 volts, he was back in a chopper (Thursday to Saturday).

Lucky 7 notwithstanding, Koop does not believe in luck. “There was nothing random about my survival. If chance was involved, I’d be a dead man right now.”

The Witness

Koop’s near-death accident has elevated safety concerns to the top rung of daily farm activity. “See something, speak up, and question it, regardless of your role. We all feel the fragility of life on a farm, and my mistake has increased our awareness to the highest level where it has to stay. I can say it simply, ‘I now know where all power lines are at all times.’”

Koop attributes his survival to Providence: “I’m here to bear witness because there is no other explanation.”

(Photo by Lucky 7 Dairy)

Why was Koop spared?

“I only know I’m supposed to bear witness. For the rest of my life, I’ll use this to talk about God’s Providence,” he adds. “I’m blessed with my wife, Suzanne, who took such good care of me. I have seven wonderful kids. I have a story to tell about how God protected me.”

For more from Chris Bennett (@ChrisBennettMS or cbennett@farmjournal.com or 662-592-1106), see:

Corn and Cocaine: Roger Reaves and the Most Incredible Farm Story Never Told

Cottonmouth Farmer: The Insane Tale of a Buck-Wild Scheme to Corner the Snake Venom Market

Bagging the Tomato King: The Insane Hunt for Agriculture’s Wildest Con Man

Ghost in the House: A Forgotten American Farming Tragedy

Priceless Pistol Found After Decades Lost in Farmhouse Attic

Bizarre Mystery of Mummified Coon Dog Solved After 40 Years

American Gothic: Farm Couple Nailed In Massive $9M Crop Insurance Fraud

Evil Grain: The Wild Tale of History’s Biggest Crop Insurance Scam

Fleecing the Farm: How a Fake Crop Fueled a Bizarre $25 Million Ag Scam

The Arrowhead Whisperer: Stunning Indian Artifact Collection Found on Farmland

Skeleton In the Walls: Mysterious Arkansas Farmhouse Hides Civil War History

John Deere Expected To Announce More Layoffs Next Week

Thu, 18 Jul 2024 19:20:03 GMT

Deere & Co. is planning to announce layoffs of salaried employees on July 24, 2024, according to an email sent to employees on July 15. This announcement comes as part of a series of workforce reductions the company has been implementing in recent months.

Key points about the upcoming layoffs:

• The layoffs will affect an undetermined number of salaried workers globally.

• Employees will be notified of the layoffs beginning on Wednesday, July 24.

• Salaried employees whose jobs do not require them to be onsite are asked to work from home from July 24-26 and postpone business travel.

• A global all-employee meeting will be held to provide more details about the workforce update.

• Employees being separated will receive information about severance offers and separation details.

The company cites several reasons for these layoffs:

• Declining customer demand

• Rising costs

• Prevailing economic uncertainties

• Insufficient results from previous cost-containment strategies, including a global hiring freeze

This announcement follows a series of recent layoffs by Deere & Co.:

• 345 Waterloo workers to be laid off effective September 20, 2024

• 280 employees at a Moline, Illinois factory, 299 at John Deere Davenport Works and 111 at John Deere Dubuque Works, all effective August 30, 2024

• Various other layoffs at facilities in Moline, Urbandale, Des Moines, and Waterloo in May and June 2024

In total, Deere & Co. has laid off nearly 2,000 workers between September 2023 and July 2024. The company’s financial performance has been declining, with a 15% decrease in revenue reported in the second quarter of 2024 and lowered profit forecasts for the full year. These layoffs are occurring against a backdrop of declining farm income, with USDA projecting a 25.5% decrease in net farm income for 2024 compared to the previous year.

Deere issues statement backing away from DEI.

Deere & Company issued a statement on the social media platform X that they are changing their policies on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), noting they have already focused their sponsorships on “supporting the business and brand” with their non-profit sponsorships centering on “priority areas” including hunger, economic development, eliminating poverty, science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), agriculture education, and supporting veterans and the military.

Our customers’ trust and confidence in us are of the utmost importance to everyone at John Deere. We fully intend to earn it every day and in every way we can. pic.twitter.com/8BgyPyQJQo
— John Deere (@JohnDeere) July 16, 2024

Moving forward, Deere said it would “no longer participate in or support external social or cultural awareness parades, festivals, or events,” and that they will focus their business groups on “professional development, networking, mentoring, and supporting talent recruitment efforts.” The company said they would reaffirm that the existence of diversity quotas and pronoun identification “have never been and are not company policy.”

This decision comes in the wake of recent controversies and public backlash over the company’s previous DEI initiatives. The move aligns with similar actions taken by other companies in the industry, such as Tractor Supply, which recently abandoned its DEI objectives and discontinued support for non-business-related activities.

Rural Infrastructure Grants Easier To Tap Into, Thanks To New Toolkit

Wed, 11 Nov 2020 05:21:08 GMT

The Rural Opportunities to Use Transportation for Economic Success (R.O.U.T.E.S.) Initiative was announced by U.S. Department of Transportation (UDOT) Secretary, Elaine Chao, on Monday. The initiative includes a toolkit designed to streamline the grant application process for infrastructure projects.

“This is a new program that will help applicants in rural America navigate the very complicated landscape of all kinds of grants at the department,” Chao told AgriTalk Host Chip Flory. “This will help rural America improve its infrastructure and increase safety.”

Chao says the rural transportation network has been instrumental in building and supplying urban areas throughout the nation’s history, yet rural America has been long overlooked and neglected.

“I come from a world (and) know firsthand how important America’s rural transportation networks are. I always tell people, look, America is not looking for handouts. We just want our fair share,” says Chao, who hails from Kentucky and is married to Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell.

Chao says that prior to the Trump administration, only 25% of discretionary grants were awarded to rural areas.

“In this administration, this department has awarded more than 62% of these infrastructure grants to rural areas,” she notes. “Just the last go around, we had a bunch of what’s called build grants. It’s $900 million. Over 20 projects were selected, and 53% of the money went to rural America.”

While only 19% of the U.S. population lives in rural areas, 45% of all roadway fatalities and 34% of all public highway-rail grade crossing fatalities occur on rural roads, and the fatality rate on rural roads is two times higher than on urban roads, according to UDOT.

“Of the bridges that need repair work, 80% of those bridges are in rural areas,” Chao adds.

Discretionary grant applications can be complex and resource-intensive to complete, she says. Many of the Department’s discretionary grant programs require non-federal funding to cover a portion of project costs, which—at least historically—has presented an additional barrier to rural communities with limited funding.

“One of my observations in interfacing with the government, and particularly the federal government, is they do a really good job at information generation but a very poor job at information dissemination,” says Michael Steenhoek, executive director of the Soy Transportation Coalition.

“For rural counties, to expect them to go to such and such a report and find it on page 922 paragraph B—that there’s a grant program that’s accessible to them—I don’t know of many rural county engineers who would have the time and ability to access that.” Steenhoek says, adding, “(But) any opportunity to make this information and these resources with these grant programs accessible to rural America, I think it’s a great thing.

Chao says the toolkit is easy to access and use. “Just click on the icon and you’ll see and can go through all the grant programs that are eligible for road repairs, road building, ports, bridges, airports…and we have discretionary grants. We want equity in the distribution of these federal resources.”

Chao says the grants have various criteria that must be met by applicants. In addition, some are available to local governments to use while others are available to the private sector.

More information on the toolkit is available here: https://www.transportation.gov/rural/toolkit