Just in the last two weeks, I've had two friends experience heat exhaustion. It's getting hot out there, so it’s important to be aware of the dangers of heat and ways to stay cool, especially as growers who are out in the heat day after day.
Since the work doesn’t slow down when the heat ramps up, follow these tips to take care of yourself in the summer heat.
1. Hydrate
This first tip is probably the most important one of all: hydrate. It’s a necessity to stay hydrated when you’re working out in the heat.
While drinking water is the main way to hydrate, let me give you one more little encouragement. Take in electrolytes too! You probably give electrolytes to your birds, but make sure you’re drinking them yourself too. What are they exactly? Electrolytes, such as magnesium, potassium and sodium, are essential minerals that are vital to many bodily functions.
Over the last few years, Americans were most deficient in vitamin D, but recently, I’ve seen talk about how we’re now most deficient in magnesium. Big time. Magnesium helps regulate muscle contraction. Proper potassium levels are also required for muscle contraction, but we tend to lose magnesium a little more.
Whether it’s Gatorade or an electrolyte powder added to your water, make sure you’re getting enough electrolytes.
2. Schedule
If you’re like me, you stick to a pretty strict schedule. You may have a specific order in which everything gets done and rarely stray from it. If you’ve found a good routine, why change it, right?
Well, in most cases, this works great. But when it comes to hot weather, you may need to shift your schedule to do some of the outdoor, laborious tasks in the morning. This shift prevents you from being outside in the peak heat hours of the day, helping keep your body temperature down.
3. Cover Up
When it's hot outside, I know the first thing you want to do is start peeling clothes off—not putting more on. And I get it. I feel the same way. When I'm mowing the grass at home, I feel like I need to take my shirt off to stay cool. But when the sun's direct rays are on the skin, that actually has the opposite effect and increases body heat. Rather than shedding a layer, opt for loose-fitting, light colored clothing in materials like cotton.
And I don't have to encourage most of you to wear a cap because that's what farmers do, right? They wear caps. So, throw on a hat—maybe one with a wide brim to shade your face.
Also, apply some sunscreen. That's not necessarily going to keep you cool, but it’s going to protect you. Remember, we're talking about taking care of you here.
4. Take a Break
This next tip is something that you probably don't think about much: take a break. I know you work from before the sun comes up until after the sun goes down, but you know what? It's okay to take a break every now and then. In fact, we encourage it. Take a break!
It doesn’t have to be a long break, but make sure it’s in a cool place. A while back, we shared a Tips and Tricks video featuring a farmer’s idea to put an A/C unit in his control room. The purpose was to keep his electronic equipment cool since heat is the number one thing that damages electronics. But if you have an A/C unit in your control room, that’d be the perfect place for you to spend about 15 minutes and cool down. If you're like me, I’d go in there and not really want to cool down since I was about to go right back out in the heat. I get it. But what it does is give a bit of time for your body temperature to come back down, so then you can safely get back out there and keep working.
5. Refresh
A few minutes in the control room with A/C would be refreshing, but here's something that many of you do anyway: put a cooler on the back of the vehicle you use to get around the farm, whether it’s an SUV, all-terrain vehicle, four-wheeler, golf cart or something else.
Throw your cooler back there, fill it up with ice and cold drinks and also keep a cool rag in there. By keeping a cool rag in the cooler, you can slap the rag around the back of your neck or put it over your head for a quick cooldown. If you can even just run cool water over your wrists, it'll help bring that body temperature down.
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My encouragement is to take care of you. If you go down, who's going to step in? Who's going to take care of your birds? You are your greatest asset on your farm. So, I encourage you to take some of these tips and plug them into your daily life on the farm if you're not already doing them. And if you've got any ideas, shoot them my way, so I can share them with other growers.
If you have any questions, reach out to me at allen@southlandorganics.com or 800-608-3755. For more tips, subscribe to our YouTube channel. Stay cool out there!
