WEBVTT 00:00:11.720 --> 00:00:15.060 Breaking free from the chains of the past Where 00:00:15.060 --> 00:00:18.820 truth moves faster than a Holstein calf No law 00:00:18.820 --> 00:00:21.660 waiting on some printed page We're charting new 00:00:21.660 --> 00:00:25.300 ground in the digital age From genomic codes 00:00:25.300 --> 00:00:29.120 to robot facts We cut through the noise, no hold 00:00:29.280 --> 00:00:32.460 them back not your daddy's dairy news tonight 00:00:32.460 --> 00:01:02.840 we're sparking Welcome back to the Bullbine Podcast, 00:01:02.939 --> 00:01:05.120 where we cut through dairy industry noise to 00:01:05.120 --> 00:01:07.739 get you the insights that actually matter for 00:01:07.739 --> 00:01:10.920 your operation. If you're looking for sugar -coated 00:01:10.920 --> 00:01:13.400 press releases or the standard corporate line, 00:01:13.560 --> 00:01:15.859 you are definitely in the wrong place. Yeah, 00:01:15.879 --> 00:01:17.640 we're just not doing that today. No, we're not. 00:01:17.780 --> 00:01:21.379 We are here to look at the hard truths. The numbers, 00:01:21.439 --> 00:01:23.540 the regulations, and the realities of the dairy 00:01:23.540 --> 00:01:26.340 business. And today we're doing a deep dive into 00:01:26.340 --> 00:01:28.980 a feature piece about the tragedy at Prospect 00:01:28.980 --> 00:01:31.140 Valley Dairy. And folks, I'm going to be honest, 00:01:31.219 --> 00:01:32.799 right out of the gate here, this is a really 00:01:32.799 --> 00:01:35.099 heavy one. We talk about milk prices. We talk 00:01:35.099 --> 00:01:37.359 about genetics feed costs every single week. 00:01:37.439 --> 00:01:39.920 But today we are talking about the ultimate cost. 00:01:40.060 --> 00:01:42.219 We are. And this isn't just a news recap. This 00:01:42.219 --> 00:01:44.620 is an operational warning for you. We are looking 00:01:44.620 --> 00:01:47.260 at an incident where six men died in a single 00:01:47.260 --> 00:01:50.439 pump room incident in Colorado on August 20th, 00:01:50.439 --> 00:01:54.560 2025. Six. And I want to set the stage here immediately 00:01:54.560 --> 00:01:58.579 because the headline is shocking, but the details 00:01:58.579 --> 00:02:01.780 are what should frankly scare the hell out of 00:02:01.780 --> 00:02:04.659 every operator listening right now. Let's ground 00:02:04.659 --> 00:02:06.400 this for everyone listening in the tractor cab 00:02:06.400 --> 00:02:07.980 right now or sitting in the farm office. This 00:02:07.980 --> 00:02:12.379 wasn't some, uh, freak one in a million explosion 00:02:12.379 --> 00:02:16.219 involving experimental tech. Or some new digester 00:02:16.219 --> 00:02:18.539 system that nobody really understands yet. This 00:02:18.539 --> 00:02:21.680 was a manure management system pipe disconnection. 00:02:21.680 --> 00:02:24.080 A pipe broke. Which happens constantly. Exactly. 00:02:24.139 --> 00:02:26.300 I don't know a single farmer listening to this 00:02:26.300 --> 00:02:28.460 who hasn't dealt with a busted pipe or a clog 00:02:28.460 --> 00:02:30.639 in the manure system. It happens every single 00:02:30.639 --> 00:02:32.400 day. It's the most mundane thing on a dairy. 00:02:32.580 --> 00:02:35.370 It's totally routine. Until it isn't. Yeah. But 00:02:35.370 --> 00:02:37.550 this time the outcome was catastrophic, and the 00:02:37.550 --> 00:02:39.729 aftermath revealed some terrifying economics 00:02:39.729 --> 00:02:42.509 and legal realities that most producers are just 00:02:42.509 --> 00:02:44.689 completely blind to. Yeah, they really are. The 00:02:44.689 --> 00:02:46.490 Occupational Safety and Health Administration, 00:02:46.750 --> 00:02:50.610 OSHA, eventually handed down their fines. And 00:02:50.610 --> 00:02:52.849 when you do the math, the agency effectively 00:02:52.849 --> 00:02:56.629 valued these human lives at roughly $41 ,101 00:02:56.629 --> 00:03:01.259 each. $41 ,000. That hits hard. We're talking 00:03:01.259 --> 00:03:04.500 about preventing a farm -ending event for the 00:03:04.500 --> 00:03:07.219 price of, what, two cows? Maybe a little less, 00:03:07.280 --> 00:03:09.379 depending on your genetics. That is the crux 00:03:09.379 --> 00:03:10.939 of what we're unpacking today. We're going to 00:03:10.939 --> 00:03:12.879 look at the rescue cascade, which is why one 00:03:12.879 --> 00:03:14.840 death turned into six. We're going to look at 00:03:14.840 --> 00:03:17.879 the ag gap, why OSHA couldn't charge more or 00:03:17.879 --> 00:03:20.219 pursue criminal jail time, even if they wanted 00:03:20.219 --> 00:03:23.099 to. And we're going to look at the hardware versus 00:03:23.099 --> 00:03:26.860 human cost. Why do we not hesitate to sign a 00:03:26.860 --> 00:03:29.979 check for a $200 ,000 robot, but we balk at a 00:03:29.979 --> 00:03:33.460 $900 gas monitor? It's a hard conversation, but 00:03:33.460 --> 00:03:35.900 we have to have it. We certainly do. So let's 00:03:35.900 --> 00:03:38.020 get into the deep dive. Segment one, the incident. 00:03:38.139 --> 00:03:39.939 Let's identify the problem here. All right, set 00:03:39.939 --> 00:03:42.159 the scene for us. So we are at Prospect Valley 00:03:42.159 --> 00:03:45.159 Dairy, operating as Prospect Ranch LLC. This 00:03:45.159 --> 00:03:47.840 is near Keensburg, Colorado. It's August 20th, 00:03:47.840 --> 00:03:51.159 2025, about 6 .30 p .m., so Wednesday evening. 00:03:51.740 --> 00:03:53.599 Sun's probably starting to go down end of the 00:03:53.599 --> 00:03:55.900 shift for some, maybe the beginning for others. 00:03:56.080 --> 00:03:58.099 Exactly. And the trigger, as you mentioned, was 00:03:58.099 --> 00:04:00.560 a pipe disconnection in the manure management 00:04:00.560 --> 00:04:03.919 system inside an enclosed pump room. And for 00:04:03.919 --> 00:04:05.599 those who haven't worked with enclosed systems 00:04:05.599 --> 00:04:07.680 or maybe you're used to open lagoons out back, 00:04:07.900 --> 00:04:11.280 that pump room essentially becomes a trap. It 00:04:11.280 --> 00:04:13.340 does. It's not just a room with a pump in it. 00:04:13.400 --> 00:04:16.199 It's a highly contained environment. When that 00:04:16.199 --> 00:04:19.699 manure water starts flowing, it's not just the 00:04:19.699 --> 00:04:23.480 mess. It's the gas. Hydrogen sulfide. Right. 00:04:23.720 --> 00:04:26.100 H2S. And I want to spend a minute here on the 00:04:26.100 --> 00:04:28.139 physics of this because the report goes into 00:04:28.139 --> 00:04:32.339 detail that most general safety briefs just completely 00:04:32.339 --> 00:04:36.180 miss. H2S is heavier than air. The specific gravity 00:04:36.180 --> 00:04:39.180 is 1 .19. Okay, stop right there. Specific gravity 00:04:39.180 --> 00:04:41.800 1 .19. Translate that for the non -chemist. Sure. 00:04:41.860 --> 00:04:44.480 So regular air is 1 .0. Anything heavier than 00:04:44.480 --> 00:04:48.459 1 .0 sinks. So H2S acts like water. It doesn't 00:04:48.459 --> 00:04:50.600 float away through a vent in the ceiling. It 00:04:50.600 --> 00:04:52.819 fills the room from the bottom up like water 00:04:52.819 --> 00:04:55.500 filling a bathtub. Wow. So if you're standing 00:04:55.500 --> 00:04:57.600 in that room, the gas is rising around your ankles, 00:04:57.699 --> 00:04:59.519 then your waist and your chest. And it's pushing 00:04:59.519 --> 00:05:03.079 the oxygen out as it rises. Exactly. It displaces 00:05:03.079 --> 00:05:06.660 the breathable air entirely. But it's also highly 00:05:06.660 --> 00:05:10.420 toxic on its own. And it is incredibly deceptive. 00:05:10.439 --> 00:05:14.459 You smell rotten eggs at low levels. but at high 00:05:14.459 --> 00:05:17.399 levels. It knocks out your sense of smell instantly. 00:05:17.680 --> 00:05:20.139 This is what they call olfactory fatigue. Yes, 00:05:20.139 --> 00:05:22.199 exactly. And this is the trap. You walk in, you 00:05:22.199 --> 00:05:23.980 smell the eggs, and you think, okay, it smells 00:05:23.980 --> 00:05:26.540 bad, but I can handle it. Then suddenly the smell 00:05:26.540 --> 00:05:28.379 is just gone. And your brain interprets that 00:05:28.379 --> 00:05:31.319 as the danger being gone. Oh, the wind must have 00:05:31.319 --> 00:05:34.160 shifted or the gas cleared. Right. But in reality, 00:05:34.360 --> 00:05:36.939 the concentration is just spiked so high that 00:05:36.939 --> 00:05:39.220 it paralyzed your olfactory nerve. You think 00:05:39.220 --> 00:05:41.240 you're safe, but you are actually in the kill 00:05:41.240 --> 00:05:43.930 zone. That is just terrifying. Because your senses 00:05:43.930 --> 00:05:46.050 are lying to you, you are trusting your nose, 00:05:46.069 --> 00:05:48.569 and your nose is dead. Correct. And at those 00:05:48.569 --> 00:05:50.949 high concentrations, we're talking 500, 700 parts 00:05:50.949 --> 00:05:53.870 per million. It causes what they call knockdown. 00:05:54.110 --> 00:05:56.050 Knockdown. Yeah, it's not a slow suffocation 00:05:56.050 --> 00:05:58.389 where you get dizzy and need to sit down. It's 00:05:58.389 --> 00:06:00.589 immediate paralysis of the respiratory system. 00:06:00.709 --> 00:06:02.889 You take one breath, your lungs stop working, 00:06:02.970 --> 00:06:05.250 and you drop. Which perfectly explains why they 00:06:05.250 --> 00:06:07.970 didn't just run out. They couldn't. Yeah. They 00:06:07.970 --> 00:06:10.189 physically couldn't. The toll here was devastating. 00:06:10.899 --> 00:06:13.100 We really need to name them because these aren't 00:06:13.100 --> 00:06:15.860 just statistics in a spreadsheet. No, they're 00:06:15.860 --> 00:06:18.480 real people. Let's hear them. Orlando Espinosa 00:06:18.480 --> 00:06:23.060 Cruz, 50 years old. His son, Oscar Espinosa Leos. 00:06:23.379 --> 00:06:26.600 He was just 17, a high school senior. A senior 00:06:26.600 --> 00:06:29.379 in high school, working as an intern. As a father, 00:06:29.459 --> 00:06:31.120 that one really gets you. You think about a kid 00:06:31.120 --> 00:06:33.560 that age just getting his feet wet in the industry, 00:06:33.620 --> 00:06:36.259 learning the ropes. It really does. Then there 00:06:36.259 --> 00:06:40.389 was Carlos Espinosa Prado, 29, another son. Jorge 00:06:40.389 --> 00:06:43.649 Sanchez Pena, 36, a son -in -law. Ricardo Gomez 00:06:43.649 --> 00:06:48.399 Galvin, 40. And Noe Montanez Casanez, 32, a veterinarian 00:06:48.399 --> 00:06:50.519 from Mexico. Four of those six were from the 00:06:50.519 --> 00:06:52.819 same extended family. The Espinosas, you know, 00:06:52.839 --> 00:06:54.980 on a dairy, your crew becomes your family anyway. 00:06:55.079 --> 00:06:56.620 You spend more time with them than you do your 00:06:56.620 --> 00:06:58.819 own spouse sometimes. But here it literally was 00:06:58.819 --> 00:07:01.000 family. Literally family. They were a tight -knit 00:07:01.000 --> 00:07:03.899 crew, hardworking, humble guys. Imagine the impact 00:07:03.899 --> 00:07:06.060 on that operation, on that community. You wipe 00:07:06.060 --> 00:07:08.240 out three generations of men in one evening. 00:07:08.459 --> 00:07:11.480 And it happened so incredibly fast. The timeline 00:07:11.480 --> 00:07:15.399 is chilling. 6 .30 p .m. A pipe disconnects. 00:07:15.579 --> 00:07:18.019 One employee from Fisk Inc., the contractor, 00:07:18.100 --> 00:07:21.279 and one from Prospect Ranch go in to stop the 00:07:21.279 --> 00:07:24.819 flow. They are overcome by gas. They drop. And 00:07:24.819 --> 00:07:27.079 then the human instinct kicks in. Four others 00:07:27.079 --> 00:07:30.360 go in to save them. And none of them come out. 00:07:30.480 --> 00:07:32.720 This is what we call the rescue cascade. And 00:07:32.720 --> 00:07:34.199 frankly, this is the part that scares me the 00:07:34.199 --> 00:07:36.470 most because I know how that feels. Yeah. You 00:07:36.470 --> 00:07:38.990 see your buddy or your dad or your son collapse. 00:07:39.410 --> 00:07:41.009 You don't think, let me check the atmospheric 00:07:41.009 --> 00:07:43.449 monitors. You don't think, where's the SCBA deer? 00:07:43.490 --> 00:07:45.750 You think I have to get them out right now? That's 00:07:45.750 --> 00:07:48.050 the psychology of death in these confined spaces. 00:07:48.490 --> 00:07:51.250 The source material highlights Purdue University's 00:07:51.250 --> 00:07:53.750 Agricultural Confined Space Incident Database. 00:07:53.910 --> 00:07:57.310 It shows roughly 11 % of livestock waste incidents 00:07:57.310 --> 00:08:00.110 involve multiple victims. I'm actually surprised 00:08:00.110 --> 00:08:02.829 it's only 11%, honestly. Because that instinct 00:08:02.829 --> 00:08:05.009 is so powerful, it overrides everything else. 00:08:05.209 --> 00:08:06.930 But here's the kicker from the report, and this 00:08:06.930 --> 00:08:10.009 is highly controversial. A supervisor on site 00:08:10.009 --> 00:08:12.529 reportedly told them not to go in. That's right. 00:08:12.610 --> 00:08:15.110 Denver 7 reported that a supervisor explicitly 00:08:15.110 --> 00:08:19.329 said do not enter. But they did anyway. Why do 00:08:19.329 --> 00:08:23.050 you think that is? Because... In that moment, 00:08:23.209 --> 00:08:25.949 words just don't matter. That tells me this isn't 00:08:25.949 --> 00:08:28.149 about hearing a rule in a classroom once a year. 00:08:28.269 --> 00:08:31.350 It's about muscle memory. If you haven't drilled 00:08:31.350 --> 00:08:33.350 it, if you haven't trained your body to physically 00:08:33.350 --> 00:08:36.409 stop when you see a body on the ground, the adrenaline 00:08:36.409 --> 00:08:39.029 takes over. Your lizard brain says go and you 00:08:39.029 --> 00:08:42.230 just go. The source compares this to the Noel 00:08:42.230 --> 00:08:45.580 Spence case in Northern Ireland from 2012. It's 00:08:45.580 --> 00:08:48.139 hauntingly similar. A dairy farmer, Noel Spence, 00:08:48.279 --> 00:08:50.919 fell into a slurry tank. His two sons, Graham 00:08:50.919 --> 00:08:53.379 and Mevin, went in after him. All three died. 00:08:53.659 --> 00:08:55.500 And there was a daughter involved too, right? 00:08:55.639 --> 00:08:58.279 Emma. She tried to go in too. She only survived 00:08:58.279 --> 00:09:00.539 because neighbors or rescuers physically pulled 00:09:00.539 --> 00:09:02.240 her back. See, that's the key takeaway here. 00:09:02.320 --> 00:09:04.179 If you don't have a specific plan, if you don't 00:09:04.179 --> 00:09:06.480 have a team designated to stop people from entering, 00:09:06.659 --> 00:09:08.919 the first victim is just bait for the second 00:09:08.919 --> 00:09:10.980 and third. It sounds harsh to say bait, but that's 00:09:10.980 --> 00:09:13.620 exactly what the gas uses them for. It is harsh, 00:09:13.740 --> 00:09:16.159 but it's totally accurate. The gas doesn't care 00:09:16.159 --> 00:09:18.240 about your intentions. It doesn't care that you're 00:09:18.240 --> 00:09:21.259 trying to be a hero. It just kills you. And that 00:09:21.259 --> 00:09:23.700 brings us to the aftermath, the legal aftermath. 00:09:24.139 --> 00:09:27.220 We need to talk about OSHA. Because six months 00:09:27.220 --> 00:09:29.159 later, the fines landed and the industry kind 00:09:29.159 --> 00:09:31.899 of paused and said, wait, that's it. Yeah. Walk 00:09:31.899 --> 00:09:33.960 us through the money here. Because when I saw 00:09:33.960 --> 00:09:35.639 the headlines, I thought there would be zeros 00:09:35.639 --> 00:09:38.360 trailing off the page. I thought surely for six 00:09:38.360 --> 00:09:40.779 lives, we are looking at millions in federal 00:09:40.779 --> 00:09:43.000 fines. You would think so. But let's look at 00:09:43.000 --> 00:09:46.500 the actual numbers. Total proposed fines, $246 00:09:46.500 --> 00:09:49.519 ,609. That is split against three companies. 00:09:49.879 --> 00:09:53.940 Prospect Ranch LLC, the dairy, got hit with $132 00:09:53.940 --> 00:09:58.600 ,406. That was for failure to protect from hazards. 00:09:59.100 --> 00:10:02.139 No written program, failure to train. Okay, and 00:10:02.139 --> 00:10:04.879 the contractors? Fisk Inc. and High Plains Robotics. 00:10:04.899 --> 00:10:06.559 Yeah. They employed four of the victims, got 00:10:06.559 --> 00:10:11.220 fined $99 ,306. And a third contractor, HG Builders, 00:10:11.220 --> 00:10:13.659 got about $15 ,000. So you add that all up, divide 00:10:13.659 --> 00:10:19.009 by six lives. And you get $41 ,101 .50 per person. 00:10:19.169 --> 00:10:22.049 That is less than the price of a mid -range pickup 00:10:22.049 --> 00:10:24.830 truck. That is a fraction of a robotic milker. 00:10:25.129 --> 00:10:27.330 How is that even possible? I mean, people have 00:10:27.330 --> 00:10:29.909 gone to jail for less in other industries. If 00:10:29.909 --> 00:10:32.149 a trench collapses on a construction site in 00:10:32.149 --> 00:10:34.809 New York and kills six guys, the foreman goes 00:10:34.809 --> 00:10:38.029 away, the owner gets indicted. Why is agriculture 00:10:38.029 --> 00:10:40.629 different? This is where we get into the weeds 00:10:40.629 --> 00:10:42.649 of the ag gap. And listen, I know regulation 00:10:42.649 --> 00:10:45.799 talk can be dry. But this is crucial for every 00:10:45.799 --> 00:10:47.600 operator to understand because it completely 00:10:47.600 --> 00:10:51.139 defines your liability. OSHA cited these as serious 00:10:51.139 --> 00:10:53.419 violations, not willful violations. Break that 00:10:53.419 --> 00:10:55.159 down. What's the difference between serious and 00:10:55.159 --> 00:10:57.960 willful? Isn't dead serious enough? Serious means 00:10:57.960 --> 00:11:00.139 there was a hazard that could cause death or 00:11:00.139 --> 00:11:02.860 serious harm and the employer knew or should 00:11:02.860 --> 00:11:05.320 have known about it. But a willful violation 00:11:05.320 --> 00:11:08.419 is a whole different legal beast. Willful means 00:11:08.419 --> 00:11:11.220 the employer knew the standard existed and consciously 00:11:11.220 --> 00:11:14.549 chose to ignore it. It implies intent or just 00:11:14.549 --> 00:11:17.529 plain indifference. Willful violations carry 00:11:17.529 --> 00:11:20.870 much higher fines, over $160 ,000 per violation. 00:11:21.110 --> 00:11:23.710 And most importantly, they're the only category 00:11:23.710 --> 00:11:25.990 that can trigger criminal referrals. So because 00:11:25.990 --> 00:11:28.710 it wasn't willful, there is zero chance of jail 00:11:28.710 --> 00:11:31.629 time. Correct. The maximum for a willful violation 00:11:31.629 --> 00:11:34.169 causing death is a misdemeanor and six months 00:11:34.169 --> 00:11:36.850 in jail. But since these weren't classified as 00:11:36.850 --> 00:11:39.600 willful, even that is off the table. But how 00:11:39.600 --> 00:11:41.580 is it not willful? They didn't have a written 00:11:41.580 --> 00:11:43.840 program. They didn't have the training. That 00:11:43.840 --> 00:11:46.139 seems pretty willful to me. If I drive without 00:11:46.139 --> 00:11:48.679 a license, I'm willfully driving without a license. 00:11:48.860 --> 00:11:51.759 Here is the catch, and this is the ag gap. There 00:11:51.759 --> 00:11:54.179 is no standard to be willful about. Wait, back 00:11:54.179 --> 00:11:56.809 up. There is no standard. Agriculture has no 00:11:56.809 --> 00:11:59.769 specific OSHA confined space standard. If you 00:11:59.769 --> 00:12:02.090 were in grain handling, there's a standard 1910 00:12:02.090 --> 00:12:05.769 .272. If you're in construction, there's a massive 00:12:05.769 --> 00:12:10.110 standard part 1926. If you're a dairy farm, you 00:12:10.110 --> 00:12:12.110 fall under the general duty clause. The general 00:12:12.110 --> 00:12:14.450 duty clause. That's the catch. All right. Keep 00:12:14.450 --> 00:12:18.129 the workplace free of recognized hazards. Exactly. 00:12:18.269 --> 00:12:21.860 But it's vague. OSHA's own fact sheet for agriculture 00:12:21.860 --> 00:12:26.179 calls confined space rules a guide, not a standard. 00:12:26.360 --> 00:12:29.480 A guide. So legally speaking, it's like a suggestion. 00:12:29.779 --> 00:12:31.879 In a courtroom setting or an enforcement setting, 00:12:31.980 --> 00:12:34.980 yes. It makes it nearly impossible to prove willfulness 00:12:34.980 --> 00:12:38.000 because the defense can just say, hey, there 00:12:38.000 --> 00:12:40.019 isn't a specific rule telling me I had to do 00:12:40.019 --> 00:12:43.279 X, Y, and Z in this specific way. The employer 00:12:43.279 --> 00:12:44.940 can argue they were following general industry 00:12:44.940 --> 00:12:47.500 practices, even if those practices were fundamentally 00:12:47.500 --> 00:12:50.769 unsafe. That is the ag gap. We basically operate 00:12:50.769 --> 00:12:53.750 in this regulatory Wild West. So because the 00:12:53.750 --> 00:12:56.169 government hasn't explicitly told us exactly 00:12:56.169 --> 00:12:58.669 how to manage a manure pit, we can't be held 00:12:58.669 --> 00:13:01.250 criminally liable when someone dies in one. That 00:13:01.250 --> 00:13:03.710 is the dark irony of it all. The lack of regulation 00:13:03.710 --> 00:13:05.809 actually protects the employer from criminal 00:13:05.809 --> 00:13:07.769 liability. And then there's a headcount rule, 00:13:07.809 --> 00:13:10.269 too. Oh, yeah. The 1976 congressional rider. 00:13:10.470 --> 00:13:12.539 Right. Tell the listeners about that one. It's 00:13:12.539 --> 00:13:14.679 a provision that's been attached to OSHA's funding 00:13:14.679 --> 00:13:18.879 bill every single year since 1976. It literally 00:13:18.879 --> 00:13:22.000 prevents OSHA from spending any funds to inspect 00:13:22.000 --> 00:13:24.620 farms with 10 or fewer employees unless they 00:13:24.620 --> 00:13:26.919 have a labor camp. So if you're a smaller operation, 00:13:27.240 --> 00:13:29.820 OSHA literally isn't allowed to knock on your 00:13:29.820 --> 00:13:32.360 door until someone dies. Basically, yeah. It 00:13:32.360 --> 00:13:35.000 creates this invisibility cloak for small farms. 00:13:35.470 --> 00:13:37.590 You can have the most dangerous operation in 00:13:37.590 --> 00:13:39.669 the county, but as long as you keep your payroll 00:13:39.669 --> 00:13:42.370 under 11 people, the federal government can't 00:13:42.370 --> 00:13:45.289 touch you. Until the bodies drop. But as the 00:13:45.289 --> 00:13:47.269 article points out, the gas doesn't check your 00:13:47.269 --> 00:13:49.289 headcount. No, it certainly doesn't. The gas 00:13:49.289 --> 00:13:51.029 doesn't care if you have nine employees or 900. 00:13:51.250 --> 00:13:54.110 It kills you just the same. And this leads us 00:13:54.110 --> 00:13:56.730 to the segment I really want to dig into. Follow 00:13:56.730 --> 00:13:59.929 the money. The economics of safety. Because I 00:13:59.929 --> 00:14:01.950 hear farmers say all the time, safety is expensive. 00:14:02.149 --> 00:14:04.629 All this red tape costs money. I can't afford 00:14:04.629 --> 00:14:07.049 a safety director. Let's run the barn math, as 00:14:07.049 --> 00:14:09.190 you like to say. Yeah. The source material actually 00:14:09.190 --> 00:14:11.809 breaks this down item by item. Let's look at 00:14:11.809 --> 00:14:14.309 the actual cost of prevention versus the cost 00:14:14.309 --> 00:14:16.970 of the catastrophe. Let's do it. What does it 00:14:16.970 --> 00:14:18.669 cost to stop this from happening? Give me the 00:14:18.669 --> 00:14:22.049 invoice. Okay. To prevent this tragedy, you need 00:14:22.049 --> 00:14:24.769 a four -gath monitor. This is a handheld device 00:14:24.769 --> 00:14:27.970 that sniffs the air for oxygen, H2S, carbon monoxide, 00:14:28.009 --> 00:14:31.250 and combustible gases. A good one, like the Honeywell 00:14:31.250 --> 00:14:34.649 BW Flex 4 mentioned in the report, is about $700 00:14:34.649 --> 00:14:38.070 to $900. That's the price of a decent heifer 00:14:38.070 --> 00:14:40.980 calf? Maybe. A cheap one. You need a ventilation 00:14:40.980 --> 00:14:43.919 blower to push fresh air into the space. That's 00:14:43.919 --> 00:14:48.159 $250 to $900. You need a tripod and winch system 00:14:48.159 --> 00:14:50.740 for retrieval so you don't have to jump in. That's 00:14:50.740 --> 00:14:53.419 the big ticket item, about $1 ,500 to $2 ,000. 00:14:54.080 --> 00:14:56.610 And you need training. Let's say $1 ,200 to $2 00:14:56.610 --> 00:14:59.110 ,400 to get a consultant out there for a day. 00:14:59.210 --> 00:15:01.470 Okay, tally that up for me. Total year one costs 00:15:01.470 --> 00:15:05.409 between $3 ,800 and $6 ,500. $6 ,500 max. Yeah. 00:15:05.529 --> 00:15:07.950 To outfit a mid -sized dairy with a complete 00:15:07.950 --> 00:15:11.429 confined space safety system. Now let's compare 00:15:11.429 --> 00:15:13.610 that to what we spend on other things. What's 00:15:13.610 --> 00:15:16.649 a replacement dairy cow costing these days? Source 00:15:16.649 --> 00:15:20.210 says around $3 ,110 per head. So for the price 00:15:20.210 --> 00:15:22.230 of two cows, you could have prevented six deaths. 00:15:23.049 --> 00:15:26.299 Let's go bigger. a robotic milker everyone wants 00:15:26.299 --> 00:15:30.100 robots what are they running 150 000 to 200 000 00:15:30.100 --> 00:15:34.059 per unit easily we will sign a loan for a quarter 00:15:34.059 --> 00:15:36.320 million dollars for a robot without blinking 00:15:36.320 --> 00:15:39.019 because we see the roi we see the labor savings 00:15:39.019 --> 00:15:42.919 we see the somatic cell count drop but we won't 00:15:42.919 --> 00:15:46.179 spend 900 bucks on a monitor because why because 00:15:46.179 --> 00:15:48.019 we don't think it'll happen to us that's the 00:15:48.019 --> 00:15:50.480 cognitive bias yeah I've done this a thousand 00:15:50.480 --> 00:15:52.779 times. But here is the other side of the ledger. 00:15:52.840 --> 00:15:55.159 And this is where the business case for safety 00:15:55.159 --> 00:15:58.460 becomes absolutely undeniable. The cost of not 00:15:58.460 --> 00:16:02.019 doing it. We talked about the $41 ,000 OSHA fine. 00:16:02.460 --> 00:16:05.080 That's a line item. A farm can absorb that. It 00:16:05.080 --> 00:16:07.019 sucks, but it doesn't shut the lights off. It's 00:16:07.019 --> 00:16:09.240 the price of a used truck. It hurts, but it doesn't 00:16:09.240 --> 00:16:11.509 bankrupt you. But the civil settlement. That 00:16:11.509 --> 00:16:13.830 is the farm killer. The source notes that wrongful 00:16:13.830 --> 00:16:15.950 death settlements in agricultural confined space 00:16:15.950 --> 00:16:18.870 cases typically range from $10 million to $17 00:16:18.870 --> 00:16:22.169 million. $10 to $17 million. Let that sink in 00:16:22.169 --> 00:16:25.009 for a second. And insurance has limits. Oh yeah, 00:16:25.070 --> 00:16:27.730 your standard farm policy. Maybe you have a million 00:16:27.730 --> 00:16:29.990 in liability. Maybe you have an umbrella for 00:16:29.990 --> 00:16:32.110 $2 million or $5 million if you're really buttoned 00:16:32.110 --> 00:16:36.669 up. But $17 million? That is the land. That is 00:16:36.669 --> 00:16:39.210 the cows. That is the quota if you have it. That 00:16:39.210 --> 00:16:42.500 is the legacy. gone. So the argument is simple. 00:16:42.700 --> 00:16:46.360 The OSHA fine is negligible. The lawsuit is the 00:16:46.360 --> 00:16:49.440 real threat. Prevention costs the price of two 00:16:49.440 --> 00:16:53.659 cows. The risk is losing the entire farm. When 00:16:53.659 --> 00:16:55.299 you put it that way, it's not even a choice. 00:16:55.399 --> 00:16:57.779 It's just bad business to skip safety. It's bad 00:16:57.779 --> 00:17:00.379 math. If you saw a nutritional deficiency that 00:17:00.379 --> 00:17:02.559 was costing you 10 % of your production, you'd 00:17:02.559 --> 00:17:04.880 fix it tomorrow morning. This is a risk deficiency 00:17:04.880 --> 00:17:07.579 that could cost you 100 % of your equity. It 00:17:07.579 --> 00:17:10.599 is bad math. And yet the industry reaction, or 00:17:10.599 --> 00:17:12.519 really the lack thereof, is what we need to discuss 00:17:12.519 --> 00:17:15.220 next. Segment five, the industry response. Because 00:17:15.220 --> 00:17:17.200 this is where I get incredibly frustrated as 00:17:17.200 --> 00:17:18.839 an analyst. This was the part of the deep dive 00:17:18.839 --> 00:17:20.960 that got me a little heated, too. Because usually 00:17:20.960 --> 00:17:22.859 when something threatens the industry, we circle 00:17:22.859 --> 00:17:26.240 the wagons, right? We mobilize. Right. Look at 00:17:26.240 --> 00:17:28.700 foot and mouth disease FMD. The source points 00:17:28.700 --> 00:17:31.700 out that in December 2025, the National Milk 00:17:31.700 --> 00:17:34.440 Producers Federation, NMPF, published detailed 00:17:34.440 --> 00:17:37.849 preparedness materials on FMD. Biosecurity protocols, 00:17:38.230 --> 00:17:41.170 vaccines, supply chains. The works. Which is 00:17:41.170 --> 00:17:44.130 good. We need that. FMD would devastate us. But 00:17:44.130 --> 00:17:46.690 where was the stand down for safety after six 00:17:46.690 --> 00:17:49.450 guys died in Colorado? The response from DFA, 00:17:49.630 --> 00:17:53.089 Dairy Farmers of America, and NMPF was well muted. 00:17:53.480 --> 00:17:55.740 They issued condolences. They pointed to the 00:17:55.740 --> 00:17:58.619 voluntary farm program safety checklists. Voluntary 00:17:58.619 --> 00:18:00.559 checklists. That feels like a cover your assets 00:18:00.559 --> 00:18:02.220 response to me. It doesn't feel like leadership. 00:18:02.460 --> 00:18:05.099 If we had six cows die from a mystery disease 00:18:05.099 --> 00:18:07.319 in a pump room, we'd have a task force there 00:18:07.319 --> 00:18:09.539 the next morning. We'd have university researchers 00:18:09.539 --> 00:18:12.039 swabbing the walls. We'd have webinars. But six 00:18:12.039 --> 00:18:14.500 men die and we get a press release. It is a stark 00:18:14.500 --> 00:18:16.980 contrast. The article specifically calls out 00:18:16.980 --> 00:18:20.059 the silence. No new task force. No industry -wide 00:18:20.059 --> 00:18:23.630 push. It raises the uncomfortable question, are 00:18:23.630 --> 00:18:25.930 we just comfortable with a certain level of casualty 00:18:25.930 --> 00:18:28.289 as the cost of doing business? I really hope 00:18:28.289 --> 00:18:31.230 not. But the silence speaks volumes. However, 00:18:31.470 --> 00:18:33.450 we can't paint everyone with the same brush here. 00:18:33.670 --> 00:18:37.309 There is one exception. Idaho. Yes, the Idaho 00:18:37.309 --> 00:18:39.970 Dairymen's Association, IDA. They are the outlier 00:18:39.970 --> 00:18:42.789 here. Credit where credit is due. Back in 2016, 00:18:43.170 --> 00:18:45.940 they had some deaths. And Rick Nair, about the 00:18:45.940 --> 00:18:48.380 CEO over there, called it a wake -up call. They 00:18:48.380 --> 00:18:50.720 didn't just issue a statement. They launched 00:18:50.720 --> 00:18:53.460 a real training program. They are now training 00:18:53.460 --> 00:18:56.500 400 operations. They have dedicated safety consultants 00:18:56.500 --> 00:18:59.440 actually going onto farms. And the national numbers 00:18:59.440 --> 00:19:02.059 suggest incidents are declining potentially because 00:19:02.059 --> 00:19:04.839 of leadership exactly like that. But Colorado. 00:19:05.549 --> 00:19:07.950 No such program was in place. And that raises 00:19:07.950 --> 00:19:10.029 a contrarian point about the business model itself. 00:19:10.109 --> 00:19:12.130 Look at who was involved here. You had the Farm 00:19:12.130 --> 00:19:15.650 Prospect Ranch. You had a contractor Fisk and 00:19:15.650 --> 00:19:18.509 High Plains Robotics and another contractor HD 00:19:18.509 --> 00:19:20.910 Builders. Right. The web of liability. Are we 00:19:20.910 --> 00:19:22.990 using the independent contractor model to shield 00:19:22.990 --> 00:19:24.809 ourselves? Like, oh, that wasn't my employee. 00:19:24.849 --> 00:19:27.349 That was the manure guy. That was the robot tech. 00:19:27.589 --> 00:19:29.690 It's a very valid question. The fines were split. 00:19:30.589 --> 00:19:33.230 If those men were all direct employees of the 00:19:33.230 --> 00:19:38.029 farm. Maybe the farm takes the full hit. By outsourcing 00:19:38.029 --> 00:19:40.069 the maintenance, the liability gets fractured. 00:19:40.170 --> 00:19:42.890 But the tragedy doesn't get fractured. The grief 00:19:42.890 --> 00:19:45.690 doesn't get split up. It all falls on those families. 00:19:45.990 --> 00:19:48.690 And practically speaking, as a farmer, if a contractor 00:19:48.690 --> 00:19:51.730 dies on my property, my insurance is still getting 00:19:51.730 --> 00:19:54.069 sued. It doesn't really protect you in the end. 00:19:54.269 --> 00:19:55.930 And speaking of the families, let's talk about 00:19:55.930 --> 00:19:58.150 the workforce implications. This is segment six. 00:19:58.490 --> 00:20:01.170 Who is actually doing this work? We know who 00:20:01.170 --> 00:20:03.940 is doing the work. Over 50 % of dairy workers 00:20:03.940 --> 00:20:06.900 are immigrants. In places like Idaho, it's 90%. 00:20:06.900 --> 00:20:09.539 And at Prospect Valley, all six victims were 00:20:09.539 --> 00:20:12.099 Hispanic. Five from the same extended family. 00:20:12.240 --> 00:20:14.140 They were Spanish speakers. This brings up the 00:20:14.140 --> 00:20:16.220 language barrier. We talked about that supervisor 00:20:16.220 --> 00:20:19.160 who said, don't go in. What language did he say 00:20:19.160 --> 00:20:22.180 it in? The report doesn't specify, but it strongly 00:20:22.180 --> 00:20:24.900 emphasizes that the do not enter training must 00:20:24.900 --> 00:20:27.140 be in the worker's native language to break that 00:20:27.140 --> 00:20:30.500 rescue cascade. If you yell stop in English to 00:20:30.500 --> 00:20:32.660 a guy who speaks Spanish and is running on pure 00:20:32.660 --> 00:20:35.640 adrenaline to save his son, he might not even 00:20:35.640 --> 00:20:38.980 hear you. It's just noise. It has to be internalized. 00:20:39.039 --> 00:20:41.519 And that means cultural competence, not just 00:20:41.519 --> 00:20:43.460 a translated handbook sitting in a drawer that 00:20:43.460 --> 00:20:46.180 nobody ever reads. You have to look them in the 00:20:46.180 --> 00:20:48.859 eye and make sure they understand this pit will 00:20:48.859 --> 00:20:51.220 kill you. The source also touches on a darker 00:20:51.220 --> 00:20:54.460 connection here. Mental health. Yeah. We know 00:20:54.460 --> 00:20:56.660 dairy farming is insanely stressful. Suicide 00:20:56.660 --> 00:20:59.059 rates are 3 .5 times higher than the general 00:20:59.059 --> 00:21:01.799 population. The question the deep dive asks is, 00:21:01.920 --> 00:21:04.819 does the lack of safety protocols reflect a deeper 00:21:04.819 --> 00:21:07.420 lack of care for human life, both for the workers 00:21:07.420 --> 00:21:10.079 and the owners themselves? That cuts really deep. 00:21:10.650 --> 00:21:13.210 But think about it. If you don't value your own 00:21:13.210 --> 00:21:15.970 life enough to take a break or seek help or sleep 00:21:15.970 --> 00:21:18.730 more than four hours a night, do you value your 00:21:18.730 --> 00:21:20.849 employees' life enough to buy a gas monitor? 00:21:21.150 --> 00:21:24.430 It's all connected. A culture of just get it 00:21:24.430 --> 00:21:27.230 done at all costs kills people. Sometimes it's 00:21:27.230 --> 00:21:29.390 a suicide. Sometimes it's a gas leak. Sometimes 00:21:29.390 --> 00:21:32.690 it's a tractor rollover. But it's the exact same 00:21:32.690 --> 00:21:35.710 root cause. We treat ourselves and our people 00:21:35.710 --> 00:21:38.650 like machinery. Get it done alive needs to be 00:21:38.650 --> 00:21:41.309 the new motto. Exactly. Get it done is just not 00:21:41.309 --> 00:21:43.869 enough anymore. So, partner, we've laid out the 00:21:43.869 --> 00:21:45.950 problem. We've looked at the terrifying economics. 00:21:46.089 --> 00:21:48.589 We've looked at the regulatory failure. But we 00:21:48.589 --> 00:21:50.549 are the bullvine. We don't just complain. We 00:21:50.549 --> 00:21:52.410 fix things. We want our listeners to walk away 00:21:52.410 --> 00:21:54.269 with a solid plan. That's right. We aren't here 00:21:54.269 --> 00:21:56.730 to just admire the problem. So imagine a listener, 00:21:56.849 --> 00:21:59.369 a farmer. He's just finished milking. He's driving 00:21:59.369 --> 00:22:02.519 to the feed store right now. He's thinking. I 00:22:02.519 --> 00:22:04.599 don't want to be the next headline. I don't want 00:22:04.599 --> 00:22:06.339 to lose my farm. And I definitely don't want 00:22:06.339 --> 00:22:08.960 to lose my guys. One of the three things he needs 00:22:08.960 --> 00:22:12.059 to do. Let's break it down into immediate medium 00:22:12.059 --> 00:22:15.180 term and long term. All right. Takeaway number 00:22:15.180 --> 00:22:18.500 one. This is for this week. Before you dump another 00:22:18.500 --> 00:22:20.420 load of feed, before you sign another check. 00:22:20.700 --> 00:22:24.680 Go for it. Buy a four gas monitor. The article 00:22:24.680 --> 00:22:27.460 recommends the Honeywell BW Flex 4, but there 00:22:27.460 --> 00:22:31.220 are others. It's $700 to $900. Buy two if you 00:22:31.220 --> 00:22:33.319 can. But definitely buy one. And what do they 00:22:33.319 --> 00:22:35.359 do with it? Don't just leave it in the box on 00:22:35.359 --> 00:22:38.000 the dashboard. Yeah, clip it on. And you have 00:22:38.000 --> 00:22:40.299 the talks. This is the one breath conversation. 00:22:40.759 --> 00:22:43.180 You get your crew together and you do it in their 00:22:43.180 --> 00:22:45.740 language. Get a translator if you have to. And 00:22:45.740 --> 00:22:47.799 you tell them if this thing beeps you back out. 00:22:47.839 --> 00:22:50.400 If someone goes down, you call 911. You do not 00:22:50.400 --> 00:22:53.160 go in. No heroes. No heroes, just survivors. 00:22:53.440 --> 00:22:56.259 That's step one. Okay, step two. Medium term. 00:22:56.859 --> 00:22:59.180 The next three to six months. You need to tag 00:22:59.180 --> 00:23:01.900 the spaces, go to every pit, every pump room, 00:23:02.059 --> 00:23:04.900 every enclosed area, and slap a danger no entry 00:23:04.900 --> 00:23:07.200 sign on it. Make it visible, make it bilingual. 00:23:07.599 --> 00:23:09.980 And the gear. Get the rest of the kit. Buy the 00:23:09.980 --> 00:23:13.200 ventilation blower. Buy the rescued tripod and 00:23:13.200 --> 00:23:15.279 winch. You hope you never use the tripod, but 00:23:15.279 --> 00:23:17.279 if you need it, you need it right now. You can't 00:23:17.279 --> 00:23:18.859 wait for the fire department to bring one that 00:23:18.859 --> 00:23:20.720 takes 20 minutes. You have four minutes before 00:23:20.720 --> 00:23:22.640 brain damage starts. And what about training? 00:23:22.920 --> 00:23:25.880 Formal training. Hayes -Whooper OSHA offers courses. 00:23:26.460 --> 00:23:29.299 It's like 50 bucks a person online. Get the certificates. 00:23:29.680 --> 00:23:32.400 Put them in the file. Prove that you take this 00:23:32.400 --> 00:23:35.140 seriously. If OSHA ever does show up, showing 00:23:35.140 --> 00:23:36.920 them those certificates changes the conversation 00:23:36.920 --> 00:23:40.519 immediately. Okay. Takeaway number three. Long 00:23:40.519 --> 00:23:44.599 -term positioning. One to two years out. Systematize 00:23:44.599 --> 00:23:47.640 it. You need a written, confined space entry 00:23:47.640 --> 00:23:50.200 permit program. This is what the big boys in 00:23:50.200 --> 00:23:52.180 other industries do. You don't just walk into 00:23:52.180 --> 00:23:55.599 a dangerous room. You sign a permit. You check 00:23:55.599 --> 00:23:57.579 the air. You log it. It sounds like a lot of 00:23:57.579 --> 00:23:59.720 paperwork. It is paperwork. But it's paperwork 00:23:59.720 --> 00:24:02.619 that saves lives. It forces you to pause. It 00:24:02.619 --> 00:24:05.240 breaks the autopilot. And maintenance. Annual 00:24:05.240 --> 00:24:08.039 refresher training. And calibrate those monitors. 00:24:08.180 --> 00:24:10.160 A monitor that hasn't been calibrated in three 00:24:10.160 --> 00:24:13.359 years is just a paperweight. It gives you false 00:24:13.359 --> 00:24:15.480 hope, which is worse than no hope. And the culture 00:24:15.480 --> 00:24:17.920 change. That's the big one. Shift from get it 00:24:17.920 --> 00:24:21.299 done to get it done alive. You see a guy cutting 00:24:21.299 --> 00:24:24.690 a corner. You stop him. Not because you're a 00:24:24.690 --> 00:24:26.549 nag, but because you want him to go home to his 00:24:26.549 --> 00:24:29.049 kids. You have to love your people enough to 00:24:29.049 --> 00:24:31.690 be annoying about safety. Really powerful stuff. 00:24:32.130 --> 00:24:34.069 And before we wrap, I just want to leave you 00:24:34.069 --> 00:24:36.289 with a final thought to mull over. We talked 00:24:36.289 --> 00:24:38.349 about how easy it is to distance ourselves right. 00:24:38.670 --> 00:24:41.190 To think it's just contractors. Or it's just 00:24:41.190 --> 00:24:44.549 a freak accident. But ask yourself this. If it 00:24:44.549 --> 00:24:46.789 was your own 17 -year -old son standing at the 00:24:46.789 --> 00:24:49.289 edge of that pump room, what price would you 00:24:49.289 --> 00:24:52.279 put on his life? would you hesitate over a $900 00:24:52.279 --> 00:24:55.079 monitor then? Man, when you put it like that, 00:24:55.119 --> 00:24:56.920 it really puts it in perspective. Look, I know 00:24:56.920 --> 00:24:59.500 farming is hard. Margins are tight. I know milk 00:24:59.500 --> 00:25:02.559 prices are incredibly volatile. But looking at 00:25:02.559 --> 00:25:05.140 the names of those six men, looking at a 17 -year 00:25:05.140 --> 00:25:08.339 -old kid, there is no margin tight enough to 00:25:08.339 --> 00:25:11.279 justify that. Absolutely not. The confined space 00:25:11.279 --> 00:25:13.279 program that could have saved them costs about 00:25:13.279 --> 00:25:15.880 two cows. That's the real headline here. Don't 00:25:15.880 --> 00:25:17.960 let your pump room be a trap, folks. Check your 00:25:17.960 --> 00:25:20.289 gear. This has been another deep dive from the 00:25:20.289 --> 00:25:23.109 Bullvine Podcast. For more street -talking industry 00:25:23.109 --> 00:25:25.950 analysis and maybe some lighter topics next time, 00:25:26.029 --> 00:25:31.650 head to www .thebullvine .com. Subscribe wherever 00:25:31.650 --> 00:25:33.589 you get podcasts. We're out with new episodes 00:25:33.589 --> 00:25:36.049 every day. And coming up, we'll be tackling the 00:25:36.049 --> 00:25:38.750 latest shifts in feed crop futures. So stay tuned 00:25:38.750 --> 00:25:40.690 for that. Stay safe out there, everyone. We'll 00:25:40.690 --> 00:25:41.150 see you next time.