Grains of Knowledge

Avian Flu - a threat again?

A recent article in Feedstuffs magazine I read online grabbed my attention - "H1N1 avian flu re-emerging".  Maybe it is becuase it is close to fall, flu season and flu shots. and I am keenly aware of the need to get my shot soon.  I also thought we had seen the end of this type of flu, but that may be only myth.

The article says the UN Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO) announced a posible resurgency of this flu and stressed there may be a "mutant strain" of this virus.  Since its introduction in 2003, the flu has killed over 300 people and infected over 500.  It has also caused more than 400 million domentic poultry to be killed and a huge economic impact globally.

The biggest concern is that the virus is able to mutant and the existing vaccines are not able to proect against the disease.  This is a concerning finding for both animals and people.

Read the article

 We are interested in learning how you protect yourself and your animals and livestock?  Please share!

Stacey Bruce is a region leader for the small/speciality segment of Westfield's Agribusiness Division which is based out of Westfield Center, Ohio, the corporate headquarters of Westfield Insurance.

Heat Stress: The Impact on Animals (Part 2 of 2)

Overview

As mentioned in Part 1, “Heat Stress: The Impact on Workers,” 2011 has been one of the hottest years on record, in all corners of the country and especially throughout the Midwest. For those whose life’s work depends on animals, it’s important to identify the risks associated with rising temperatures and humidity levels.

Heat stress in animals occurs when a combination of health and environmental factors prevent the dissipation of heat from the body. It can have devastating effects on your livestock and business, including health issues, decreases in production and fertility, high mortality rates, and other costs.

According to a July 2011 ThisWeekinAg.com article, symptoms for cattle, pigs, and poultry can vary, but basic methods of prevention and treatment are similar. These include shade, cool air, water and monitoring.

 

Major Risks & Symptoms

It’s not just about high temperatures, as humidity levels play a major role in creating risky conditions. Moderate stress can occur in temperatures ranging from 80-90 degrees, with a 50-90 percent humidity level. Other environmental factors include available shade, wind speed, solar radiation, ground cover and nighttime temperatures.

Also, individual animals can pose different levels of risk, including age, color, breed, overall health and wellness, coat type and length, disposition and much more.

While the signs of heat stress will vary by animal, the following symptoms provide a general overview of what to watch for:

• Increased body temperature
• Lethargy, lack of movement, decreased activity and reduced grazing during normally active periods.
• Open-mouthed breathing or panting.
• Increased salivating or sweating.
• Rapid breathing.
• Irregular behaviors.
• Reduced feed intake.
• Reduced production, performance, weight gain or fertility.
• Restlessness and crowding under shaded, cooler areas, or at water tanks.
• Increased mortality.
  
  

Prevention and Treatment

There are several ways to mitigate the risks of these conditions for your livestock. It should be noted that early stages of symptoms are not always evident, which highlights the importance of prevention during high-risk times.

• Identify high-risk conditions and closely monitor animals.
• Provide proper shade, which should reflect heat and reduce exposures to rising temperatures and direct sunlight. 
• Provide proper ventilation.
• Provide constant access to clean water, with adequate amounts made available at a rate of at least 25 percent body weight per day.
• Install sprinkler systems that produce large droplets, running from 2-3 minutes every 20-30 minutes, but avoid creating muddy environments that can reduce an animals ability to regulate body temperature.
• Provide proper nutrition for extreme heat conditions. One example given was providing low-fiber diets for cattle during these times because dense feed generates less internal heat during digestion.
• Acclimate animals to hot temperatures over three to four days so they can adjust their feed intake and metabolism.
• Avoid transportation and exercise during periods of extreme heat. If this must take place, complete between midnight and 8 a.m.

The Livestock Weather Hazard Guide provides guidelines that indicate the potential of heat stress at different temperatures and relative humidity. The National Weather Service (NWS) and USDA publish seven-day heat forecasts for regions throughout the country, based on four weather parameters: temperature, humidity, wind speed and cloud cover.

Treatment for heat stress will vary due to the type of animal and severity of illness, but should include measures to remove the animals from the source of the heat, cool down body temperatures, and provide hydration and nutrition.

 

Resources

• FEMA guide for protecting livestock in extreme heat “Drought, Heat Stress” PDF  training.fema.gov/emiweb/downloads/is111_Unit%2014.pdf
• Ag News and Views “Monitor and Manage Heat Stress” http://www.noble.org/ag/Livestock/MonitorHeatStress/index.html
• This Week in Ag “Are You Checking for Heat Stress in Livestock?” http://www.thisweekinag.com/article/are-your-checking-heat-stress-in-livestock
• Cattle Today “Take Steps to Reduce Heat Stress on Cattle” http://www.cattletoday.com/archive/2011/June/CT2511.php
• Ohio State University - Heat Stress and Beef Cattle http://beef.osu.edu/library/heat.html
• University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture: Heat Stress in Dairy Cattle - http://www.uaex.edu/other_areas/publications/pdf/fsa-3040.pdf

 

Prepared for a crisis? What's your plan?

No one likes to think about the worst case scenarios that could potentially impact your business, family or organization.  However, thinking through a crisis that could occur and preparing a plan as to how you will address a crisis can be critical in mitigating the potential impact of an unforseen event.  Westfield recently partnered with Validus Services to deliver a day-long Crisis Management Training session to several of our Farm customers in Minnesota. 

From our standpoint, part of our business is to respond to the loss you have suffered.  However, an insurance policy is not a substitute for a sound crisis management plan.  Knowing in advance how you will respond to a crisis can go a long way in mitigating extent of the crisis and mitigating the impact to your business.  Production agriculture faces a wide variety of risks that includes damage to property, worker safety, food safety, public relation risks, and various liability exposures. 

Thinking through your "worst case list' is a start to developing a crisis management plan.  What are the worst case scenarios that have some likelihood of occurring and could significantly impact your ability to continue to operate your farm? 

Consider developing a crisis management plan as a part of your entire risk management program.  Your agent and insurance carrier should be able to provide you some insight on what you need to get started.  Purdue University and the Dairy Herd Network are also two areas that have some good resources on their websites.                                                                

The best crisis management plan is one that hopefully never has to be used.  However, in the event of a crisis, having a plan will  help to keep your family, employees, animals,and operations better protected as you have already taken the time to plan out your response. 

Images Source: Flickr

Craig Welsh is the Agribusiness Division Leader at Westfield Insurance.  You can connect with Craig on Twitter @cdwelsh and on LinkedIn @ Craig Welsh.

 

Peak Season Coverage: The 5th Season in Ag

Spring, summer, fall and winter are what most refer to when discussing the four seasons.  In agriculture, every now and then the fifth or "peak season" is overlooked when it comes to insurance. 

The peak season endorsement allows farmers the opportunity to purchase additional property insurance for specified cyclical periods that occur on a regular basis each year.  To activate this coverage, the customer would purchase a base limit for either their scheduled or unscheduled farm personal property (aka - their farm blanket) and then would purchase additional limits for specific times during the year(both the amounts and the dates of the increase are indicated in the endorsement) when inventories are higher than usual.

Examples of when this coverage is useful typically center around seasonal events like harvest when the value of grain storage is higher than normal or in early winter when farmers have purchased and are storing seed and fertilizer for use in the spring. 

The benefit of using the peak season endorsement is that it allows farmers to plan out their insurance needs ahead of time versus having to remember to call their agent to increase / decrease coverage throughout the year as seasonal events happen. 

 One challenge of using this endorsement is that it's important to make sure that you include an adequate number of days before and after the peak period to account for early harvest and longer than usual grain storage due to heavy snowfall or poor prices in winter.  Another example of why an adequate number of days is necessary would account for early fertilizer and seed deliveries combined with later than usual planting due to a wet spring.  If the peak days are miscalculated and a loss occurs before or after the coverage period is in effect, the loss won't likely be paid in full. 

 

 

Author Kristin Taylor is a farm and commercial agribusiness underwriter with the Western Region of Westfield’s AgriBusiness Division. She is located at the company’s headquarters in Westfield Center, Ohio and holds an underwriting responsibility for the states of Illinois and Iowa.

(Photo Source: Flickr)

 

Farm Labor Contractors

In the United States, Workers Compensation insurance is typically provided by private insurance companies (like Westfield), however there are four states who have special legislation that requires Workers Compensation coverage be provided exclusively by that State's Designated Workers Compensation program (and insurance through the private market is not an option).  Those states include: Ohio, Washington, North Dakota and Wyoming. 

Regardless of the state your business is domiciled in, Workers Compensation will pay all medical costs, loss of wages (however the amount can vary based upon the state) as well as a burial allowance for workers who are killed in the course of their employment.  It's important for any business owner to understand what's covered by Workers Compensation so they can better manage its associated costs.  One of the largest variables that employers need to understand is their experience modification (or E-Mod) for short.  E-Mods are calculations based upon loss experience for an employer and it can either add a credit or a surcharge onto a business's policy.

For farms and agribusinesses who are considered to be Farm Labor Contractors and are employing migrant or seasonal workers, it is imperative that employers abide by the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act, which was passed in 1983 and designed to provide workers with protections concerning pay, working conditions, and work related conditions.  This law requires farm labor contractors to register with the US Department of Labor and assures the necessary protections for farm workers, agricultural associations, and agricultural employers.  You can learn more about what is required by this law by selecting the link above, but it's important to note that in many cases, housing and transportation are provided by the employer - when this is the case, injuries that occur "after-hours" but while in employer provided housing, are still covered by Workers Compensation.  Some situations where this could pose a potentially severe outcome: employees sleeping in a common area like a barracks when a fire breaks out or an auto accident where a large number of employees are injured. If a situation like this were to occur it would obviously be tragic but would also negatively impact an employer's E-Mod, resulting in higher Workers Compensation premiums.

Photo Source: OSHA.gov

Kristin Taylor is a farm and commercial agribusiness underwriter with the Western Region of Westfield’s AgriBusiness Division.

A Good Egg: Pearl Valley Eggs shows the benefits of good management

 
                                                                                                                        Source: Flickr

Last month, the USA Today featured a front page article on an egg processor located in the heart of farm country in Illinois.  The article highlighted the Pearl Valley Egg Farm in Pearl City, Illinois, and offered an encouraging view as compared to the other events that were happening during this same time.  

Pearl Valley is run by Ben Thompson and his father Dave.  Dave Thompson founded Pearl Valley in 1987.  As the article describes, he designed the farm to keep the hens healthy and disease free.  Their operation has implemented several positive measures including extra tall cages to provide more room for the laying hens, several fans at the end of the building to keep air quality near equal to the outside and the temperature down, and a system to ship eggs to grocery stores within 24 hours of being laid.  Additionally, Pearl Valley has strict biocontrol standards and has tested for salmonella enteritidis for the past decade.  Most notably, they have never had a positive test for salmonella.  One additional item that provides for a safe and clean environment are two series of conveyors - one to bring in  fresh clean feed and the other to remove manure outside the building.  Pearl Valley does not store manure in pits under the building but has it placed outside the building in a compost shed where it is later sold as a rich compost to golf courses and garden centers. 

Dave Thompson summed it up best in the article when he said happy hens, safe eggs and making a profit are possible, but it takes hard work and dedication.  As I read about Pearl Valley Eggs, I can relate the management and operation to exposures we underwrite for an insurance and risk management program.  As an insurer of agriculture, we need to know who is running the operation and the practices they use in their operation.  A good manager of a farm or agribusiness operation can often be a favorable insurance risk.   It is important that your insurance carrier and agent fully understand your operation, fully understand the potential quality of your operation and how your management practices help to mitigate some potential loss situations. 

Craig Welsh is the Agribusiness Division Leader at Westfield Insurance.  You can connect with Craig on Twitter @cdwelsh and on Linked In @ Craig Welsh

Day in the Life of Risk Control

Last month I had the pleasure of spending time with one of our senior risk control field representatives, Brian Musser, who has the very important job of providing safety, service and security to our customers, agents and employees.

Spending time in a bio-hazard suit and the smell of poultry buildings brings out the best in anyone, so I choose to interview my partner for the day.  I was pleased and wanted to share his story with others.

Question:  Tell me about your job and what you do all day?

Answer:  My role with Westfield working in risk control is to help the team write quality risk, reduce losses, improve employee work place safety, save lives from farm machinery hazards and workplace hazards, provide safety service to our customers for farms and/or commercial risks, identify safety hazards on farms and commercial risks, electrical, heating, construction, etc.   I conduct collapse inspections of roof truss areas on large livestock confinement buildings like hog, poultry and dairy complex's. Farmers will call me and I will come out to the farm to survey a new livestock building under construction to see if electrical, heat, construction and roof trusses meet our safety & collapse guidelines and local building codes.  I take pride in knowing if I helped save a person's life and improved workplace safety.

Question:  What do you enjoy most about your job?

Answer:  What I love most about my job is to help our customers operate a safe work place either on a farm or a commercial business such as a concrete contractor. Most important to me is really #1 to help save a life or injury to workers on farms or commercial risks.

Question:  What do you want people to know about your job?

Answer:  What I want customers to know about my role is I am here to help them anyway possible by providing them safety surveys and provide them with safety resources and information to help them operate a more profitable business and reduce work place injuries, prevent death of workers and loss of property.

Question:  Please share a fond memory.

Answer:  My most memorable farm experience was spending good times with my grandfather feeding cattle, hogs and planting / harvesting corn. I have learned a lot about farming from my grandfather who lived to 94 years old, the hardest working man I knew!

Thank you Brian and all the members of our Risk Control team for all the hard work done every day!

Spontaneous Combustion of Hay Stacks

 
Source: Flickr 

As I made the trek into work this morning, I couldn't help but notice the neatly raked windrows of freshly mown hay as I attempted to see through the raindrops on my windshield.  My mind naturally drifted to the fact that although the weather forecast was calling for mostly cloudy skies today, it looks like rain for the weekend - while my family should luck out this time around as we're making second cutting haylage today (which can withstand a higher moisture content), others in our area are likely to be baling and could be setting themselves up for a possible hay fire if not careful. 

The necessary precautions are well documented to mitigate spontaneous combustion of baled hay, however we can all probably think of a friend or neighbor whose recently baled hay has either smoldered or caught fire.  Hopefully, these incidences didn't escalate into a barn going up in flames, loss of equipment or livestock or even worse death of a loved one, but I thought it was worthwhile to offer this blog post as a reminder as we're currently dealing with wet conditions.

Not only does baling hay at moisture levels increase it's chances for spontaneous combustion, but it also increases the potential for molds and reduces the overall quality of the forage.  For additional information on how the quality can be compromised, check out this article by Lester R Vough of University of Maryland titled Causes and Prevention of Spontaneous Combustion in Hay.

After baling, you should regularly check the temperature of your stacks and use the following guidelines:

• 150 Degrees F is the beginning of the danger zone - after this point check temperature daily
• 160 Degrees F is dangerous - Measure temperature every four hours and visually inspect the stack
• 175 Degrees F is when you should call the fire department. While waiting for their arrival, spray the hay with water and remove it from the barn or dismantle the stack away from buildings and other dry hay
• 185 Degrees F is when hot spots and pockets should be inspected in the stack.  Flames will likely develop when heating hay comes into contact with the air (pockets may have already burnt our under the hay's surface - do not attempt to walk across the top of the pile, it could collapse)
• 212 Degrees F is critical! Temperatures rise rapidly above this point and the hay will almost certainly ignite

The temperature guidelines came from William Woodward of Washington State University, to learn more check out this article titled Spontaneous Combustion in Hay Stacks.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Article written by Kristin Taylor who is a farm and commercial agribusiness underwriter with the Western Region of Westfield’s AgriBusiness Division. She is located at the company’s headquarters in Westfield Center, Ohio and holds an underwriting responsibility for the states of Illinois and Iowa.

She is a graduate of Ashland University, where she received a Bachelor of Arts in communications, specializing in English and journalism.

Kristin’s love of agriculture is strongly tied to her experience growing up on her family’s registered Jersey farm in north-central Ohio. Her posts focus on the dairy industry perspectives and Westfield’s rich history in farming and agribusiness insurance.

Farm Succession Planning

46P2Q5YKP7TJ

 
Earlier this year, I attended a Farm Succession Planning seminar offered by Braintree Business Development Center and the Ohio Employee Ownership Center where I learned some of the foundations regarding estate planning. 

A basic succession plan should include goals of the owner and other key groups, a plan to meet these goals and details on how they will be implemented and managed.  Creating a well thought out plan will help to ensure an orderly transfer of the operating entity to new ownership, manage the impact of estate and other taxes, identify risks of the transfer and develop plans to mitigate these risk as well as developing a realistic value of the operation and real estate.  Some potential issues that can be caused by not developing a succession plan include a reduced value of the operation, limited options of potential suitors and/or methods of sale, higher effective tax rates for the seller, loss of control and a burden on surviving family members in case of death.  While the father in the photo above is not likely discussing succession of the family farm with his toddler, it was noted at the seminar that the best succession plans are laid out at least ten years before the transfer of ownership is set take place.

General outline for succession planning:

• Goal setting for the farmer / owner - include goals around income, legacy and control
• Goal setting for the stakeholders - include operation viability, children who left the farm and employees’ job security
• Farm management succession - ensure that stakeholders are capable of managing the operation and that they have the desire to continue, ensure the operation has economic viability, plan to cede control over time (can coincide with payments to the from the stakeholder to the owner)
• Identify a best case scenario and explore all other options, including a worst case scenario
• Develop a written plan (which can include buy/sell agreements, trusts, life insurance, etc)
• Implement the plan

Succession planning conversations can be difficult as they should include the topics of life changes, mortality and family relationships.  Not only can the discussions be tough, but some seasoned farm owners also fail to plan because of a perceived loss of control, they're too busy and plan to get to it later, they can't envision doing anything else (even retiring!), planning is too expensive, they expect that their children will just take over the operation and others believe they are invincible.

Stay tuned for an upcoming post, which will dig a little deeper into buy/sell agreements, trusts and life insurance.

Article written by Kristin Taylor.   Kristin is a farm and commercial agribusiness underwriter with the Western Region of Westfield’s AgriBusiness Division. She is located at the company’s headquarters in Westfield Center, Ohio and holds an underwriting responsibility for the states of Illinois and Iowa.

She is a graduate of Ashland University, where she received a Bachelor of Arts in communications, specializing in English and journalism.

Kristin’s love of agriculture is strongly tied to her experience growing up on her family’s registered Jersey farm in north-central Ohio. Her posts focus on the dairy industry perspectives and Westfield’s rich history in farming and agribusiness insurance.

 

Is your farm secure from biological threats?

Photo Source: STOP Sign Campaign

From "'Do not enter' not a bad idea: Farm Biosecurity Needs Beefed Up by Farm and Dairy

Infectious diseases are an increasing concern for farms across the country.  These diseases can be passed from people to animals or from animals to animals.  This creates a concern when opening your operation to visitors or bring home livestock a show or sale.  In the state of Michigan, Ted Ferris and Dan Grooms have started the "STOP Sign" campaign for beef and dairy farmers.  This program and others adopted by farmers and organizations are developed to help curb the spread of infectious diseases. 

One of the biggest risks for farms in the infectious disease area comes from individuals entering the property.  Has the individual recently come from another farm that could be carrying something?  Have they traveled outside the country and could they be bringing in foreign disease?  To properly prevent this exposure all visitors should be stopped at the entry point for proper protective equipment and logging of visitor information. 

When there is an infectious disease outbreak, consumers most frequently show their concern by slowing and/or stopping the purchase of those animal products.  As a result, not only may farmers have lost stock, but their income may have drastically dropped due to consumer purchasing behaviors. 

Guest Author: Bethany Haynes is an agribusiness underwriter who currently works with farm and commercial agribusiness accounts from our home office in Westfield Center, Ohio. Her background in the dairy industry and passion for agriculture guides her to assist our Westfield Agents and Customers to find insurance solutions.