July 11, 2025 • 51 mins
On this week's episode of The Rural Woman Podcast™, you'll meet Katie Hammock.
Katie is a rural ER nurse with deep roots in the dairy farming community, combining her medical expertise and firsthand farm experience to deliver powerful farm safety workshops. Her mission is to help prevent accidents and protect farming families through practical knowledge and personal insight.
For full show notes, including links mentioned in the show, head over to wildrosefarmer.com/227
. . .
THIS WEEK'S DISCUSSIONS:
[00:31] - Empowering Women in Agriculture
[02:58] - Exploring Katie's Journey in Agriculture
[13:10] - The Dangers of Farming: A Nurse's Perspective
[22:10] - Preparing for Farm Emergencies: Essential Tips and Equipment
[37:35] - Farm Safety for Children
[39:59] - Navigating Farm Safety Conversations
. . .
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Meet the Team
Audio Editor | MixBär.
Patreon Executive Producers
Sarah R. | Happiness by The Acre
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:40):
Hi, I'm Katelyn Duban and thisis the Rural Woman Podcast. I'm a
first generation farmer whomarried into agriculture. Born and
raised in a city, I was sounfamiliar with where my food came
from, but I was determined tofigure it out. Through my journey
into agriculture, I saw womenwho were strong but humble, often
(01:04):
taking a backseat. To me,these women were leaders who deserved
a seat at the table. I createdthe Rural Women Podcast to share
the voices of women in anindustry whose stories often went
untold. The ruralentrepreneurs who live and breathe
their work full of grit andpride. We come here to share our
(01:27):
stories, to be in communitywith each other, to be challenged
and inspired, but mostimportantly, to be celebrated and
to be heard. We may not alllive farm, ranch or homestead the
same, but we are allconnected. We are rural women and
(01:47):
our stories are worthy ofbeing told. Hey, everyone. Welcome
back to another episode of theRural Woman Podcast. Today you'll
meet Katie Hammock. Katie is aregistered ER nurse, proud dairy
farmer's wife, and a mom ofthree. Raising her family in rural
(02:10):
Virginia. With roots thatstretch from Canada to the heart
of dairy country, Katie bringsa rare and powerful perspective to
the table. By day, Katie worksthe fast paced floors of the emergency
room. And by night, andreally, to be honest, all of the
hours in between, she's fullyimmersed in farm life. Milking cows,
(02:32):
managing farm our family life,and witnessing firsthand the risks
that come with a life inagriculture. A quick note before
we begin. This episodeincludes discussions of farm accidents
and medical emergencies. Ifthese topics are sensitive for you,
please listen with care. Inour conversation, Katie opens up
(02:54):
about the emotional weight offarm accidents, what she's seen in
the ER and why she's made ither mission to bring farm safety
to the forefront. Fromtourniquets to whistles and communication
plans, Katie offers practical,potentially life saving advice every
rural family should hear. Ifyou've ever wondered what's really
(03:15):
good in an emergency kit, orwhy preparation matters more than
we think, this one is for you.Without further ado, my friends,
let's get to this week'sepisode with Katie.
Katie, welcome to the RuralWoman Podcast. How are you today?
(03:37):
I'm so good. How are you?
I am doing very well. I am soexcited to dive into your story and
learn all the things aboutKatie. So before I fangirl too much,
tell us who you are, whereyou're from, and how you got your
start in agriculture.
Yes. Well, thank you so muchfor having me. Yeah. My name's Katie
(03:58):
Hammock. I am Initially fromCanada, actually, I grew up outside
of Ottawa, Ontario, on theeastern side of Canada, and found
myself in southern Virginia togo to school. Full intentions of
going back home at some pointafter I graduated nursing school,
and then ended up stickingaround for a job and met my husband
in that first kind of fewmonths out of nursing school. And
(04:20):
it's hard to take a farm to adifferent country, so I moved to
the farm. So we've beenmarried for almost five years now,
and I've lived on my husband'sdairy farm, and I still work as an
ER nurse. So I'm an ER nursewith six years of experience serving
in rural southern Virginia. Iwork in our trauma center. So essentially,
we get anything and everythingthat's critical comes to the hospital
(04:40):
that I work at. And that'skind of where my passion started.
Just like I am reallypassionate about emergency medicine
and really passionate aboutfarm accidents. Unfortunately, they
happen too often. And thenkind of when I married my husband
and got more involved in theagriculture community, I just saw
that, A, there was a need, andB, the people that I were coming
(05:01):
in with those accidents wereoften people that I knew or my husband
knew or somebody kind of knewof. And so it just kind of hit home
a little bit, a little bit more.
And I want to dive in to thefarm safety piece because it's such
a huge topic and it'ssomething that I don't think we talk
about nearly enough. But Iwant to know Katie more and about
your farm and all of thethings. What made you decide to go
(05:23):
to school in Virginia in thefirst place?
Yeah, so I actually came toschool in southern to southern Virginia,
really, to play soccer. So Iplayed collegiate soccer in. The
school I ended up going to wasone of the very few schools that
I talked to that would allowme to play soccer and go to nursing
school, just because nursingschool is such, like, a rigorous
schedule as well as collegiatesoccer. So that was kind of what
(05:45):
got me down here initially. Ihad a dream of playing, like, NCAA
soccer. That's kind of a thingthat, you know, in Canada a lot of
people look to and aspire todo. And so I was fortunate enough
that I had a school inVirginia interested in me. And so
that's kind of what initiallygot me here. And then, like I said,
I had full intentions ofmoving back home, and those plans
changed pretty quickly.
(06:06):
Met that charming farmer Iknow. So going back to being born
and raised in the Ottawa area,I recently went to Ottawa for my
very first time a couplemonths ago. Now and I absolutely
fell in love with the area andthe landscape. What was your views
in agriculture and farming,being raised in that area? It's a
(06:30):
little bit different fromwhere you are now.
Yes. And multiple differentaspects. I was fortunate. I did have
some family that farmedgrowing up. So I had some family
actually farmed innortheastern Pennsylvania. They dairy
farmed and several otherfamily members that like lived in
the country and were involvedin agriculture. So I grew up going
to my aunts and uncle's dairyfarm on like holidays and weekends.
(06:51):
And that is truly like wheremy love for ag and for the dairy
industry began. My friendsalways joked that like I would end
up marrying a dairy farmer. Inever in a million years thought
that I would be the one thatdid marry a dair farmer. But it was
just kind of like a runningjoke growing up that like people
always said I would live on afarm and. But then, you know, it's
different when you're onlygoing to visit a farm on weekends
(07:11):
and holidays versus like thenmoving into the farm and just being
fully submersed into thislifestyle. And so that was just a
little bit of a learning curveof like, you know, Ottawa, like there
is, it is a city and eventhough we were in the outskirts of
Ottawa, like we weresurrounded by stores and there were
so many different things thatyou could do. And so even just something
as simple as like planning outmy groceries because there wasn't
(07:34):
a grocery store nearby.Whereas like at home, you know, I
grew up and there was likeseven grocery stores within like
five minutes of me and stufflike that. So just like some of those
little differences that I kindof had to figure out as I moved here,
but other than that, it wasn'ttoo, too bad.
Well, and I love that you hadthat exposure, I guess, to dairy
farming before. I, I'm verythankful that I met a grain farmer
(07:58):
because truth be told, I don'tthink I am like rough and tough enough
or consistent enough inbasically anything to be a dairy
farmer.
Oh, you could totally do it.You could totally do it.
My thing would be is I wouldprobably just want to play with the
cabs all day and I wouldn'tget much else done. But tell us about
(08:20):
your dairy farm and where yourhusband and you live and what you're
raising and all of the things. Dairy.
Yeah. So my husband is afourth generation dairy farm. It's
him, his dad and his dad's twobrothers and then they have some
cousins that are back on thefarm. So we are currently milking
about 900 cows three times aday. We just got in a new parlor
(08:44):
and are hoping to continue toexpand that up to about 1200 in the
next, you know, six months toa year. And then we farm about a
thousand acres of cropland.Most of that is corn that we use
for corn silage to feed ourcows. So that's kind of where we're
at. We live on the farm. Weare like a quarter of a mile down
the, the road from like themilking parlor. And all of the family
lives right here within us. Sowe, my husband, you know, does most
(09:06):
of the farm stuff. I try to beinvolved as much as I can. I was
a lot more involved before wehad a kid. And now we have a. Almost
two year old running around.That keeps us busy. And it's, it's
nice because he is starting toget old enough that he's always been
at the farm all the time. Butwe can really take him and we can
kind of help a little bit hereand there and he can, you know, listen
(09:26):
and is starting to just beinterested in that a little bit more.
And so that's just like,brings a whole nother kind of aspect,
another dimension that isreally fun just to like watch him
learn to love the agriculturecommunity the way that we do. And
so that's just kind of been afun, fun thing as well. But yeah,
that's pretty much it. We milkcows and farm some, some corn and
(09:48):
really, that's, that's reallyall we do.
I love it when you say, well,that's all we do. You milk 900 cows
three times a day. Like, yeah,I struggle to empty the dishwasher
sometimes. Like, bravo to you.
We are very fortunate. I, youknow, it's very much my husband and
his like the guys, but we arevery fortunate. We have a really
(10:11):
good crew of employees that,you know, obviously help us in milk
and that kind of stuff. So weare really good, really blessed with
like a good crew right now,for sure.
Yeah. And it takes a team, ittakes a village, it takes all of
these things to make anyfarming operation run. I'm curious,
when you are helping, what aresome of your favorite jobs to do?
(10:33):
So I love the calves like yousaid, but that is not kind of what
my, my husband focuses on.Like, so they kind of have it broken
down into different areas. Somy husband really focuses on heifers
and above. So once the heifersgo into the pasture and are kind
of weaned off of their milkand stuff, that's really when my
Husband and his brother anddad take over managing the cows and
(10:55):
they essentially manage them.So they will breed the cows, they
will help them calve ifneeded, and they manage the milk
cows, dry cows, anything likethat. And then in the summer it's
all kind of hands on deck tochop corn and that kind of thing.
But I feel like now mostlywhat I find myself doing is so we
this morning, my little boyand I, we went and helped kind of
(11:17):
move dry cows around. Andbecause we can be in the feed lane,
I can kind of help like unlockcows as they needed from the head
gates or you know, mark cowswith paint if needed or help vaccinate
cows, that kind of thing. Myfavorite job to do is, is feed the
calves. But that's notsomething my husb husband does too
much of. So that's kind of ifwe're lucky and you know, whoever's
feeding the calves, sometimeswe'll go down and just play with
(11:38):
them. But for the most partit's really whatever my husband's
doing, you know, if he'sbreeding heifers, sometimes we'll
go and just like be there andjust like be outside or my husband
also ultrasounds our ownanimals. So a lot of times we'll
go and like run the list iswhat we call it. So we'll just like
go and do preg check with themand just like run the list to see
if they're pregnant, ifthey're not pregnant. And then in
(12:00):
the summer I feel like it'skind of, I'm a little bit of a like
taxi depending on what'sneeded and you know, trying to go
get parts or if something'sbroken down or go get food for the
guys or whatever. And we'rereally fortunate we have a, again
like we are really fortunatethat we have a good crew. But then
also all of our wives and mymother in law and stuff, like we
(12:20):
have a really good andpositive relationship. So it's kind
of nice. We can kind of justtag team whatever's needed and just
like that support and supportthem in whatever way they need that
day.
That's awesome. And you know,we can say this a million times.
It takes a team and it takespeople with different diverse skills
and something as easy as goingto grab parts can really make or
(12:42):
break an operation in a day.Right? Bring back what you need to
keep it going. So that'samazing. So you're an ER nurse as
well as all of those thingsthat you just mentioned. Talk to
me about initially when youmoved onto the farm and obviously
started working and beingsurrounded in this culture, in this
(13:03):
lifestyle of agriculture. Werethere any warning bells that were
going off for you as an ERnurse in the beginning that maybe
you didn't think of?
You know, there's definitelybeen a handful of times that I've,
like, looked at my husband.I'm like, what are you doing? Like,
I have seen this, you know, gowrong so many times, but I don't
think there's anything like,super, super massive. My husband,
(13:25):
like, is for the most part, islike, pretty safe. And I think part
of that is because I have,like, told him, like, the realities
of, like, not being safe andjust like the realities of like,
and the dangers of farming andjust the agriculture industry in
general. I mean, you know, in20, just last year, there was almost
500 deaths alone in the UnitedStates. So I don't. I'll be honest,
(13:46):
I don't know what that lookslike in Canada or North America wide.
But in the US alone, there is500 deaths related to farm accidents.
And so I do that. Like, myhusband takes it seriously because
I. He's seen me, like, comehome crying because of, like, a really
unfortunate situation thathappened at work or like a really
bad accident or something likethat. And so he's just seen, like,
(14:07):
how it can change so quickly.But I think, you know, when I did
move to the farm, there wasdefinitely a little bit of just like
a change in my perspective asan ER nurse and just like, realizing
that, like, accidents reallydo happen. I think before there was
definitely sometimes that Iwas like, man, these guys are like,
you know, just being dangerousand not trying to be safe and, you
(14:29):
know, or like, doing somethingdumb, for lack of a better word.
And then you move to the farmand you realize, like, they really
aren't, like, they're justtrying to do what they need to do
and just kind of get theirjobs done and they're trying to do
it to the best of theirabilities. And then I think the other
thing is it just allowed me toconnect with some of those patients
a little bit better because Iunderstand, like, where they're coming
from. And I can, like, talk tothem about the fact that, like, my
(14:52):
husband's a farmer and, youknow, I've done this and I kind of
know what they're talkingabout. And also, just like, sometimes
farmers, like, aren't. Don'tcome off as, I don't know, maybe
sometimes they're not like,the most gentle spoken, you know,
the most, like, passionatelyspoken people or emotional People.
And so being able to just bethere and be like, oh, this is. Like,
he's not, you know, just kindof translate that as needed and just
(15:13):
kind of be able to be someonethat can relate to them in that incident.
Right. And I think from myperspective, you have the best of
both worlds. You have growingup not rurally and not in farming,
and. And now being immersed inthe farming lifestyle and to see
it from both sides as an ERnurse. And like you said, a typical
ER nurse that might not beexposed to this might think, like,
(15:36):
wow, they must have been doingsomething really silly for this to
happen. But in all reality,things can happen so quickly. I'm
curious, do you remember thefirst farming accident that you had
to deal with in your nursing career?
I remember my first one, to behonest, I have a couple that, like,
(15:57):
I vividly remember that were,like, earlier on in my nursing career.
One of them was somebody thatbroke their leg. I don't know, like,
how, like, in depth, you wantme to go and explaining the injury.
But essentially they broketheir leg, and there was bones sticking
out both ways. So, like,completely broken. Broke the skin.
And he just jumped off of atractor. Like, he was done. His.
(16:19):
Like, he was just trying toget out of a tractor. He was done
doing whatever he was gonna doin it, and he jumped and his leg
just, like, snapped. And so heactually, like, came in, just not
even in the ambulance. Hejust, like, somebody drove him in
and he came in. And I. And Ivividly remember that one. And then
one of the other ones Ivividly remember is a. This was actually
in a trauma bay. And it was. Idon't even remember exactly what,
(16:39):
like, piece of equipment theywere using, but it was like a hand
amputation. So they had atourniquet in place, and his hand,
like, was pretty mangled,pretty much amputated. And so he
ended up in our trauma bay.But those are kind of the two that
I, like, vividly remember fromearlier on in my career.
Right. And like you said, justjumping off of a tractor wrong can
(16:59):
be something that happens. Youstep your foot down wrong or whatever
it is. What do you think aresome of the most common farming accidents
that you see come through the er?
We see a lot of chainsawaccidents. That's like, one that
kind of comes to mind.Typically, those are, like, not very
(17:21):
nice accidents becausechainsaws, like, don't cut cleanly.
So when they cut your skin, itreally just, like, mangles everything
and could really do a lot ofdamage. So I've Seen like people
lose a lot, a lot of blood dueto chainsaw accidents. I've seen
chainsaw accidents becausethey're trying to cut like downed
trees off of a fence or tryingto cut up like brush piles or whatever.
I've also seen. We kind oftalked about lawnmowers briefly before
(17:44):
this. But I have seen peoplerun over themselves in bush hogs.
I've seen people get run overby bush hogs. I've seen legs and
feet amputated due to mowersand bush hogs, hands stuck and like
PTO shaft get mangled. We alsohave a lot of. This one is like not
as serious, but it's stilltraumatic for somebody. But like
finger amputations. So a lotof like table saw finger amputations
(18:06):
or chopping wood fingeramputations. And then some of the
other things that we kind ofsee farm related are a little bit
more medical. But we see a lotof like cardiac injuries or cardiac
events, I should say. So, likepeople that were working in the hayfield
in 90 degree weather and it'sreally hot out and they maybe overdid
(18:27):
it themselves and weren't likehydrated enough and they like went
into cardiac arrest and had tolike be revived or electrocution.
So we unfortunately actuallyhad a electrocution here recently
in our county that was. And apiece of equipment touched the power
lines and electrocuted thefarmer on the other side of that.
They're kind of some of theones that we see. And then even just
(18:49):
simple, like you said, likejumping out of a tractor. I've seen
a lot of elderly people thatget in and out of tractors, like
fall off of the tractor andbreak their hips or fall off and
like dislocate their hip orthat kind of thing. But I think those
are like made ones that kindof come to mind.
Right. And like you said, someof them are extremely severe to the
(19:12):
most common. And I will raisemy hand and tell you, I have had
two concussions from farming accidents.
Yeah.
That were so simple and basic.One, I was cleaning windows and I
stepped my foot wrong and Ifell, fell off the tractor. The second
was I was shoveling out thegrain truck and it had the bars across
(19:36):
the top and I stood up andknocked myself out. Like, these are
just simple tasks that we'redoing. That obviously was an accident.
And I've done it a milliontimes since then and it hasn't happened.
But I'm so conscious now ofwhere's my noggin?
Yeah, we see people all thetime. That, like, again, like, not
(19:56):
somebody that did on purpose,but, like, walked into a bucket loader
or walked into, like, youknow, something, because it's, again,
like you said, they've done ita million times. And I think that
that's the, like, an importantpiece just to like, realize is that,
like, accidents are calledaccidents for a reason. It's because
they truly are accidents. Andso, yes, there's some farm injuries
and farm accidents that happenbecause people weren't prepared and
(20:18):
maybe didn't do, like, all ofthe things that they should have
done. But I feel like ninetimes out of 10, the accidents that
I see are genuinely accidentsand are accidents that, like, could
have happened to anybody andwere just, like, really unfortunate
situations. And so, you know,like, those are the ones that, like,
are almost more scary becauseyou don't know what it's going to
happen because you can'treally prepare for it because it
truly is just an accident.
(20:39):
Right. And do you find thatmaybe farmers, when those accidents
do happen, may or may not seekhelp because of maybe embarrassment?
Yes, they definitely, I feellike, don't always seek help or sometimes,
like, just in general, like, Iknow a lot of people that are like,
(21:00):
oh, I'll go to the doctor inlike, three days if it's not better.
And I mean, we've had somepeople that come in that are like,
oh, I fell off a tractor threedays ago and, like, their lung is
completely collapsed andthey've been living with it for three
days and they got finally to apoint that they couldn't breathe,
so they came in to see us.But. And I don't know if it's embarrassment
or if it's just that farmersare, like, in general, pretty stoic
(21:23):
people and are pretty toughpeople and that they really don't
think that there's anythingwrong until they get to the point
that they cannot function. Andthen they come in and see us and,
you know, like, we always jokein the emergency room, but, like,
it's true. Like, if somebodycomes in and tells us that they're
a farmer and they're there,like, oftentimes we take them seriously
because, like, stereotypicallythose type of people and farmers
(21:45):
don't come, like, they don'twant to come into the er, they don't
want to be seen by a doctor.And so I don't know what the reason
is, but I do think that, like,farm accidents are probably underreported
across, like, the world. And Ido think that, like, not all the
time do people, like, go andSeek help when, when necessary.
I'm thinking there was a viraltick tock. I don't know how long
(22:09):
ago it was, but it was, youknow, the skit of the ER nurse saying
that there was a farmer hereand it was like all hands on deck,
like code, whatever because afarmer came in to the hospital. And
like you said, there could beso many different reasons that people
choose to seek help or notseek help. But I'm curious, you had
(22:30):
mentioned about being preparedfor accidents. So what are your tips
and advice of what we can doas farmers and things that we can
have on hand to be preparedfor accidents if they do happen?
My like perspective on this isvery emergency medicine focused.
So it's very like ER nursefocused. Not so much like the mechanics
(22:53):
and like the equipment,machinery type of things. And there's
a lot of stuff on that endthat you can do to prepare and prevent
accidents. But what my passionand what I try to focus on is preparing
and preventing for likeinjuries that we can do something
about. So there is someinjuries that happen on the farm,
for example, like if youamputate your leg or you amputate
(23:15):
your arm or you get a reallybad chainsaw accident that we can
do something about those priorto seeking help or prior to getting
to a hospital or even prior toan ambulance coming to getting to
us. So I know for us like ifthere's ever a medical emergency
where we are, A, we're goingto be life flighted in a helicopter
to a hospital because we're inthe middle of nowhere and B, it's
(23:37):
gonna take probably 20 minutesfor an ambulance to get to us. And
so the reality is that ittakes less than five minutes for
somebody to bleed out if theyhave a serious accident. So if I
don't have what I need on handto stop bleeding and control the
bleeding that's detrimental tomy husband or my father in law's
or whoever's outcome that youknow, was involved in that accident.
(23:58):
And so I have five items thatI kind of talk about in general.
Just trying to focus onpreparing for those type of injuries.
A lot of them are inpreparation for like hemorrhage or
which is, that's just a fancyword for like bleeding type injuries
because those are the onesthat we can kind of control. And
(24:18):
I say kind of because there'ssome type of bleedings that like
happen internally that like wecan't do anything about. But the
external ones we canabsolutely, you know, be prepared
for. And so first andforemost, the thing that's like arguably,
in my opinion, the mostimportant to have on your farm is
a tourniquet. A tourniquet isessentially a piece of medical equipment
(24:38):
that wraps around your limband cuts off circulation. So it's
for injuries to your arms, toyour legs. Again, like if you got
your hand stuck in a PTO shaftand you mangled your hand. I've seen
this happen in real life andyou have like mangled your hand and
there's blood rushingeverywhere. A tourniquet on that
arm is going to stop thecirculation to that hand and therefore
(24:59):
stop the bleeding. Anambulance or somebody can get there.
What you do with a tourniquetis you place it 2 to 4 inches above
the injury and then youessentially are just going to tighten
it really, really tight. In myopinion, there's like not. I just
feel like that's somethingthat everybody should have. They're
so inexpensive, you can buythem online. They're so compact,
you can put one, you know, asmany as you want in a tractor cab
(25:21):
or in a truck or whatever. Andthat's like the one thing single
handedly that I see, save morelives than any other piece of like
medical equipment that I seekind of in the field prior to getting
to the hospital. One questionjust like that I feel like I get
a lot about this is you cannotput a tourniquet like around your
neck because obviously thatwould not end well. But I have had
(25:44):
that asked so I just like tokind of just throw that out there.
So really tourniquets are justused for your arms and your legs
and that's kind of kind ofthat. The next piece of like nice
little thing I try to havearound is called Quick Clot. Now
I will say this is a littlebit more expensive, but I genuinely
think that this is worth,worth its weight in gold if you ever
had to use it. Quick Clot isessentially just a fancy type of
(26:06):
gauze that allows it helpsyour blood clot faster. So it has
kaolin in it. Kaolin isalready in our blood. It's a clotting
factor that's found in ourblood. And so this gauze essentially
is going to clot off the bloodthat is coming from a wound or a
laceration. These are reallygood. Where we use them a lot in
our, in the trauma bear wherewe see them on is like head injuries.
(26:27):
So like that person thatwalked into like a bucket and like
cut their head open, if you'veever cut your head open, you know
that they will just like bleedand bleed. And bleed and bleed. And
quick clot's really good justto like put on that and maintain
pressure because it just isgoing to help clot your blood off
faster. Another place that Isee this a lot and is groin. So like
we. I don't say that this islike super common, but I've seen
(26:48):
it like a decent amount oftimes that it's worth mentioning
is like accidental gunshotwounds to the groin. I know that
that's not necessarily farmrelated, but like groin injuries
or stuff like that. Again, youcan't put a tourniquet there but
you can press old quick clotto help clot off your blood. Clot
off that blood faster. Thenext thing I have is Coban. And Coban
is essentially just like themedical version of vet wrap. So if
(27:10):
you have vet wrap, itliterally is the exact same thing.
You can probably buy vet wrapcheaper than you can buy Coban. But
basically that is just goingto. It is a type of something that
you can just wrap around thatwound when you've put quick clot
on and it's going to maintainthat pressure because ideally what
you want to do is put qwikloton wherever you have that injury,
(27:31):
wrap some coban around it andmaintain that pressure on the injury
until you get to the hospitalwhere hopefully at that point you
know the blood, the bleedingis done, but if not, you're at least
decreasing the blood flow outof that injury. The next thing I
have to prepare is kind of arandom one, but it's something that
I didn't even like initiallykind of have in this, this kit or
(27:51):
these items, but I have seenseveral times. So I decided to put
it in as a whistle. And thisis really just to be able to call
for help in the event ofemergency. So if you ever find yourself
like having fallen off of atractor and broken your hip and you
don't have cell service thatyou can at least whistle for help
and hopefully somebody willhear you. And again, like, it sounds
(28:12):
kind of silly, but the onlyreason I have it in this kit is because
I've had like two or threepatients that have said that that's
how they like got help tothem. And so I think if it is, you
know, able to help one person,it's worth that. And then the last
thing that I have in this likefive items is a CPR shield. And again,
kind of what we talked about.A lot of stuff I see is like accident
(28:35):
and medical as accident andlike injury related. But then a lot
of stuff I see coming fromfarms and agriculture is medical
or like medicine related. Andso CPR shield essentially just allows
you to perform rescue breathson somebody. So if you ever got to
a situation that somebody didnot have a pulse and you had to perform
cpr, CPR shield is just abarrier that you place on their mouth
(28:55):
that allows you to performrescue breaths safely. Not only,
you know, for us, but for thepatient as well. And so that's kind
of like the five, like, mainfirst aid safety items that I really
think people should have ontheir farm operations. Whether you
are an animal farmer, a grainfarmer, you know, there's equipment
(29:16):
that's dangerous and there'sthings that can go wrong very quickly.
And those are all items thatI've seen save lives and seen help
people in real life.
Absolutely. And before we goany further, you actually have this
list available online forpeople if they were driving and they
didn't write all of thosethings down. Tell the folks where
they can find this informationthat you just gave them.
(29:38):
Yeah, so I have all of thisinformation on my Instagram. I am
the Dairy Wife is my username.And I also actually have a farm emergency
kit as well that has all ofthese items and a few extra because
we were talking to my husbandabout just kind of some of the other
things that like, we actuallyuse on a regular basis and like burn
cream and band aids and thosetype of things. And just a couple
(30:00):
other items that I think areimportant to have in the event of
an emergency situation. Youknow, trauma shears are great because
they allow you to, like, gainaccess to an injury or cut off seat
belts or, you know, cutanything that's in the way. Emergency
blankets are great because inhypothermia or somebody being cold
is one of the leading thingsin trauma patients that can, like,
(30:20):
have a really negativeoutcome. So kind of that farmer emergency
kit has all of those items,plus a few other items that I feel
like I are beneficial to havein. In any operation.
Yeah. And we'll link all ofthat in the show. Notes and links
and everything as well. I'mcurious. So for us personally, we
have multiple first aid kitsavailable in our shops and in our
(30:42):
trucks. Where do you suggestputting these kits?
I think that depends on howyour farm is set up. So for us, we
have one in a main. Like ourmain office in the dairy barn is
where we have one. And thenobviously I have more, like at my
house if I, you know, if weever needed more. But we have one
in a central location becausewe farm like our furthest field that
(31:02):
we farm is like two milesaway. And so I feel confident that
if there was ever an event ofan emergency, like, somebody would
be at the farm or we could goget it and come back to it. But I've
talked to people that like,they farm like 45 minutes away from
their home farm. And so in theevent of that, I think, you know,
either having one in like avehicle that like, is typically goes
(31:24):
with you wherever that,wherever you're farming for that
day, or having one at likeeach farm location, because again,
like, if you have to drive 30,45 minutes to get this, A, an ambulance
is going to be there, but B,like, it kind of defeats the purpose
of some of these, likehemorrhaging, Hemorrhage control
items.
Yeah, for sure.
And something that, that Ihave always been very cognizant of.
(31:47):
And this actually happenedbecause of an emergency that we did
have. And it wasn't lifethreatening, but it did require an
emergency room visit. I grewup a literal, like minute and a half
walk from our local hospital.I could see the hospital from the
house I grew up in versusbeing out here on the farm. And I
(32:11):
was so cognizant of how longit took me to drive to the emergency
room. And that was enough toput the fear in me to know that,
you know, it would take thislong for an ambulance to come the
other way. And I. Where I liveand how our addresses are listed,
I would have no idea of how totell a 911 operator where I was.
(32:36):
So something that I made myhusband do afterwards was to sit
down and draw a map and putthe coordinates of each field or
each farm down. And we havethat copy and pasted absolutely everywhere.
We have an emergency kit.
Yes. I was literally justabout to say that, actually. I was
like, when you bring up theambulance, one of the other things
(32:58):
that I recommend is exactlythat. Having like a list of your
fields. So like here we haveaddresses for all of our fields,
which I have since learned islike not the norm, especially like
out west, but having yourcoordinates or having the closest
address to it and then knowinghow to talk your way to that field.
Yeah, because like you said,the 911 dispatcher is not going to
(33:19):
know when I say, oh, that'sthe whatever field. They have zero
idea what I'm talking about.The other thing with that is phone
numbers too. So one of theother things that I recommend is
making a list of importantphone numbers, even as simple as
in the event of emergency,call 911 and then you know, like
call my husband and have hisphone number there or whatever. Because
(33:40):
it is like, has been proven inseveral studies that when an emergency
happens, like you don'tprocess and your brain shuts down.
So your brain does not processthe way that you think it would like
at a normal functioning level.And so anything that you can do to
help prepare yourself so thatyou don't have to think in the event
of emergency can really be beneficial.
(34:03):
And you know, you are theperfect example, Katie, of seeing
what can happen so quickly andhow quickly, you know, a simple accident
can turn into an emergency. Sobeing as prepared as possible, I
think we all want to do thatand just giving those simple tips
of those extra things that wecan add into a typical first aid
(34:24):
kit, I think, you know, canliterally save somebody's life.
Yeah, absolutely.
And what you had mentionedbefore, like your brain literally
shuts down like fight, flightor freeze. And I think it's so easy
to think that that would neverhappen to me, I would know what to
do. But like you said, yourbrain, psychologically, whatever's
(34:46):
firing in there, just shutsdown and it's like, what the heck
am I supposed to do? And Ithink the piece that, that you had
mentioned about being a toolas simple as a whistle and to let
everyone know if you areoutside working or if you are standing
there and you're like, what isthat noise? It sounds like a whistle.
(35:08):
Knowing that that's going tobe that connection to help and go
find somebody. Becauseunfortunately rural Internet and
cell phone service is notwhere it should be in the age of
20, 25.
Yeah, even just like I cannottell you and this is not just farming
related but in general Icannot tell you how many people come
(35:29):
to our emergency room that arelike have been down for like an entire
24 hours or farming I've seena lot but like not farming I've seen
even more because they didn'ttell anybody that they were going
to do something or you know,like their wife like went to check
on them because they didn'tcome in for dinner. But like the
reality was their accidenthappened at 9am this morning and
(35:49):
they've been on the ground forsix, seven, eight hours. And so like
not to like be controllingover, you know, what my husband's
doing and I like, you know,don't super care what he's doing
but I do like especially whenwe're chopping and working in field
or that kind of stuff, I dotry to just be like, hey, what time
do you think you'll be homeat. And if he's not home by that
point, like, I just try tosend him a text and be like, you
(36:11):
guys still good? Or he'll tryto just, like, shoot me an update,
just again. So I know that,like, if something is not, you know,
if I hear from him, then,like, that's great. But if not, like,
maybe I'll just, like, driveby and make sure that they're okay.
Yeah, exactly. And, you know,just having that plan and having
the routines of even, like,when it is 90 degrees out, the water
(36:32):
truck comes by with water foreveryone. And just simple things
like that, that are thoseextras and that are the nice to haves
for the people that are in thefield, but also, like, the reassurance
that everyone is hydrated andyou're keeping an eye on them. Because
I myself, you know, if you getin the groove of doing something
and you're like, I'm gonna dothis until I finish, and kind of
(36:54):
neglecting yourself in thatprocess can really do damage to your
body.
(37:49):
Yeah. And even I tell people,too, like, if you buy a tourniquet
or you get a tourniquet, like,you can practice, and it's not gonna,
A, hurt the tourniquet or B,hurt the person that you're practicing
on. Like, tourniquets are notcomfortable. And so, like, I do say
that, like, if you everactually needed to use a tourniquet,
like, in order for it to stopthe blood flow completely, a, the
(38:09):
limb is going to look dead,for lack of a better word, because
it is. It's going to look grayand ashy because there's no blood
flow. But, like, it is reallypainful. But if that's the difference
between life or death, like,obviously I would be like, I'm so
sorry. Like, we've got to doit. But it doesn't hurt. It's not.
It doesn't make the tourniquetany less effective to practice on
it. So if you get atourniquet, open it, Practice on
(38:29):
your husband's arm, practiceon your friend's leg, you know, just
knowing how to do it and,like, being comfortable with what
that is. So that way, again,in the event of, like, you ever having
to use it, you at least know,like, how it goes on and what it
should look like when it's onso you're not, like, fumbling through,
like, you know, trying to openit as you're shaking. That kind of
thing for sure.
(38:50):
So we've really been focusingour conversation, really, on the
older generation or ourgeneration of farmer. But you have
a two year old and farmaccidents for kids happen and it's
unfortunate when it happens.And I think, you know, sometimes
it's uncomfortable to talkabout. But can we talk about farm
(39:12):
safety when it comes to ourlittlest farmers and suggestions
that you have to keep thekiddos safe?
Yeah, I think first andforemost I always tell people that
this is very dependent to eachfamily. So each family like has to
come up with what works fortheir family. Obviously I have suggestions
and a lot of those suggestionsare based off my experience as an
(39:32):
ER nurse and things that I'veseen. But ultimately like my kid
and your kid might handlesituations differently or might be
like different listeners orwhatever. And so, you know, I think
having the conversation, butthen also like understanding like
you have to do what works bestand what looks best for your family.
For us, like we have a couplenon negotiables and one of those
(39:54):
is lawnmowers. And again, Ihave just seen like really, really
bad outcomes happen from kidsgetting run over by lawnmowers, for
lack of a better word. I'veseen like, yeah, I've just seen really,
really bad situations withyoung kids getting run over by a
lawnmower or falling off oflawnmowers and getting run over multiple
times. So not just once. Andso I think that for us that's non
(40:16):
negotiable. We don't evenallow my son to play on lawnmowers
because we don't want him tolearn that that's something that
he can, can play on and rideon. Same with open cab tractors.
So like again for us, likethat's a non negotiable right now
at Brian's age, who's my son.But again I've seen that go wrong.
I've seen kids fall off oftractors and get run over and not
(40:37):
have good outcomes. And Ithink just like having those conversations
of like what are our ruleslook like and then trying to make
everybody else aware of whatthose rules are as well. And so like
for us that looks like, youknow, really having an open conversation
with my in laws of like hey,right now like this, these are our
rules and we would appreciate,you know, and they're great, they
(40:58):
you know, also feel the sameway but like just having that conversation
so that everybody's on thesame board with kind of what those
rules are. And I think one ofthe other thing that's things that's
really challenging as a farmmom and parent is how do you like
get your kid to understandthat it's serious without, like,
also traumatizing them, youknow. And so I haven't really gotten
(41:20):
to that point yet because mychild still is, like, very young.
And, you know, but I thinkthat it's important for them to understand
the severity of some of theseaccidents. But also, like, I don't
want him to be traumatized andnot want to, like, be involved in
the farm and be involved inag. But I do think, like, my, as
a, as a farm mom, at leastfrom my personal opinion, is like,
(41:41):
when my child has to listen.And because things can change so
fast that, like, when I sayno, it has to be no. And so sometimes,
like, I've talked to people atwork that don't live on farms and
just like, different parentingstyles, and I'm like, I have nothing
against whatever, however youwant to raise your child is totally
(42:01):
your decision. And even thatgoes to farming. Farming and farm
kids as well. But, like, forme, like, when I say no, my child
has to listen becausesometimes that ultimately can be
the difference between life ordeath and some of these, like, accidents
if something were to happen atthe farm. And so again, just like,
trying to be, like, on thefarm, like, be really a little bit
more strict with our listeningversus at home and that kind of thing.
(42:23):
And I think just having thatconversation early and starting to
just put whatever practicesyou decide your farm is going to
go with for safety into placeand just kind of try to keep them
talking about them and keeppracticing them. I know some of the
things that I have seen andtalked about is like, dressing your
kids in bright colors,especially, like in harvest season,
(42:44):
just so they're a little biteasier to see. And even just like,
waiting until machines, youknow, cut off or like, not approaching,
like, moving tractors, movingtrucks, moving combines, whatever
that looks like. And like,just trying to talk through, like,
again, just kind of trying totalk to them about, like, the accidents
that can happen. One otheraccident that, like, I have seen,
(43:05):
unfortunately, a coupledifferent times with kids, and again,
I don't really know what,maybe you would have some, some insight
on this, but I don't reallyknow what to do to prevent it is
like them getting kicked byanimals. And I think, again, the
only thing is just like, beingmindful of, like, hey, where you
are, like, talking through,like, how close you should get to
a horse or how close youshould get to a cow and kind of talking
(43:28):
through, through some of that.But that's kind of one of the other
ones that I see. I've seen,unfortunately A few times, you know,
and sometimes the kids aregreat and sometimes I've seen them
have really poor outcomesrelated to those type of injuries.
Right. And I think what youhad said about like explaining this
to kids without essentiallyscaring them and scaring them off
(43:49):
from farming in general, Ithink it's, it's going to be delicate
and it's going to be unique toevery single person. And whether
it's your plan is to put thefear of God into them that this is
going to happen to you if youdon't listen to mom or dad versus
like just explaining to themlike this is what could happen. And
(44:09):
you know, we have to be calmaround animals. We have to, you know,
make sure whoever's operatingthe equipment can see you. If you
can see them, then they shouldbe able to see you with eye contact
and that kind of thing. Solike you said, and it's going to
be different for everyone. Andyou know, the thing that I chalk
it up to is, you know, howevermany years ago the family went to
(44:32):
town and the kids were ridingin the back of the station wagon.
Most families don't do thatanymore because we've learned from
our experiences that thatmight not be the safest thing. Whereas,
you know, we, you and I,didn't grow up on a farm. So the
chores that we had to do askids is going to look a lot differently
than the chores that yourhusband or my husband had to do.
(44:55):
So really being able to talkto your partner and within your extended
family, if it's a family farm,to make that, that an understanding
that this is how we arechoosing to expose our children to
agriculture and everybody tobe on board, whether they agree with
you or not. Right. It's justlike this is what we have to do to
(45:16):
keep safe. And when they'reolder, they can do more. And all
of those things I think issuper important. And an accident
is an accident, like you saidbefore, like that is what it is called,
things happen. We can't lookto blame people at that. You know,
these scary times, we can onlylook to do better moving forward.
(45:36):
And ultimately too, like I dojust like on accidents, like if an
accident happens to a kid,like you can still use all of the
same equipment on children. Solike the principles are still the
same for farm accidents onkids as they are for adults now.
Is that going to be likesignificantly more challenging trying
to put a tourniquet on and athree or four or five year old? Probably.
(45:59):
But also like in the event of,again, like something happening A
they're probably not going tobe moving if you need to put a tourniquet
on them. But like those farms,tips and tricks and things all work
on kids just as well as theywork on adults. So it's all like
the same principles, all thesame kind of anatomy in kids and
adults that, that it doesn'treally matter. Once an accident happens,
(46:22):
then it's like in go mood andit doesn't matter like how old you
are for sure.
Katie, you have given us somuch to think about and so much to
talk about at the kitchentable. What's your hope for the future
of farm safety?
I think my hope is just thatpeople understand how fast it can
(46:43):
happen and try to be a littlebit prepared. You know, I always
say, like, my what if is like,there's been a handful of times,
like I've left the trauma bayafter somebody has knocked, not had
a good outcome and wondering,like, what if they had been prepared?
What if they'd had atourniquet on their farm? Would that
farmer still be alive with ustoday? And I just. My hope is that
(47:04):
as scary as it is and as,like, sad as it is and as hard as
it is to have theseconversations, is that somebody will
be a little bit more preparedfor the event of an emergency that
happens at their farm. And,you know, if this can help save one
person's life, then it's, youknow, has been worth it.
All right, then we've done ourjob today.
(47:26):
Yeah.
Katie, my last question foryou and a question that I love asking
every amazing woman I get tosit down with, is what is the most
rewarding part about being arural woman for you?
I think it is just thelifestyle that I get to live and
the lifestyle that I get toraise my family in. You know, like,
(47:47):
the slow mornings of beingable to go outside and have coffee
and just see the trees andlisten to the birds. Not doing that
right now. It's a little toochilly. But like in the summer, you
know, like, just having thoseslow mornings and being able to just,
like, get outside and like,enjoy the nature, enjoy the farm
and being able to raise mychild and hopefully like more children
(48:10):
at some point in thislifestyle is. Has definitely been
the most rewarding part.
Amazing, Amazing. And the baby cows.
Yes, the baby cows are close. Second.
Anybody who gets to play withbaby cows or see baby cows, it's
a good day.
Yes, I know. If you're everstressed, a visit to the calf barn
always, always makes things better.
Absolutely, Absolutely. Forthe folks listening, Katie, who would
(48:31):
like to connect with you andfind the resources you have available
for them. Where can they findyou online?
I am pretty much mostly onInstagram. Like I mentioned earlier,
my username is the Dairy Wife,so Hedairy Wife. I can also be found
on Facebook and if you haveany questions or are interested in
having me speak about thistopic to an event or to you or whatever,
(48:54):
please feel free to send me amessage and I would love to continue
the conversation over there.
Amazing. Thank you Katie forsharing your story and all of the
amazing resources with ustoday. I truly appreciate it.
Thank you so much for havingme. I enjoyed this.
Thanks for listening to theRural Woman Podcast the Rural Woman
(49:17):
Podcast is more than just apodcast. We are a community. A huge
thank you to the Rural WomanPodcast Team Audio Editor Max Hofer
A special thanks to ourPatreon Executive Producers Sarah
Riedner From Happiness by theAcre to learn how you can become
a Patreon Executive ExecutiveProducer or other ways to financially
(49:39):
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(50:00):
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social media let's strengthenand amplify the voices of women in
(50:21):
agriculture together. Untilnext time my friend. Keep sharing
your story.
Sam.
Hi, I'm Katelyn Duban and thisis the Rural Woman Podcast. I'm a
first generation farmer whomarried into agriculture. Born and
raised in a city, I was sounfamiliar with where my food came
from, but I was determined tofigure it out. Through my journey
into agriculture, I saw womenwho were strong but humble, often
(01:04):
taking a backseat. To me,these women were leaders who deserved
a seat at the table. I createdthe Rural Women Podcast to share
the voices of women in anindustry whose stories often went
untold. The ruralentrepreneurs who live and breathe
their work full of grit andpride. We come here to share our
(01:27):
stories, to be in communitywith each other, to be challenged
and inspired, but mostimportantly, to be celebrated and
to be heard. We may not alllive farm, ranch or homestead the
same, but we are allconnected. We are rural women and
(01:47):
our stories are worthy ofbeing told. Hey, everyone. Welcome
back to another episode of theRural Woman Podcast. Today you'll
meet Katie Hammock. Katie is aregistered ER nurse, proud dairy
farmer's wife, and a mom ofthree. Raising her family in rural
(02:10):
Virginia. With roots thatstretch from Canada to the heart
of dairy country, Katie bringsa rare and powerful perspective to
the table. By day, Katie worksthe fast paced floors of the emergency
room. And by night, andreally, to be honest, all of the
hours in between, she's fullyimmersed in farm life. Milking cows,
(02:32):
managing farm our family life,and witnessing firsthand the risks
that come with a life inagriculture. A quick note before
we begin. This episodeincludes discussions of farm accidents
and medical emergencies. Ifthese topics are sensitive for you,
please listen with care. Inour conversation, Katie opens up
(02:54):
about the emotional weight offarm accidents, what she's seen in
the ER and why she's made ither mission to bring farm safety
to the forefront. Fromtourniquets to whistles and communication
plans, Katie offers practical,potentially life saving advice every
rural family should hear. Ifyou've ever wondered what's really
(03:15):
good in an emergency kit, orwhy preparation matters more than
we think, this one is for you.Without further ado, my friends,
let's get to this week'sepisode with Katie.
Katie, welcome to the RuralWoman Podcast. How are you today?
(03:37):
I'm so good. How are you?
I am doing very well. I am soexcited to dive into your story and
learn all the things aboutKatie. So before I fangirl too much,
tell us who you are, whereyou're from, and how you got your
start in agriculture.
Yes. Well, thank you so muchfor having me. Yeah. My name's Katie
(03:58):
Hammock. I am Initially fromCanada, actually, I grew up outside
of Ottawa, Ontario, on theeastern side of Canada, and found
myself in southern Virginia togo to school. Full intentions of
going back home at some pointafter I graduated nursing school,
and then ended up stickingaround for a job and met my husband
in that first kind of fewmonths out of nursing school. And
(04:20):
it's hard to take a farm to adifferent country, so I moved to
the farm. So we've beenmarried for almost five years now,
and I've lived on my husband'sdairy farm, and I still work as an
ER nurse. So I'm an ER nursewith six years of experience serving
in rural southern Virginia. Iwork in our trauma center. So essentially,
we get anything and everythingthat's critical comes to the hospital
(04:40):
that I work at. And that'skind of where my passion started.
Just like I am reallypassionate about emergency medicine
and really passionate aboutfarm accidents. Unfortunately, they
happen too often. And thenkind of when I married my husband
and got more involved in theagriculture community, I just saw
that, A, there was a need, andB, the people that I were coming
(05:01):
in with those accidents wereoften people that I knew or my husband
knew or somebody kind of knewof. And so it just kind of hit home
a little bit, a little bit more.
And I want to dive in to thefarm safety piece because it's such
a huge topic and it'ssomething that I don't think we talk
about nearly enough. But Iwant to know Katie more and about
your farm and all of thethings. What made you decide to go
(05:23):
to school in Virginia in thefirst place?
Yeah, so I actually came toschool in southern to southern Virginia,
really, to play soccer. So Iplayed collegiate soccer in. The
school I ended up going to wasone of the very few schools that
I talked to that would allowme to play soccer and go to nursing
school, just because nursingschool is such, like, a rigorous
schedule as well as collegiatesoccer. So that was kind of what
(05:45):
got me down here initially. Ihad a dream of playing, like, NCAA
soccer. That's kind of a thingthat, you know, in Canada a lot of
people look to and aspire todo. And so I was fortunate enough
that I had a school inVirginia interested in me. And so
that's kind of what initiallygot me here. And then, like I said,
I had full intentions ofmoving back home, and those plans
changed pretty quickly.
(06:06):
Met that charming farmer Iknow. So going back to being born
and raised in the Ottawa area,I recently went to Ottawa for my
very first time a couplemonths ago. Now and I absolutely
fell in love with the area andthe landscape. What was your views
in agriculture and farming,being raised in that area? It's a
(06:30):
little bit different fromwhere you are now.
Yes. And multiple differentaspects. I was fortunate. I did have
some family that farmedgrowing up. So I had some family
actually farmed innortheastern Pennsylvania. They dairy
farmed and several otherfamily members that like lived in
the country and were involvedin agriculture. So I grew up going
to my aunts and uncle's dairyfarm on like holidays and weekends.
(06:51):
And that is truly like wheremy love for ag and for the dairy
industry began. My friendsalways joked that like I would end
up marrying a dairy farmer. Inever in a million years thought
that I would be the one thatdid marry a dair farmer. But it was
just kind of like a runningjoke growing up that like people
always said I would live on afarm and. But then, you know, it's
different when you're onlygoing to visit a farm on weekends
(07:11):
and holidays versus like thenmoving into the farm and just being
fully submersed into thislifestyle. And so that was just a
little bit of a learning curveof like, you know, Ottawa, like there
is, it is a city and eventhough we were in the outskirts of
Ottawa, like we weresurrounded by stores and there were
so many different things thatyou could do. And so even just something
as simple as like planning outmy groceries because there wasn't
(07:34):
a grocery store nearby.Whereas like at home, you know, I
grew up and there was likeseven grocery stores within like
five minutes of me and stufflike that. So just like some of those
little differences that I kindof had to figure out as I moved here,
but other than that, it wasn'ttoo, too bad.
Well, and I love that you hadthat exposure, I guess, to dairy
farming before. I, I'm verythankful that I met a grain farmer
(07:58):
because truth be told, I don'tthink I am like rough and tough enough
or consistent enough inbasically anything to be a dairy
farmer.
Oh, you could totally do it.You could totally do it.
My thing would be is I wouldprobably just want to play with the
cabs all day and I wouldn'tget much else done. But tell us about
(08:20):
your dairy farm and where yourhusband and you live and what you're
raising and all of the things. Dairy.
Yeah. So my husband is afourth generation dairy farm. It's
him, his dad and his dad's twobrothers and then they have some
cousins that are back on thefarm. So we are currently milking
about 900 cows three times aday. We just got in a new parlor
(08:44):
and are hoping to continue toexpand that up to about 1200 in the
next, you know, six months toa year. And then we farm about a
thousand acres of cropland.Most of that is corn that we use
for corn silage to feed ourcows. So that's kind of where we're
at. We live on the farm. Weare like a quarter of a mile down
the, the road from like themilking parlor. And all of the family
lives right here within us. Sowe, my husband, you know, does most
(09:06):
of the farm stuff. I try to beinvolved as much as I can. I was
a lot more involved before wehad a kid. And now we have a. Almost
two year old running around.That keeps us busy. And it's, it's
nice because he is starting toget old enough that he's always been
at the farm all the time. Butwe can really take him and we can
kind of help a little bit hereand there and he can, you know, listen
(09:26):
and is starting to just beinterested in that a little bit more.
And so that's just like,brings a whole nother kind of aspect,
another dimension that isreally fun just to like watch him
learn to love the agriculturecommunity the way that we do. And
so that's just kind of been afun, fun thing as well. But yeah,
that's pretty much it. We milkcows and farm some, some corn and
(09:48):
really, that's, that's reallyall we do.
I love it when you say, well,that's all we do. You milk 900 cows
three times a day. Like, yeah,I struggle to empty the dishwasher
sometimes. Like, bravo to you.
We are very fortunate. I, youknow, it's very much my husband and
his like the guys, but we arevery fortunate. We have a really
(10:11):
good crew of employees that,you know, obviously help us in milk
and that kind of stuff. So weare really good, really blessed with
like a good crew right now,for sure.
Yeah. And it takes a team, ittakes a village, it takes all of
these things to make anyfarming operation run. I'm curious,
when you are helping, what aresome of your favorite jobs to do?
(10:33):
So I love the calves like yousaid, but that is not kind of what
my, my husband focuses on.Like, so they kind of have it broken
down into different areas. Somy husband really focuses on heifers
and above. So once the heifersgo into the pasture and are kind
of weaned off of their milkand stuff, that's really when my
Husband and his brother anddad take over managing the cows and
(10:55):
they essentially manage them.So they will breed the cows, they
will help them calve ifneeded, and they manage the milk
cows, dry cows, anything likethat. And then in the summer it's
all kind of hands on deck tochop corn and that kind of thing.
But I feel like now mostlywhat I find myself doing is so we
this morning, my little boyand I, we went and helped kind of
(11:17):
move dry cows around. Andbecause we can be in the feed lane,
I can kind of help like unlockcows as they needed from the head
gates or you know, mark cowswith paint if needed or help vaccinate
cows, that kind of thing. Myfavorite job to do is, is feed the
calves. But that's notsomething my husb husband does too
much of. So that's kind of ifwe're lucky and you know, whoever's
feeding the calves, sometimeswe'll go down and just play with
(11:38):
them. But for the most partit's really whatever my husband's
doing, you know, if he'sbreeding heifers, sometimes we'll
go and just like be there andjust like be outside or my husband
also ultrasounds our ownanimals. So a lot of times we'll
go and like run the list iswhat we call it. So we'll just like
go and do preg check with themand just like run the list to see
if they're pregnant, ifthey're not pregnant. And then in
(12:00):
the summer I feel like it'skind of, I'm a little bit of a like
taxi depending on what'sneeded and you know, trying to go
get parts or if something'sbroken down or go get food for the
guys or whatever. And we'rereally fortunate we have a, again
like we are really fortunatethat we have a good crew. But then
also all of our wives and mymother in law and stuff, like we
(12:20):
have a really good andpositive relationship. So it's kind
of nice. We can kind of justtag team whatever's needed and just
like that support and supportthem in whatever way they need that
day.
That's awesome. And you know,we can say this a million times.
It takes a team and it takespeople with different diverse skills
and something as easy as goingto grab parts can really make or
(12:42):
break an operation in a day.Right? Bring back what you need to
keep it going. So that'samazing. So you're an ER nurse as
well as all of those thingsthat you just mentioned. Talk to
me about initially when youmoved onto the farm and obviously
started working and beingsurrounded in this culture, in this
(13:03):
lifestyle of agriculture. Werethere any warning bells that were
going off for you as an ERnurse in the beginning that maybe
you didn't think of?
You know, there's definitelybeen a handful of times that I've,
like, looked at my husband.I'm like, what are you doing? Like,
I have seen this, you know, gowrong so many times, but I don't
think there's anything like,super, super massive. My husband,
(13:25):
like, is for the most part, islike, pretty safe. And I think part
of that is because I have,like, told him, like, the realities
of, like, not being safe andjust like the realities of like,
and the dangers of farming andjust the agriculture industry in
general. I mean, you know, in20, just last year, there was almost
500 deaths alone in the UnitedStates. So I don't. I'll be honest,
(13:46):
I don't know what that lookslike in Canada or North America wide.
But in the US alone, there is500 deaths related to farm accidents.
And so I do that. Like, myhusband takes it seriously because
I. He's seen me, like, comehome crying because of, like, a really
unfortunate situation thathappened at work or like a really
bad accident or something likethat. And so he's just seen, like,
(14:07):
how it can change so quickly.But I think, you know, when I did
move to the farm, there wasdefinitely a little bit of just like
a change in my perspective asan ER nurse and just like, realizing
that, like, accidents reallydo happen. I think before there was
definitely sometimes that Iwas like, man, these guys are like,
you know, just being dangerousand not trying to be safe and, you
(14:29):
know, or like, doing somethingdumb, for lack of a better word.
And then you move to the farmand you realize, like, they really
aren't, like, they're justtrying to do what they need to do
and just kind of get theirjobs done and they're trying to do
it to the best of theirabilities. And then I think the other
thing is it just allowed me toconnect with some of those patients
a little bit better because Iunderstand, like, where they're coming
from. And I can, like, talk tothem about the fact that, like, my
(14:52):
husband's a farmer and, youknow, I've done this and I kind of
know what they're talkingabout. And also, just like, sometimes
farmers, like, aren't. Don'tcome off as, I don't know, maybe
sometimes they're not like,the most gentle spoken, you know,
the most, like, passionatelyspoken people or emotional People.
And so being able to just bethere and be like, oh, this is. Like,
he's not, you know, just kindof translate that as needed and just
(15:13):
kind of be able to be someonethat can relate to them in that incident.
Right. And I think from myperspective, you have the best of
both worlds. You have growingup not rurally and not in farming,
and. And now being immersed inthe farming lifestyle and to see
it from both sides as an ERnurse. And like you said, a typical
ER nurse that might not beexposed to this might think, like,
(15:36):
wow, they must have been doingsomething really silly for this to
happen. But in all reality,things can happen so quickly. I'm
curious, do you remember thefirst farming accident that you had
to deal with in your nursing career?
I remember my first one, to behonest, I have a couple that, like,
(15:57):
I vividly remember that were,like, earlier on in my nursing career.
One of them was somebody thatbroke their leg. I don't know, like,
how, like, in depth, you wantme to go and explaining the injury.
But essentially they broketheir leg, and there was bones sticking
out both ways. So, like,completely broken. Broke the skin.
And he just jumped off of atractor. Like, he was done. His.
(16:19):
Like, he was just trying toget out of a tractor. He was done
doing whatever he was gonna doin it, and he jumped and his leg
just, like, snapped. And so heactually, like, came in, just not
even in the ambulance. Hejust, like, somebody drove him in
and he came in. And I. And Ivividly remember that one. And then
one of the other ones Ivividly remember is a. This was actually
in a trauma bay. And it was. Idon't even remember exactly what,
(16:39):
like, piece of equipment theywere using, but it was like a hand
amputation. So they had atourniquet in place, and his hand,
like, was pretty mangled,pretty much amputated. And so he
ended up in our trauma bay.But those are kind of the two that
I, like, vividly remember fromearlier on in my career.
Right. And like you said, justjumping off of a tractor wrong can
(16:59):
be something that happens. Youstep your foot down wrong or whatever
it is. What do you think aresome of the most common farming accidents
that you see come through the er?
We see a lot of chainsawaccidents. That's like, one that
kind of comes to mind.Typically, those are, like, not very
(17:21):
nice accidents becausechainsaws, like, don't cut cleanly.
So when they cut your skin, itreally just, like, mangles everything
and could really do a lot ofdamage. So I've Seen like people
lose a lot, a lot of blood dueto chainsaw accidents. I've seen
chainsaw accidents becausethey're trying to cut like downed
trees off of a fence or tryingto cut up like brush piles or whatever.
I've also seen. We kind oftalked about lawnmowers briefly before
(17:44):
this. But I have seen peoplerun over themselves in bush hogs.
I've seen people get run overby bush hogs. I've seen legs and
feet amputated due to mowersand bush hogs, hands stuck and like
PTO shaft get mangled. We alsohave a lot of. This one is like not
as serious, but it's stilltraumatic for somebody. But like
finger amputations. So a lotof like table saw finger amputations
(18:06):
or chopping wood fingeramputations. And then some of the
other things that we kind ofsee farm related are a little bit
more medical. But we see a lotof like cardiac injuries or cardiac
events, I should say. So, likepeople that were working in the hayfield
in 90 degree weather and it'sreally hot out and they maybe overdid
(18:27):
it themselves and weren't likehydrated enough and they like went
into cardiac arrest and had tolike be revived or electrocution.
So we unfortunately actuallyhad a electrocution here recently
in our county that was. And apiece of equipment touched the power
lines and electrocuted thefarmer on the other side of that.
They're kind of some of theones that we see. And then even just
(18:49):
simple, like you said, likejumping out of a tractor. I've seen
a lot of elderly people thatget in and out of tractors, like
fall off of the tractor andbreak their hips or fall off and
like dislocate their hip orthat kind of thing. But I think those
are like made ones that kindof come to mind.
Right. And like you said, someof them are extremely severe to the
(19:12):
most common. And I will raisemy hand and tell you, I have had
two concussions from farming accidents.
Yeah.
That were so simple and basic.One, I was cleaning windows and I
stepped my foot wrong and Ifell, fell off the tractor. The second
was I was shoveling out thegrain truck and it had the bars across
(19:36):
the top and I stood up andknocked myself out. Like, these are
just simple tasks that we'redoing. That obviously was an accident.
And I've done it a milliontimes since then and it hasn't happened.
But I'm so conscious now ofwhere's my noggin?
Yeah, we see people all thetime. That, like, again, like, not
(19:56):
somebody that did on purpose,but, like, walked into a bucket loader
or walked into, like, youknow, something, because it's, again,
like you said, they've done ita million times. And I think that
that's the, like, an importantpiece just to like, realize is that,
like, accidents are calledaccidents for a reason. It's because
they truly are accidents. Andso, yes, there's some farm injuries
and farm accidents that happenbecause people weren't prepared and
(20:18):
maybe didn't do, like, all ofthe things that they should have
done. But I feel like ninetimes out of 10, the accidents that
I see are genuinely accidentsand are accidents that, like, could
have happened to anybody andwere just, like, really unfortunate
situations. And so, you know,like, those are the ones that, like,
are almost more scary becauseyou don't know what it's going to
happen because you can'treally prepare for it because it
truly is just an accident.
(20:39):
Right. And do you find thatmaybe farmers, when those accidents
do happen, may or may not seekhelp because of maybe embarrassment?
Yes, they definitely, I feellike, don't always seek help or sometimes,
like, just in general, like, Iknow a lot of people that are like,
(21:00):
oh, I'll go to the doctor inlike, three days if it's not better.
And I mean, we've had somepeople that come in that are like,
oh, I fell off a tractor threedays ago and, like, their lung is
completely collapsed andthey've been living with it for three
days and they got finally to apoint that they couldn't breathe,
so they came in to see us.But. And I don't know if it's embarrassment
or if it's just that farmersare, like, in general, pretty stoic
(21:23):
people and are pretty toughpeople and that they really don't
think that there's anythingwrong until they get to the point
that they cannot function. Andthen they come in and see us and,
you know, like, we always jokein the emergency room, but, like,
it's true. Like, if somebodycomes in and tells us that they're
a farmer and they're there,like, oftentimes we take them seriously
because, like, stereotypicallythose type of people and farmers
(21:45):
don't come, like, they don'twant to come into the er, they don't
want to be seen by a doctor.And so I don't know what the reason
is, but I do think that, like,farm accidents are probably underreported
across, like, the world. And Ido think that, like, not all the
time do people, like, go andSeek help when, when necessary.
I'm thinking there was a viraltick tock. I don't know how long
(22:09):
ago it was, but it was, youknow, the skit of the ER nurse saying
that there was a farmer hereand it was like all hands on deck,
like code, whatever because afarmer came in to the hospital. And
like you said, there could beso many different reasons that people
choose to seek help or notseek help. But I'm curious, you had
(22:30):
mentioned about being preparedfor accidents. So what are your tips
and advice of what we can doas farmers and things that we can
have on hand to be preparedfor accidents if they do happen?
My like perspective on this isvery emergency medicine focused.
So it's very like ER nursefocused. Not so much like the mechanics
(22:53):
and like the equipment,machinery type of things. And there's
a lot of stuff on that endthat you can do to prepare and prevent
accidents. But what my passionand what I try to focus on is preparing
and preventing for likeinjuries that we can do something
about. So there is someinjuries that happen on the farm,
for example, like if youamputate your leg or you amputate
(23:15):
your arm or you get a reallybad chainsaw accident that we can
do something about those priorto seeking help or prior to getting
to a hospital or even prior toan ambulance coming to getting to
us. So I know for us like ifthere's ever a medical emergency
where we are, A, we're goingto be life flighted in a helicopter
to a hospital because we're inthe middle of nowhere and B, it's
(23:37):
gonna take probably 20 minutesfor an ambulance to get to us. And
so the reality is that ittakes less than five minutes for
somebody to bleed out if theyhave a serious accident. So if I
don't have what I need on handto stop bleeding and control the
bleeding that's detrimental tomy husband or my father in law's
or whoever's outcome that youknow, was involved in that accident.
(23:58):
And so I have five items thatI kind of talk about in general.
Just trying to focus onpreparing for those type of injuries.
A lot of them are inpreparation for like hemorrhage or
which is, that's just a fancyword for like bleeding type injuries
because those are the onesthat we can kind of control. And
(24:18):
I say kind of because there'ssome type of bleedings that like
happen internally that like wecan't do anything about. But the
external ones we canabsolutely, you know, be prepared
for. And so first andforemost, the thing that's like arguably,
in my opinion, the mostimportant to have on your farm is
a tourniquet. A tourniquet isessentially a piece of medical equipment
(24:38):
that wraps around your limband cuts off circulation. So it's
for injuries to your arms, toyour legs. Again, like if you got
your hand stuck in a PTO shaftand you mangled your hand. I've seen
this happen in real life andyou have like mangled your hand and
there's blood rushingeverywhere. A tourniquet on that
arm is going to stop thecirculation to that hand and therefore
(24:59):
stop the bleeding. Anambulance or somebody can get there.
What you do with a tourniquetis you place it 2 to 4 inches above
the injury and then youessentially are just going to tighten
it really, really tight. In myopinion, there's like not. I just
feel like that's somethingthat everybody should have. They're
so inexpensive, you can buythem online. They're so compact,
you can put one, you know, asmany as you want in a tractor cab
(25:21):
or in a truck or whatever. Andthat's like the one thing single
handedly that I see, save morelives than any other piece of like
medical equipment that I seekind of in the field prior to getting
to the hospital. One questionjust like that I feel like I get
a lot about this is you cannotput a tourniquet like around your
neck because obviously thatwould not end well. But I have had
(25:44):
that asked so I just like tokind of just throw that out there.
So really tourniquets are justused for your arms and your legs
and that's kind of kind ofthat. The next piece of like nice
little thing I try to havearound is called Quick Clot. Now
I will say this is a littlebit more expensive, but I genuinely
think that this is worth,worth its weight in gold if you ever
had to use it. Quick Clot isessentially just a fancy type of
(26:06):
gauze that allows it helpsyour blood clot faster. So it has
kaolin in it. Kaolin isalready in our blood. It's a clotting
factor that's found in ourblood. And so this gauze essentially
is going to clot off the bloodthat is coming from a wound or a
laceration. These are reallygood. Where we use them a lot in
our, in the trauma bear wherewe see them on is like head injuries.
(26:27):
So like that person thatwalked into like a bucket and like
cut their head open, if you'veever cut your head open, you know
that they will just like bleedand bleed. And bleed and bleed. And
quick clot's really good justto like put on that and maintain
pressure because it just isgoing to help clot your blood off
faster. Another place that Isee this a lot and is groin. So like
we. I don't say that this islike super common, but I've seen
(26:48):
it like a decent amount oftimes that it's worth mentioning
is like accidental gunshotwounds to the groin. I know that
that's not necessarily farmrelated, but like groin injuries
or stuff like that. Again, youcan't put a tourniquet there but
you can press old quick clotto help clot off your blood. Clot
off that blood faster. Thenext thing I have is Coban. And Coban
is essentially just like themedical version of vet wrap. So if
(27:10):
you have vet wrap, itliterally is the exact same thing.
You can probably buy vet wrapcheaper than you can buy Coban. But
basically that is just goingto. It is a type of something that
you can just wrap around thatwound when you've put quick clot
on and it's going to maintainthat pressure because ideally what
you want to do is put qwikloton wherever you have that injury,
(27:31):
wrap some coban around it andmaintain that pressure on the injury
until you get to the hospitalwhere hopefully at that point you
know the blood, the bleedingis done, but if not, you're at least
decreasing the blood flow outof that injury. The next thing I
have to prepare is kind of arandom one, but it's something that
I didn't even like initiallykind of have in this, this kit or
(27:51):
these items, but I have seenseveral times. So I decided to put
it in as a whistle. And thisis really just to be able to call
for help in the event ofemergency. So if you ever find yourself
like having fallen off of atractor and broken your hip and you
don't have cell service thatyou can at least whistle for help
and hopefully somebody willhear you. And again, like, it sounds
(28:12):
kind of silly, but the onlyreason I have it in this kit is because
I've had like two or threepatients that have said that that's
how they like got help tothem. And so I think if it is, you
know, able to help one person,it's worth that. And then the last
thing that I have in this likefive items is a CPR shield. And again,
kind of what we talked about.A lot of stuff I see is like accident
(28:35):
and medical as accident andlike injury related. But then a lot
of stuff I see coming fromfarms and agriculture is medical
or like medicine related. Andso CPR shield essentially just allows
you to perform rescue breathson somebody. So if you ever got to
a situation that somebody didnot have a pulse and you had to perform
cpr, CPR shield is just abarrier that you place on their mouth
(28:55):
that allows you to performrescue breaths safely. Not only,
you know, for us, but for thepatient as well. And so that's kind
of like the five, like, mainfirst aid safety items that I really
think people should have ontheir farm operations. Whether you
are an animal farmer, a grainfarmer, you know, there's equipment
(29:16):
that's dangerous and there'sthings that can go wrong very quickly.
And those are all items thatI've seen save lives and seen help
people in real life.
Absolutely. And before we goany further, you actually have this
list available online forpeople if they were driving and they
didn't write all of thosethings down. Tell the folks where
they can find this informationthat you just gave them.
(29:38):
Yeah, so I have all of thisinformation on my Instagram. I am
the Dairy Wife is my username.And I also actually have a farm emergency
kit as well that has all ofthese items and a few extra because
we were talking to my husbandabout just kind of some of the other
things that like, we actuallyuse on a regular basis and like burn
cream and band aids and thosetype of things. And just a couple
(30:00):
other items that I think areimportant to have in the event of
an emergency situation. Youknow, trauma shears are great because
they allow you to, like, gainaccess to an injury or cut off seat
belts or, you know, cutanything that's in the way. Emergency
blankets are great because inhypothermia or somebody being cold
is one of the leading thingsin trauma patients that can, like,
(30:20):
have a really negativeoutcome. So kind of that farmer emergency
kit has all of those items,plus a few other items that I feel
like I are beneficial to havein. In any operation.
Yeah. And we'll link all ofthat in the show. Notes and links
and everything as well. I'mcurious. So for us personally, we
have multiple first aid kitsavailable in our shops and in our
(30:42):
trucks. Where do you suggestputting these kits?
I think that depends on howyour farm is set up. So for us, we
have one in a main. Like ourmain office in the dairy barn is
where we have one. And thenobviously I have more, like at my
house if I, you know, if weever needed more. But we have one
in a central location becausewe farm like our furthest field that
(31:02):
we farm is like two milesaway. And so I feel confident that
if there was ever an event ofan emergency, like, somebody would
be at the farm or we could goget it and come back to it. But I've
talked to people that like,they farm like 45 minutes away from
their home farm. And so in theevent of that, I think, you know,
either having one in like avehicle that like, is typically goes
(31:24):
with you wherever that,wherever you're farming for that
day, or having one at likeeach farm location, because again,
like, if you have to drive 30,45 minutes to get this, A, an ambulance
is going to be there, but B,like, it kind of defeats the purpose
of some of these, likehemorrhaging, Hemorrhage control
items.
Yeah, for sure.
And something that, that Ihave always been very cognizant of.
(31:47):
And this actually happenedbecause of an emergency that we did
have. And it wasn't lifethreatening, but it did require an
emergency room visit. I grewup a literal, like minute and a half
walk from our local hospital.I could see the hospital from the
house I grew up in versusbeing out here on the farm. And I
(32:11):
was so cognizant of how longit took me to drive to the emergency
room. And that was enough toput the fear in me to know that,
you know, it would take thislong for an ambulance to come the
other way. And I. Where I liveand how our addresses are listed,
I would have no idea of how totell a 911 operator where I was.
(32:36):
So something that I made myhusband do afterwards was to sit
down and draw a map and putthe coordinates of each field or
each farm down. And we havethat copy and pasted absolutely everywhere.
We have an emergency kit.
Yes. I was literally justabout to say that, actually. I was
like, when you bring up theambulance, one of the other things
(32:58):
that I recommend is exactlythat. Having like a list of your
fields. So like here we haveaddresses for all of our fields,
which I have since learned islike not the norm, especially like
out west, but having yourcoordinates or having the closest
address to it and then knowinghow to talk your way to that field.
Yeah, because like you said,the 911 dispatcher is not going to
(33:19):
know when I say, oh, that'sthe whatever field. They have zero
idea what I'm talking about.The other thing with that is phone
numbers too. So one of theother things that I recommend is
making a list of importantphone numbers, even as simple as
in the event of emergency,call 911 and then you know, like
call my husband and have hisphone number there or whatever. Because
(33:40):
it is like, has been proven inseveral studies that when an emergency
happens, like you don'tprocess and your brain shuts down.
So your brain does not processthe way that you think it would like
at a normal functioning level.And so anything that you can do to
help prepare yourself so thatyou don't have to think in the event
of emergency can really be beneficial.
(34:03):
And you know, you are theperfect example, Katie, of seeing
what can happen so quickly andhow quickly, you know, a simple accident
can turn into an emergency. Sobeing as prepared as possible, I
think we all want to do thatand just giving those simple tips
of those extra things that wecan add into a typical first aid
(34:24):
kit, I think, you know, canliterally save somebody's life.
Yeah, absolutely.
And what you had mentionedbefore, like your brain literally
shuts down like fight, flightor freeze. And I think it's so easy
to think that that would neverhappen to me, I would know what to
do. But like you said, yourbrain, psychologically, whatever's
(34:46):
firing in there, just shutsdown and it's like, what the heck
am I supposed to do? And Ithink the piece that, that you had
mentioned about being a toolas simple as a whistle and to let
everyone know if you areoutside working or if you are standing
there and you're like, what isthat noise? It sounds like a whistle.
(35:08):
Knowing that that's going tobe that connection to help and go
find somebody. Becauseunfortunately rural Internet and
cell phone service is notwhere it should be in the age of
20, 25.
Yeah, even just like I cannottell you and this is not just farming
related but in general Icannot tell you how many people come
(35:29):
to our emergency room that arelike have been down for like an entire
24 hours or farming I've seena lot but like not farming I've seen
even more because they didn'ttell anybody that they were going
to do something or you know,like their wife like went to check
on them because they didn'tcome in for dinner. But like the
reality was their accidenthappened at 9am this morning and
(35:49):
they've been on the ground forsix, seven, eight hours. And so like
not to like be controllingover, you know, what my husband's
doing and I like, you know,don't super care what he's doing
but I do like especially whenwe're chopping and working in field
or that kind of stuff, I dotry to just be like, hey, what time
do you think you'll be homeat. And if he's not home by that
point, like, I just try tosend him a text and be like, you
(36:11):
guys still good? Or he'll tryto just, like, shoot me an update,
just again. So I know that,like, if something is not, you know,
if I hear from him, then,like, that's great. But if not, like,
maybe I'll just, like, driveby and make sure that they're okay.
Yeah, exactly. And, you know,just having that plan and having
the routines of even, like,when it is 90 degrees out, the water
(36:32):
truck comes by with water foreveryone. And just simple things
like that, that are thoseextras and that are the nice to haves
for the people that are in thefield, but also, like, the reassurance
that everyone is hydrated andyou're keeping an eye on them. Because
I myself, you know, if you getin the groove of doing something
and you're like, I'm gonna dothis until I finish, and kind of
(36:54):
neglecting yourself in thatprocess can really do damage to your
body.
(37:49):
Yeah. And even I tell people,too, like, if you buy a tourniquet
or you get a tourniquet, like,you can practice, and it's not gonna,
A, hurt the tourniquet or B,hurt the person that you're practicing
on. Like, tourniquets are notcomfortable. And so, like, I do say
that, like, if you everactually needed to use a tourniquet,
like, in order for it to stopthe blood flow completely, a, the
(38:09):
limb is going to look dead,for lack of a better word, because
it is. It's going to look grayand ashy because there's no blood
flow. But, like, it is reallypainful. But if that's the difference
between life or death, like,obviously I would be like, I'm so
sorry. Like, we've got to doit. But it doesn't hurt. It's not.
It doesn't make the tourniquetany less effective to practice on
it. So if you get atourniquet, open it, Practice on
(38:29):
your husband's arm, practiceon your friend's leg, you know, just
knowing how to do it and,like, being comfortable with what
that is. So that way, again,in the event of, like, you ever having
to use it, you at least know,like, how it goes on and what it
should look like when it's onso you're not, like, fumbling through,
like, you know, trying to openit as you're shaking. That kind of
thing for sure.
(38:50):
So we've really been focusingour conversation, really, on the
older generation or ourgeneration of farmer. But you have
a two year old and farmaccidents for kids happen and it's
unfortunate when it happens.And I think, you know, sometimes
it's uncomfortable to talkabout. But can we talk about farm
(39:12):
safety when it comes to ourlittlest farmers and suggestions
that you have to keep thekiddos safe?
Yeah, I think first andforemost I always tell people that
this is very dependent to eachfamily. So each family like has to
come up with what works fortheir family. Obviously I have suggestions
and a lot of those suggestionsare based off my experience as an
(39:32):
ER nurse and things that I'veseen. But ultimately like my kid
and your kid might handlesituations differently or might be
like different listeners orwhatever. And so, you know, I think
having the conversation, butthen also like understanding like
you have to do what works bestand what looks best for your family.
For us, like we have a couplenon negotiables and one of those
(39:54):
is lawnmowers. And again, Ihave just seen like really, really
bad outcomes happen from kidsgetting run over by lawnmowers, for
lack of a better word. I'veseen like, yeah, I've just seen really,
really bad situations withyoung kids getting run over by a
lawnmower or falling off oflawnmowers and getting run over multiple
times. So not just once. Andso I think that for us that's non
(40:16):
negotiable. We don't evenallow my son to play on lawnmowers
because we don't want him tolearn that that's something that
he can, can play on and rideon. Same with open cab tractors.
So like again for us, likethat's a non negotiable right now
at Brian's age, who's my son.But again I've seen that go wrong.
I've seen kids fall off oftractors and get run over and not
(40:37):
have good outcomes. And Ithink just like having those conversations
of like what are our ruleslook like and then trying to make
everybody else aware of whatthose rules are as well. And so like
for us that looks like, youknow, really having an open conversation
with my in laws of like hey,right now like this, these are our
rules and we would appreciate,you know, and they're great, they
(40:58):
you know, also feel the sameway but like just having that conversation
so that everybody's on thesame board with kind of what those
rules are. And I think one ofthe other thing that's things that's
really challenging as a farmmom and parent is how do you like
get your kid to understandthat it's serious without, like,
also traumatizing them, youknow. And so I haven't really gotten
(41:20):
to that point yet because mychild still is, like, very young.
And, you know, but I thinkthat it's important for them to understand
the severity of some of theseaccidents. But also, like, I don't
want him to be traumatized andnot want to, like, be involved in
the farm and be involved inag. But I do think, like, my, as
a, as a farm mom, at leastfrom my personal opinion, is like,
(41:41):
when my child has to listen.And because things can change so
fast that, like, when I sayno, it has to be no. And so sometimes,
like, I've talked to people atwork that don't live on farms and
just like, different parentingstyles, and I'm like, I have nothing
against whatever, however youwant to raise your child is totally
(42:01):
your decision. And even thatgoes to farming. Farming and farm
kids as well. But, like, forme, like, when I say no, my child
has to listen becausesometimes that ultimately can be
the difference between life ordeath and some of these, like, accidents
if something were to happen atthe farm. And so again, just like,
trying to be, like, on thefarm, like, be really a little bit
more strict with our listeningversus at home and that kind of thing.
(42:23):
And I think just having thatconversation early and starting to
just put whatever practicesyou decide your farm is going to
go with for safety into placeand just kind of try to keep them
talking about them and keeppracticing them. I know some of the
things that I have seen andtalked about is like, dressing your
kids in bright colors,especially, like in harvest season,
(42:44):
just so they're a little biteasier to see. And even just like,
waiting until machines, youknow, cut off or like, not approaching,
like, moving tractors, movingtrucks, moving combines, whatever
that looks like. And like,just trying to talk through, like,
again, just kind of trying totalk to them about, like, the accidents
that can happen. One otheraccident that, like, I have seen,
(43:05):
unfortunately, a coupledifferent times with kids, and again,
I don't really know what,maybe you would have some, some insight
on this, but I don't reallyknow what to do to prevent it is
like them getting kicked byanimals. And I think, again, the
only thing is just like, beingmindful of, like, hey, where you
are, like, talking through,like, how close you should get to
a horse or how close youshould get to a cow and kind of talking
(43:28):
through, through some of that.But that's kind of one of the other
ones that I see. I've seen,unfortunately A few times, you know,
and sometimes the kids aregreat and sometimes I've seen them
have really poor outcomesrelated to those type of injuries.
Right. And I think what youhad said about like explaining this
to kids without essentiallyscaring them and scaring them off
(43:49):
from farming in general, Ithink it's, it's going to be delicate
and it's going to be unique toevery single person. And whether
it's your plan is to put thefear of God into them that this is
going to happen to you if youdon't listen to mom or dad versus
like just explaining to themlike this is what could happen. And
(44:09):
you know, we have to be calmaround animals. We have to, you know,
make sure whoever's operatingthe equipment can see you. If you
can see them, then they shouldbe able to see you with eye contact
and that kind of thing. Solike you said, and it's going to
be different for everyone. Andyou know, the thing that I chalk
it up to is, you know, howevermany years ago the family went to
(44:32):
town and the kids were ridingin the back of the station wagon.
Most families don't do thatanymore because we've learned from
our experiences that thatmight not be the safest thing. Whereas,
you know, we, you and I,didn't grow up on a farm. So the
chores that we had to do askids is going to look a lot differently
than the chores that yourhusband or my husband had to do.
(44:55):
So really being able to talkto your partner and within your extended
family, if it's a family farm,to make that, that an understanding
that this is how we arechoosing to expose our children to
agriculture and everybody tobe on board, whether they agree with
you or not. Right. It's justlike this is what we have to do to
(45:16):
keep safe. And when they'reolder, they can do more. And all
of those things I think issuper important. And an accident
is an accident, like you saidbefore, like that is what it is called,
things happen. We can't lookto blame people at that. You know,
these scary times, we can onlylook to do better moving forward.
(45:36):
And ultimately too, like I dojust like on accidents, like if an
accident happens to a kid,like you can still use all of the
same equipment on children. Solike the principles are still the
same for farm accidents onkids as they are for adults now.
Is that going to be likesignificantly more challenging trying
to put a tourniquet on and athree or four or five year old? Probably.
(45:59):
But also like in the event of,again, like something happening A
they're probably not going tobe moving if you need to put a tourniquet
on them. But like those farms,tips and tricks and things all work
on kids just as well as theywork on adults. So it's all like
the same principles, all thesame kind of anatomy in kids and
adults that, that it doesn'treally matter. Once an accident happens,
(46:22):
then it's like in go mood andit doesn't matter like how old you
are for sure.
Katie, you have given us somuch to think about and so much to
talk about at the kitchentable. What's your hope for the future
of farm safety?
I think my hope is just thatpeople understand how fast it can
(46:43):
happen and try to be a littlebit prepared. You know, I always
say, like, my what if is like,there's been a handful of times,
like I've left the trauma bayafter somebody has knocked, not had
a good outcome and wondering,like, what if they had been prepared?
What if they'd had atourniquet on their farm? Would that
farmer still be alive with ustoday? And I just. My hope is that
(47:04):
as scary as it is and as,like, sad as it is and as hard as
it is to have theseconversations, is that somebody will
be a little bit more preparedfor the event of an emergency that
happens at their farm. And,you know, if this can help save one
person's life, then it's, youknow, has been worth it.
All right, then we've done ourjob today.
(47:26):
Yeah.
Katie, my last question foryou and a question that I love asking
every amazing woman I get tosit down with, is what is the most
rewarding part about being arural woman for you?
I think it is just thelifestyle that I get to live and
the lifestyle that I get toraise my family in. You know, like,
(47:47):
the slow mornings of beingable to go outside and have coffee
and just see the trees andlisten to the birds. Not doing that
right now. It's a little toochilly. But like in the summer, you
know, like, just having thoseslow mornings and being able to just,
like, get outside and like,enjoy the nature, enjoy the farm
and being able to raise mychild and hopefully like more children
(48:10):
at some point in thislifestyle is. Has definitely been
the most rewarding part.
Amazing, Amazing. And the baby cows.
Yes, the baby cows are close. Second.
Anybody who gets to play withbaby cows or see baby cows, it's
a good day.
Yes, I know. If you're everstressed, a visit to the calf barn
always, always makes things better.
Absolutely, Absolutely. Forthe folks listening, Katie, who would
(48:31):
like to connect with you andfind the resources you have available
for them. Where can they findyou online?
I am pretty much mostly onInstagram. Like I mentioned earlier,
my username is the Dairy Wife,so Hedairy Wife. I can also be found
on Facebook and if you haveany questions or are interested in
having me speak about thistopic to an event or to you or whatever,
(48:54):
please feel free to send me amessage and I would love to continue
the conversation over there.
Amazing. Thank you Katie forsharing your story and all of the
amazing resources with ustoday. I truly appreciate it.
Thank you so much for havingme. I enjoyed this.
Thanks for listening to theRural Woman Podcast the Rural Woman
(49:17):
Podcast is more than just apodcast. We are a community. A huge
thank you to the Rural WomanPodcast Team Audio Editor Max Hofer
A special thanks to ourPatreon Executive Producers Sarah
Riedner From Happiness by theAcre to learn how you can become
a Patreon Executive ExecutiveProducer or other ways to financially
(49:39):
support the show, head on overto wildrosefarmer.com to learn more.
Be sure to hit the Follow orSubscribe button wherever you listen
to the podcast to get thelatest episodes directly on your
playlist. And if you areloving the show, please be sure to
leave a rating and review onApple Podcasts or any other platform
(50:00):
that accepts ratings andreviews. You can connect with us
on social media, theworldwoman Podcast, and with me,
ildrosefarmer. One of the bestways you can support the show is
by sharing it. Send thisepisode to a friend or share on your
social media let's strengthenand amplify the voices of women in
(50:21):
agriculture together. Untilnext time my friend. Keep sharing
your story.
Sam.
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