PLATTEVILLE — Wally Tryon is convinced that a 400-acre dairy farm in Weld County is the healthiest place in the world to work.
“It’s fresh air and wide-open spaces, and it’s better than working and living in the city, with all that smog,” said Tryon, a 30-year employee of Aurora Organic Dairy farm.
Still, there are dangers inherent to working in the Colorado dairy industry, which grew by about 20 percent between 2007 and 2012, when the state’s 131,000 milk cows produced more than 3.2 billion pounds of milk, according to the National Agricultural Statistic Service.
The state’s nearly 3,000 dairy workers — mostly in northeastern Colorado — are especially susceptible to respiratory ailments such as asthma, chronic bronchitis and decreased lung function from inhaling particles while on the job.
That led Colorado State University’s High Plains Intermountain Center for Agricultural Health and Safety to launch a three-year, $900,000 study of the health risks at dairy farms and what can be done to protect workers.
Funding for the study is through the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
During the project, CSU researchers will work with several dairies in the state, including Aurora Organic, to measure respiratory responses to airborne particulates. Then they will design and test methods to head off the impact, said Stephen Reynolds, a professor in CSU’s Department of Environmental and Radiological Health Sciences and the director of the High Plains Intermountain Center.
“This builds on what we’ve been doing around the dairy industry for the last 10 years, trying to find ways to make dairy workers’ jobs safer,” Reynolds said. “It’s exciting because we are not just focused on doing research but doing something to make a difference.”
The study is especially timely because dairy production in Weld County is expected to expand in the next few years because of demand for milk from Denver-based Leprino Foods‘ massive new mozzarella cheese processing plant in Greeley.
Reynolds said dairies have embraced CSU’s efforts because they want to protect their employees while reducing costs associated with illness.
“We’ve done a lot of work with CSU, and we want to be as proactive as possible in keeping our employees healthy,” said Emily Prisco, director of farm resources and development for Aurora Organic.
Reynolds said his center’s work with dairies since 2001 already has revealed a lot. Many workers are immigrants from Mexico and Central America and often not well-versed in some health and safety measures, he said. Their immune systems may not be prepared for fecal-matter dust, animal feed and dander, and cleaning chemicals.
Evidence is beginning to show that some forms of bacteria may contribute to inflammation and respiratory disease in dairy workers. Other hazards include working alongside heavy milking equipment and animals that weigh up to 1,500 pounds.
“You’ve got an animal of that size, and they are not even going to feel you up against it,” Reynolds said. “If you are not used to that or are unaware of the problem, you could easily get stepped on and seriously hurt.”
Reynolds said his team is working with Boston-based biotech company Immunetics to design a quick diagnostic test for specific harmful bacteria in the environment.
Other methods to reduce worker illness could include simple cattle-washing practices, a change in bedding material, a different way of delivering grain or the addition of feed vegetable oil to reduce dust from manure.
“We’ve got a number of ideas and methods we can try,” he said.
Aurora Organic, based in Boulder, runs dairy farms and calf ranches in Colorado and Texas. The Platteville farm, along with its processing plant, is home to about 1,100 head of cattle.
The 21 employees in Platteville get extensive and regular safety training in English and Spanish. That training has helped cut the the number of injuries among the company’s total employees, including farm workers, by 32 percent in the past five years, said Aurora Organic spokeswoman Sonja Tuitele. This came while the company’s overall employee base grew from about 360 in 2010 to about 530 today.
“So, the reductions … in the injury instances were achieved even with overall growth in our farm-employee base,” she said.
Bertha Haro, a nine-year employee, works with calves that are about 5 months old to make sure they are eating healthy. The diminutive Haro, who is not much bigger than the calves, sees her work as a calling.
“They are really strong,” Haro said, smiling. “But I love everything I do here. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”
Monte Whaley: 720-929-0907, mwhaley@denverpost.com or twitter.com/montewhaley
