The high cost of everything!

[cowman]

Well I should say, the high cost of everything....except cattle and grain!
Ever tried to hire anyone lately?
In June I paid my licensed guy slightly over $5 K and the other guy quit, so have been stretched pretty thin trying to get to all the jobs. In fact am turning away a lot of work!
My daughter in law has pitched right in and packs that baby up in the truck and goes and sprays around wellheads. She sure is a good little girl and knows how to work! They raise those old Saskatchewan farm girls right!

[coppertop]

Lucky for you that your 'boy' picked a good old farm gal. My two married town gals that had no interest in farming except to look at the new baby calves and 'coo' over how cute they were !!

One of them is no longer a 'wife', but the new gal in my son's life is also a city gal, who cannot understand why she can't go and pet the baby calves !!! Now, it wouldn't be very hospitable of me to let her try it and be on the receiving end of the wrath of a limo mama !!

[grassfarmer]

Sounds like a healthy babyhood cowman, driving around in a vehicle spraying toxic chemicals. Lets hope there isn't a price to pay later in that childs life.

[cowman]

Well the kid doesn't get out of the truck and its only Roundup...you know the same stuff you get sprayed on your bread/cereal pre harvest? The same stuff that all your canola gets sprayed with? The same stuff you get for chemo therapy?
Roundup is about as safe as it gets. Probably get one hell of a lot more toxins in any urban neighborhood.

[Ron]

Probably safer than your local golf course for herbicide residue as well.

[grassfarmer]

It's maybe only Roundup to you cowman but it is a toxic chemical to me. Let's face it anything that will kill any vegetation on contact isn't just like pop. Chemo therapy drugs aren't a walk in the park either - they act by killing certain cells as I'm sure you know. I watched my mother undergoing that treatment and it wasn't pretty.

Here is an article on Roundup safety with some important points in it about the testing that has and hasn't been done on the product and the claims about it's safety.

"According to its label, the re-entry period before anyone can safely enter areas that have been sprayed with RoundUp is four hours. As with any pesticide application, the person doing the spraying should read the entire product label and follow all instructions. Wear appropriate protective clothing to avoid the spray contacting your skin. At a minimum, this means long pants and a long-sleeved shirt.

While the EPA does not allow manufacturers such as Monsanto to explicitly say that RoundUp is safe, it is certainly implied in their advertisements for the product. Recently I've seen a commercial for RoundUp showing a man dressed in shorts and short-sleeved shirt happily spraying and winning his battle against weeds. The New York State Attorney General, Eliot Spitzer, has twice sued Monsanto successfully over false advertising, such as images of young children with bare legs playing on newly treated lawns.

You definitely want to avoid contact with the spray, and not just because of what is listed as its active ingredient, glyphosate. RoundUp also contains something called a surfactant that helps the spray stick better to whatever it contacts, whether it is the leaf of a plant or your skin. Some tests have indicated that the surfactant included in RoundUp may pose more hazards than glyphosate.

There has been testing of RoundUp for skin and eye irritation, and to determine the concentration that causes death of 50 percent of the test population, i.e., the LD-50. There has been little or no testing done to determine its effects on the endocrine system (hormone effects) or with exposure to a mixture of chemicals including other common pesticides. Some consideration is now given to possible effects on children. However, there has been no testing and therefore there is no data for those in utero or on children younger than 6 months of age, before the blood-brain barrier is formed.

Available testing does not allow either the manufacturer or the consumer to determine under what conditions, if any, the product may be used "safely." It also doesn't indicate that where there is no data, there is no risk.

There is a distinctive smell that persists for some time after RoundUp has been sprayed. Individuals who have been exposed have reported symptoms including headaches, sore throats, and irritated eyes. After repeated exposures, some individuals become sensitized and are more prone to headaches with subsequent exposure to RoundUp.

I think that it is significant that in the U.S., any testing of the safety of a pesticide's ingredients is done by the companies that would profit from the products, rather than by independent research labs."

[coppertop]

I think we need to give credit to the Mom of this little tyke. Obviously her child's safety is her most important concern, so its doubful that the little one is in any danger.

I think of little kids on farms everywhere that accompany their parents spraying, combining, around livestock and all other general duties on the farm, mainly because both parents are busy doing the work that needs to be done.

I am willing to bet that the most risky part of cowmans grandbaby's day is the drive down the road to the lease, vs the actual spraying operations.

Thanks for the info on roundbup grassfarmer it is a good idea to remind ones self about these chemicals, we tend to be far too busy and in a hurry to take time to be aware of such things.

[cowman]

Throughout life there is risk? In everything? Maybe we should all just live in a glass bubble?
The LD 50 of Roundup is 4320/mg/kg? I believe salt is around 180? Nicotine about 150? Caffeine right in that area? I wonder what the toxcity of the air in downtown Calgary is?
The lower the LD number the more dangerous it is.
I know you don't like chemicals, but the fact is unless you are eating organic you are being exposed to a list of chemicals anyway...and maybe even if you are eating organic! The old joke is what is the difference between organic farmers and conventional farmers...the organic ones have to spray at night!
I would think coming from the UK you might know a bit about over using chemicals? My neighbor says his relatives in Yorkshire spray their crops three times a year, plus fungicides.
Chemical safety and safe practice is a must in industrial spraying. Worry more about the urbanite who goes out and sprays his dandelions with killex or par 3 and cleans up the dew worms with Sevin...and then lets the kids and dog out for a romp! Those chems make roundup look like soda pop!

[cowman]

Also grassfarmer I see you have no problem using ivomec on a living creature? Ivomec kills internal parasites. Did the same "multi national" companies do the tests that you feel it is okay?
Is Ivomec safe? Would an organic farmer be able to use it?
Maybe you are not so pure after all, but pick and choose your chems based on what makes you money?
If Ivomec is so safe how come my neighbor got a big scald mark down his back when he accidently gave himself a dose?

[grassfarmer]

No longer use Ivomec actually Cowman

[countrygirl]

I agree with the comments from all sides regarding the prices of everything. What will we give up first? The perfect long lasting keep forever vegetable? The thick Juicy cut of meat? The air-cooled car? There are things that we have really grown fond of. Yes there are things out there that can and will hurt us. What will we give up first. The lady with the baby is no different than your moms or grand moms of years past plowing or running a tractor or team to make a home and future. I have worked off the farm, lost it and now have to start again, I wouldn't trade a moment, just wish I was smarter who my enemies were.