agriculture
Kubota equipment – the farm as a work place
Kubota make a wide range of tractors, from their Kubota BX series, of which they call their estate tractors through to their TLB tractors, their tractor loader backhoe series.
In addition they make a number of other tractors and agricultural machinery that can be used on farms of any size as well as residential land, smallholdings and small businesses such as garden centres etc.
The Kubota BX Series, The BX 2660, the BX 2360 and the BX 1860 range from 18hp to 25.5hp, and all come with a number of safety features, including a category 3.1 hitch, and a ROPS as standard
The term farm can be misleading in some ways. This is partly because many people have a preconceived idea of what a farm is. From a point of view of looking at Kubota tractor safety, the same principles apply to thinking of the farm as a workplace, whether the land is one or two acres or several thousand.
Running a farm, whatever its size is a highly intensive business experience.
There are many factors that make running a farm unique and different to any other type of business, although these are often not recognised as such. Some of these factors are environmental ones, such as the weather meaning that work must be carried out in all types of conditions, both outside and inside buildings.
Often work must be carried out on land where there is poor visibility, either in daylight or early morning or late night. There is likely to be an overlap between the workplace and a home life, both in terms of physical environment, and work practices and boundaries.
It is much more likely that their will be children and teenagers and young adults in places where they could potentially be at risk from certain types of hazards. Some of these young people may be family members or employed on a farm or doing seasonal work.
It is also likely that people working on a farm will be physically isolated both from other people and from any emergency services that may be needed on any occasion.
This is not to say that farming is inherently dangerous, simply that there are unique and specialist types of hazards that need to be anticipated and catered for when planning what type of equipment to use on a farm.
One of the most common types of accident involves tractor overturns and run overs. Most modern day Kubota tractors have an ROPS fitted as standard, and if the operative has a seatbelt fitted as well, then that is the best safety protection available.
It is also very common for young children and teenagers to want to look at tractors whilst they are working, which means there are often up close or in an environment where the tractor driver may not see them.
Accidents like this to happen fairly regularly on farms and small holdings, but with a number of preventative and commonsense measures the majority of them can be avoided.
Kubota tractors, such as the L series tractors, are on the whole designed with a huge amount of safety features built into them. This is in part to ensure a high degree of safety for the tractor and the operator, but also with a very clear sense of the nature of the environment, the type of land that the tractor is most likely to be used on.
It is important always to remember that a tractor is a piece of agricultural machinery not a toy, whatever its size and whatever type of land it is being used on. The risk of injury on a farm is as likely as in any type of business in one sense, and it is important to recognise the need for health and safety implementation and structures.
These health and safety rules need to be applied both to personnel and machinery all types, such as tractors, garden tractors, atv’s and all types of industrial or agricultural machinery.
Kubota Tractor – Power Take Off Entanglement
Many people will have heard of what is known as power take off, often referred to as PTO, a term which can give a slightly misleading impression as to what it actually means.
Kubota tractor safety has a big part to play in understanding that a power take off stub, is a stub that transfers power from the tractor to any type of machinery that the Kubota tractor is powering.
The issue of Kubota tractor safety concerning a power take off stub, relates to the danger of an operative of the Kubota tractor getting their hand or another part of their body entangled in the PTO stub itself.
A PTO stub can rotate at approximately anywhere between nine and 17 times per second, so obviously is extremely fast. Any part of a human being that gets caught or entangled with a power takeoff shaft at that speed is likely to experience severe damage.
Kubota B Series Tractor safety
Most modern tractors, including Kubota tractors, have a guard that is fitted over the PTO shaft, that should prevent anyone touching it or getting near it and thereby preventing any damage to the operative of the Kubota tractor.
The real issue, as with much Kubota tractor safety, relates to older tractors, which will not have a power take off shaft or stub fitted, and it is up to the operative of the tractor to have one fitted themselves.
A similar issue arises with the rollover protection sstructures, which are fitted as standard to most modern day tractors including Kubota tractors, but which were not and are not fitted to many older tractors. Age of a tractor is an issue, for two main reasons.
Firstly is that Kubota tractors last, and are often used for anything up to 40 or 50 years, although such length of service is quite rare nowadays. Secondly is the issue of cost in terms of replacing tractors.
Kubota BX Series Tractor Safety
The cost of a new Kubota tractor can seem prohibitive in relation to the cost of maintaining and servicing an existing tractor, even if it is quite an old one. One of the real dangers with all tractor safety, is that people think that accidents only ever happen to other people, never to themselves.
This is certainly part of human nature, but can be a dangerous attitude in terms of safety both to oneself, family, employees and friends.
It is worth recognising that Kubota tractors are designed, manufactured and sold with a very heavy emphasis on safety.
This is in large part is because Kubota recognise that the safe use of an agricultural machine is as important in relation to every area of work as is the safety aspect of any automobile, van truck or other driveable machine.
Kubota Tractor – Run Overs
When considering Kubota tractor safety, the incidences of runover are an important factor, both in terms of research in showing that these are a significant number in terms of farm accidents, and also in terms of showing that to a large extent they are preventable, if certain basic safety protocols are adhered to by the operator of a Kubota tractor.
The dangers of a Kubota tractor run over fall into three main areas. The first is when a Kubota tractor is carrying more than one person, and that person falls off and is injured or damaged by being run over by the Kubota tractor.
It is perhaps one of the most basic rules of tractor safety that only one person should be sitting or driving the tractor at any one point. Kubota tractors are designed to be used only by one person, and the dangers and risks of having another person on the Kubota tractor at the same time can be severe.
Kubota B Series Tractor Safety
There may be more than one person on a tractor for a number of reasons. It may be that if the driver of a Kubota tractor is either young or inexperienced, there may be another person standing next to them on the tractor giving advice or showing them how they should be driving it.
It may be that a Kubota tractor driver wants to have a friend along and now sharing the cab all the seat with them.
It may also be that the Kubota tractor driver wants to have one of their children or siblings along with them whilst driving the tractor. It cannot be stressed too much, that all of these scenarios are potentially extremely dangerous and should be avoided at all costs.
A Kubota tractor is designed specifically to have one person on at any time and only one person.
The other danger of run overs is to the operator or operative of the Kubota tractor themselves. Accidents of this type happen when for any reason the operator of the Kubota tractor is knocked off the tractor whilst it is in motion and subsequently run over. This quite often happens on older tractors where there is no rollover protective system, and the driver can be knocked off the tractor by a low hanging branch or other obstacle or hazard.
Kubota BX Series Tractor Safety
An operator of a Kubota tractor can also be run over if they leave the tractor in order to do any type of adjustment or work on the tractor, without first having made sure that the engine is switched off and that any parking protocols are in place so the tractor cannot move.
Often an operator will do things quickly because they are in a rush, but this but this is an area where great care should be taken.
The other type of runover incident involves the driver of a Kubota tractor either hitting or being in collision with a person on the ground that they are unaware of. This can quite often happen with young children or adolescents who are attracted to the sight or noise of a tractor and want to see it up more closely.
The really important safety feature here is the realisation that driving a Kubota tractor of being aware that other people are in the vicinity where it is being used, and to make absolutely sure that there are no children or adolescents anywhere near the Kubota tractor when it starts up or whilst is being used.
Risks such as this are a real reminder to the driver of a Kubota tractor that a farm is a very real workplace and there is a need for very real health and safety understanding, both when using a Kubota tractor, and for an understanding of the environment around where the Kubota tractor is being used,
This applies both in terms of the actual environment of land and buildings, and the people who live or work on the farm as well.
Kubota – Agricultural tractors
Kubota b or bx series tractor safety is perhaps one of the most important aspects to learn and understand in order to use a Kubota b or bx series tractor to its maximum effect, both in terms of ensuring that the work is carried out in an effective and safe manner, without any sense of risk, or minimal sense of risk to the operative of the Kubota b or bx series tractor or Kubota b or bx series agricultural machine.
Understanding that a Kubota b or bx series tractor has been designed to do very specific jobs of work is an important mindset to develop. There is often a belief that a Kubota b or bx series tractor is almost a sort of farm toy, or at least an agricultural machine that does not need to be taken as seriously as a number of other agricultural machines.
A Kubota b or bx series tractor can have either narrow and wide front ends, can be either two wheel drive or four-wheel-drive or articulated. What are referred to as articulated Kubota b or bx series tractors tend to be very large machines, that are normally only operated by extremely experienced operatives and used on large agricultural projects.
An important safety aspects of most if not all current Kubota b or bx series tractors is what is known as a rollover protective structure, which is effectively a metal bar designed to prevent serious damage to the driver of the Kubota b or bx series driver in the event of the Kubota b or bx series tractor turning over.
Kubota Tractor – b series safety
A Kubota b or bx series tractor will have been designed with a number of work purposes or types of jobs specifically in mind. A Kubota b or bx series tractor will be able to move loads, have a remote power source, be an implement carrier and be a transport unit.
Understanding the specific types of work and jobs at a Kubota b or bx series tractor has been designed to do is important in terms of understanding the safety protocols that need to go with operating a Kubota b or bx series tractor.
Understanding the work of a Kubota b or bx series tractor is also important as being able to distinguish it from being something that can be played around with, or used for things such as tractor races, which would always be discouraged.
Kubota Tractor Safety Concerns
Learning about Kubota b or bx series tractor safety is something that can be done in a variety of ways and something that should be encouraged in a formal sense as well as in the practice of learning on the job when driving the Kubota b or bx series tractor.
Things such as watching or taking photos or video footage of Kubota b or bx series tractors in use can show how they are meant to be operated in a safe and practical manner. There are many videos on YouTube and many pictures online showing Kubota b or bx series tractors in their true environment.
There are also a number of newspaper and magazine articles and pictures showing different types of tractors, including Kubota b or bx series tractors doing different jobs of work. These will help to emphasise the practical work of Kubota b or bx series tractors and to say it as an effective agricultural machine, to say in its true light.
Rural Health Initiative
An interesting initiative in Wisconsin highlights both a potential problem concerning health insurance for dairy farmers as well as a possible solution.
The rural health initiative, a non-profit, has identified that just under 1/5 of dairy farm families in Wisconsin have no health insurance.
Equally of those who do, the health insurance coverage they have is fairly limited in many ways.
The issue of health provision on farms is much more complicated is then simply identifying risk as in a normal business or for a regular family.
The rural health initiative is a program designed to visit farms and farm families at their place of work and in a variety of ways help them to identify health risks, farm safety risks, to do various screenings to identify potential health risks, and to help educate farmers and their families on a wide range of medical and health issues.
For a detailed news and assessment on Fox News click here
To access the rural health initiative website click here
Value of USDA Census ?
The United States Department of Agriculture is saying that there has been an overwhelmingly positive response to the Census of agriculture that was distributed to farmers and ranchers approximately one month ago.
They are saying that 25% of the questionnaires have already been returned, and they are doing their best to deal with all the questions have arisen.
The questionnaires are due to be completed by February 4, and may be submitted either online or by regular mail.
It will be interesting to see how the USDA uses this information, and whether the final basis of assessment is one of real benefit to those who work in agriculture.
Full report click here
Anyone with questions about the census please click here
Oregon showing the way…………
The Oregon Department of Agriculture has recently undertaken a remarkably candid assessment of the problems and strengths that currently characterise agriculture in the state of Oregon.
The intent of the report was primarily to compare Oregon with neighbouring states, with a view to understanding where it might be lacking, and as such would be able to demonstrate what could be done to make it better.
The main recommendations of the report are listed below, and a full copy of the report can be accessed by the link below the recommendations. Perhaps most important thing about the report, is the fact that the Department of agriculture was willing to honestly assess what the problems were in the first place.
The value of this is very much in the fact that if you demonstrate what a specific problem is then a solution or potential solutions tend to flow very naturally from such an analysis. It makes it much harder to argue against implementing solutions, although politicians will always need to assess the viability of any such solution.
The report makes its recommendations as policy recommendations to politicians in Oregon, and those that can be implemented easily, will have much more weight attached to them.
Those that are more difficult to implement will nevertheless provide a long-term framework, that will serve a valuable purpose. The report also acts to serve as a model for other states, and for many other industries as a way of providing a solid basis for advancing recommendations of policy, but are rooted in a natural flow from an analysis of specific problems or areas that are lacking and can be improved.
Priority policy recommendations to the legislature, governor, and regulatory agencies
- Ensure access to irrigation water (statewide).
- Expand markets and increase sales locally, regionally, and internationally.
- Support truck transportation, but begin to maximize rail use, and barging and other water modes, to move product to market more efficiently.
- Provide relief from the high cost of inputs, including taxes, energy, and labor.
- Encourage management of natural resources in a way that enables farming while protecting water, soil, air, habitat, and endangered species.
- Support a land use system that protects farmland for farm use.
- Support high quality research and experiment and extension services that enable growers to diversify cropping and capitalize on unique geographic micro-climates and soils, and to remain competitive in a world market.
- Offer assistance for food processors—as key markets for growers—with technical and financial help to address wastewater permits that incorporate recycled, reclaimed, or reused water methods and technologies.
- Help growers meet new food safety standards that are becoming more stringent and costly.
- Help young or new farmers and transitional family farmers successfully become the next generation of aspiring producers.
Oregon Department of Agriculture – report into state of Oregon agriculture, click here
Not helping organic ……..
Interesting article on the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition website, explaining why only sixteen states are able to apply for federal aid with regard to national organic certification programs, and why thirty four other states are not able to.
The federal aid comes via the Agricultural Management Assistance program (AMA) . This has more to do with the fiscal cliff than with any debate about organic farming, or any debate about federal aid, but does raise huge concerns about the future of organic farming for a simple reason.
Organic farming depends on trust and credibility to justify higher prices on produce to consumers. Key to that trust is certification of organic produce. Anyone can pretty much use the word organic to mean what tehy want.
For proper organic farming, it is essential to have national standards of certification, that everyone can judge produce and farming accordingly. This is now less likely……
Read full article here
National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition website here
Agricultural Management Assistance program here