News and Events

By John Osterhaus

Hello from northwestern Illinois. 

As challenging as our spring was here in Illinois, I understand that many of our fellow WCO members had it much worse. Extended periods of rain and storms being a common problem throughout much of the Midwest. These weather events make for some stressful times for the custom harvest crews, manure pumping crews, and the farmers. I think that during these very stressful times, communicating with our customers is of the utmost importance. Even if it’s just a quick phone call to touch base with them about how the schedule is looking. 

I would much rather have the customer hear our schedule from me, than “hear” it from the coffee shop in town. As much as I don’t enjoy calling customers to tell them we are going to be late because of a rain delay, I don’t want them guessing or asking others as to when we are going to show up. I have come to understand that most of our customers are pretty understanding of delays due to the weather. As long as I explain what is happening and what we are doing to try and move forward, they understand and work with us pretty well. 

One of the things that I get concerned about when we have weather like this spring are safety issues. The added stress of fighting the weather day in and day out can cause us to make poor decisions that we would not make normally. Please take a few minutes, step back and look at the big picture. Take the time to make sure that everyone is working in a safe manner. I know I have found myself making poor decisions when pressed for time. We want everyone to get home safe at the end of the day.

In July, the WCO board met for our summer meeting. A special thank you to Daryll and Jean Manthe from D&J Manthe Forage Service in DeForest, Wis. for hosting the meeting and allowing us to look through their machine sheds. It’s always great to get out of our own local area to see how other custom operators do things in different parts of the state.

At our summer meeting, one of our agenda items is always a “sneak peek” at potential topics for the upcoming Forage Symposium, and as has come to be expected, you are all in for another great conference, make sure to save the date of Feb. 17-19, 2025, at the Chula Vista in Wisconsin Dells.

As you read from our cover story, WCO is working hard to facilitate safety training for all ages. While our core competency remains safety training for our members, we think it’s important to promote tractor safety programing for youth  and encourage more training events across the state to help the next generation engage safely in agriculture.

As we move forward in the season, I wish everyone a safe and successful rest of summer and fall. 

-John