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had Budy is a hero. He would be the first person to deny it. Not comfortable with the spotlight, nor the praise that comes with it, the young farmer would likely laugh and shrug it off. Yet, Budy and thousands of others like him risk their lives each year in Oklahoma to fight fires in rural communities. It’s no laughing matter. Someone who selflessly volunteers to protect his or her small community from grass fires and other disasters that threaten their land, animals, crops and homes deserves to be called a hero. A hero is defined as “a person noted for feats of courage or nobility of purpose, especially one who has risked or sacrificed his or her life.” Brave, selfless, a protector....all characteristics rural fire fighters possess.
During a prescribed burn on a wheat field east of Alva, Randy Stelling, a volunteer on the Alva Fire Department, hosed down hotspots using the Dacoma Fire Department’s brush rig. Rural fire fighters often assist landowners with prescribed burns, whether as a cautious observer, or active participant. Stelling was assisting Chad Budy, a volunteer on the Dacoma Fire Department, with his controlled burn. Three generations of Budys were present to help manage the fire. Budy’s father, Terry, drove the brush rig while his son, Colton, navigated.
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But, being a hero is the last thing on Budy’s mind when he pulls on his heavy yellow, fire-proof gear. “Anything I can do to help the community,” said Budy, a volunteer fire fighter with the Dacoma Fire Department. “If my house caught on fire out here in the country, I’d sure want somebody to show up in a hurry, so I keep that in mind to help other people if there’s a need.” Tim Bartram, a volunteer fireman on the Coyle Fire Department, saw the need as a young person to contribute not only to his community, but also area landowners by offering them protection from fires. “I think it’s important to our own operations to have that protection,” he said. “If grassland burns at the wrong time, it can do a lot of damage and take several years to recover from.” MILES AWAY FROM CITY LIGHTS udy, a volunteer fire fighter since 1993, farms wheat, alfalfa and cattle in northwest Oklahoma about 13 miles south of Alva where the land stretches far and wide with small communities nestled in between. He understands the need for fire protection in outlying areas. “Especially here in this area,” he said. “It would take too long for the city fire trucks to make it here.” The state Young Farmers & Ranchers Committee member volunteered on Alva’s Fire Department for seven years before joining the Dacoma Fire Department in 2000 when he moved out to the farm. The department has 15 volunteers and elects its leaders. There are no full-time or salaried positions, and the equipment is geared toward fighting grass fires. “Mainly, you’re talking a tanker that holds 2,000 to 3,000 gallons,”
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Budy said. “Then you have a pickup with a skid unit on it, a brush rig is what we call it, to go out and fight the grass fires. That’s about all we have in our area.” The department has battled few house fires over the years, but has worn out its brush rig on small grass fires in the area. The one-ton pickup, which holds about 250 gallons of water, is better suited to handle the rough terrain. There are fewer structures in rural Oklahoma and fire fighters in small communities are mainly farmers and ranchers, so most of their training is in grass and wild land fires. But, whether it be a house or grass fire, rural fire departments rely on each other for backup. Dacoma is within 10 to 20 miles of another fire department. Carmen, Alva and Cherokee all have fire departments in case help is needed. “Around here, a lot of fire departments pitch in and help everybody else,” Budy said. “Anytime we can get help, we won’t turn anybody down.” PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT ural fire fighters must be prepared to face many different types of fire situations. That is why continuous training is imperative to maintain and improve their fire protection skills. Volunteer fire departments participate in several training exercises throughout the year, including various fire situations, gear exercises, auto extrication, equipment checks and First
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Far left: Coyle volunteer fire fighter Tim Bartram rummaged through his First Aid kit, looking for the tools needed to treat the victim of a mock disaster drill at Langston University. With a nation on alert since 9/11 followed by the creation of Homeland Security, much emphasis is placed on first responders, those brave fire fighters and policemen who would be first to arrive on the scene. The drill at Langston involved a staged situation resulting from a mock bomb explosion. Left: Coyle volunteer firemen Tim Bartram, left, and Josh James geared up for a mock disaster drill at Langston University, which depicted a scene following a bomb explosion. As First Responders, the two donned their fire-proof suits, helmets and breathing apparatus in preparation for evacuating students from the building. In the past fire fighters might not have received the training needed for these types of situations, Bartram said, but times have changed and now there is a strong push to do so.
Responders training. In a rural area, it might take a lot of precious time for a city ambulance to respond to a farm or automobile accident, so the first response falls to the rural fire fighters. “A lot of our skills are basic first aid,” said Bartram, Logan County Farm Bureau YF&R chairman. “We spend much time on CPR, use of oxygen and now, with the simplicity of the automatic defibrillator, we are trained to use those which are so important in terms of lifesaving and a heart attack situation.” Bartram, a wheat and cattle producer from Guthrie, recently participated in a mock disaster drill at Langston University. With a nation on alert since 9/11 followed by the creation of Homeland Security, much emphasis is placed on first responders, those brave fire fighters and policemen and women who would be first to arrive on the scene. The drill at Langston involved a staged situation resulting from a mock bomb explosion. “They had students labeled with various injuries, and we worked to evacuate and treat them,” Bartram said. “Also, being aware of the situation; if a bomb had gone off, what steps we need to take in terms of not just security for the students and others in the building, but also security and protection for ourselves.” In the past fire fighters might not have received the training needed for these types of situations, he said, but times have changed and now there is a strong push to do so. “The drill gave us an opportunity to work under a little bit more pressure where we had to think a little faster, and that in itself is extremely beneficial,” Bartram said. Pressure-packed situations like these are a long way from farming, yet Bartram still finds a connection. A few skills he’s learned on the farm have been quite beneficial in his off-the-farm volunteer work. “Because of my agriculture background, I already had experience driving a loaded truck. Haulin’ wheat in an old truck will do that for you,” Bartram said. “And, if you’re going to be on a farm, you’re going to find some experiences where you’re going to have to fight a grass fire whether you’re on a fire department or not.”
Volunteer fireman are trained not only for wild fire situations, but also managed fires. Rural fire fighters assist landowners with prescribed burns, whether as a cautious observer, or active participant. Prescribed burning is a valuable tool used by farmers and ranchers to clean up their land by burning off undesirables such as cheat in a wheat field or cedar trees on pasture land. For more on prescribed burning, see the sidebar following this story titled “Prescribed Burning is Valuable Tool.” GETTING READY FOR A COLD, DRY WINTER rescribed burns are one thing. These fires are kept in check under managed conditions. It’s quite another matter altogether to have a wild fire get out of control when the ground is dry and the winds are high. In other words, weather plays a big factor in fire fighting. Ensconced in the fall season and quickly heading toward winter, Oklahoma could soon see some pretty nasty weather, just the right conditions to cause problems for fire fighters. When the temperatures drop, Mother Nature usually steals the moisture and throws in a hefty dose of that mighty wind for which Oklahoma is well known. “Going into the winter months, the grass is going to be getting drier,” Budy said. “We’ve had a lot of rain this year, so there’s more grass and thick shrub out there.” It’s not just the thought of dry vegetation igniting that causes fire fighters to worry. There is also the threat of house fires due to faulty heating units as winter brings on the cold weather. “Homeowners need to check the filters in their homes because if that heater kicks on and starts a fire, you’re looking at some damage, if not the potential loss of life,” he said.
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FINDING THE FUNDING or both Budy and Bartram, the desire to better their communities factored into their decisions to volunteer on their rural fire departments. “Fire protection affects everyone in the community,” Bartram said. “Not just the potential loss of life and property, but it also affects insurance rates. A lot of your house insurance rates are affected by the quality of your fire department.” That’s true, said Dave Perkins, vice president of Actuarial and
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Product Development for Oklahoma Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Company (OFBMIC). “Right now, every fire department in the state – every city in the state and rural fire department, in most cases – are assigned a protection class,” Perkins said. “The protection class is a number between one and 10; the lower the number, the better the rate.” The number, assigned by Insurance Services Office (ISO), is based on the fire department’s ability to carry water, its condition of the trucks and equipment, how many men are in each station and how big of an area those men must cover. ISO representatives will look at each fire department and utilize all information gathered to develop a protection class. That class is then assigned to a town. OFBMIC takes that class and assigns a factor to it and puts that factor into its own rating formula, Perkins said. The lower the protection class is, the lower the factor will be, resulting in cheaper property insurance. The factor is used on farm and ranch, as well as homeowners insurance. “As tight as the budgets are for most producers in the state, that’s something that can affect the bottom line if you lower the insurance rates on your property,” Bartram said. Rural fire departments can request a rating from ISO if conditions have changed. That usually involves funding, of which the departments could use a lot more. “Funding is their greatest need,” said Tom McNally, rural fire coordinator for the Association of Central Governments (ACOG), Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food & Forestry. “It takes a lot to fund a fire department with the buildings, trucks, equipment and insurance.” There are funding avenues available for rural fire departments, he said, and that is where the rural fire coordinators come into play. The coordinators assist fire departments in obtaining equipment, training and funding. There are 11 rural fire coordinators and more than 930 rural fire departments across the state. McNally is in charge of 34 departments in central Oklahoma. “We’ve got two types of grant programs available,” McNally said. “We’ve got an 80/20 grant program which is funded through the Oklahoma State Legislature, and we have a 50/50 which is a federal grant program. We also have operational money that we pass out every year, which comes through the legislature.” Finding that funding can definitely play a role in improving a department’s class designation, Perkins said. “If a fire department has better equipment, more funding to purchase better equipment, that’s going to improve their overall fire protection,” he said. A CLASS OF THEIR OWN hatever the cost, rural fire departments and the brave fire fighters who volunteer their time are desperately needed and greatly appreciated in small communities out of the reach of big city protection. In a time when heroes are needed, rural fire fighters take the lead in protecting the lives and property of their own from the accidents and dangers that threaten them. For Budy, Bartram and the thousands like them, hero is a deserved title.
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Prescribed burning is valuable tool I BY MACEY HEDGES
ntentionally setting fire to a field of dry stubble or grass pasture can be a daunting task for Oklahoma farmers and ranchers. However, prescribed burning is a valuable tool used to reduce the invasion of eastern red cedar and to increase biological diversity throughout the state. “Burning is one of the most inexpensive and natural tools you can use on your land,” said Dr. Terrance Bidwell, Oklahoma State University Extension specialist. “If Oklahoma farmers have land that is not being used for crops, the cedars will eventually take over if the land is not burned regularly.” He said only two million of the state’s 43 million acres of land are burned each year. “We are not burning near enough in the state, and a lot of time the same acres are being burned each year,” Bidwell said. “The cedars are increasing faster than the burning is increasing.” One reason so few acres are burned each year is landowners are inexperienced and worried about the fire getting out of control. He said prescribed burning is much like a prescription from a drugstore; if it is not properly followed, it will not work as expected. There are several keys to ensure a successful prescription. Weather conditions, firebreak preparation, smoke management, an adequate number of people and proper notification to neighbors and the local fire department should be considered before burning, he said. “There is a big difference between prescribed burning and accidental wildfires,” Bidwell said. “Usually, when fires get out of control, the prescription has not been followed.” The need for more experienced burners in Oklahoma has caused landowners to combine their knowledge and resources and work together to increase the number of safely burned acres. Burn associations are a growing resource for landowners. There are currently five organized burn associations in Oklahoma, Bidwell said. Scott Dvorak, Oklahoma Farm Bureau District 7 director, and other Noble county landowners recently established the North Central Range Improvement Association (NCRIA). “There was an interest in cleaning up the problem with red cedar in this area,” said Dvorak. “But, there wasn’t a lot of experience in burning.”
He said more than 35 landowners worked with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and local volunteer fire departments to learn more about prescribing safe burns. Jim Kukuk, Noble County Farm Bureau board member and member of the NCRIA, said members met with NRCS about four times to develop burn plans and certify landowners. The association’s officer team also met with the Rural Fire Association and other local volunteer fire departments before conducting about 10 burns this summer. “We received a lot of information from the NRCS,” said Kukuk. “And we received plenty of support and encouragement from the fire departments.” Meanwhile, Oklahoma Farm Bureau asked the state legislature to assist landowners by certifying burn masters. OFB Director of Public Policy Jeramy Rich said the organization supported Senate Bill 1360 this past session which would have established a state-funded program to certify burn masters throughout the state. Rich said certified burners would provide an additional
resource for landowners with little prescribed burning experience. “There are plenty of landowners in Oklahoma that know their land needs to be burned,” said Rich. “They are just inexperienced and afraid of the liability issue.” Although the legislation failed during the last session of the Oklahoma State Legislature, Rich said OFB is embarking on a campaign to educate Oklahoma landowners on the importance of training certified burn masters. For anyone interested in learning more about prescribed burning, please contact your local County Extension Service or NRCS office, or visit the following Web sites for more information: n Oklahoma State University, http://www.osuextra.com n Noble Foundation, http://www.noble.org n Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food & Forestry, http://www.oda.state.ok.us To check whether or not your county is in a Red Flag Fire Alert, call toll free at 1-866-213-7485, or visit http://www.oda.state.ok.us/redflag/forred.html.
Wheat stubble collapsed under the melting heat of fire as Chad Budy worked to back burn a 330-acre wheat field near Alva. Once the back burn was completed, the young farmer and volunteer fire fighter lit the other end and “let ‘er rip.” Farmers and ranchers often use managed fires to clean up their land. In this case, Budy was looking to burn off the undesirables in his wheat field, such as cheat. Only two million of the state’s 43 million acres of land are burned each year.
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It’s No Hog Heaven Contract growers caught between a rock and a hard place By Mike Nichols Betty and Ron Baker 16 • Oklahoma Country • Fall 2004
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Cargill came in they said it was for hirty-three producers in the long-term where we could Haskell and LeFlore counties pass it along to our kids. They said face impending financial ruin sure, we’re here for the long term. at the hands of the largest The first contract was a real sweet private corporation in America. deal.” Nearly 80 families in the two “It all looked good,” said counties rely on 33 contract swine Owens, “but they blue skied us. operations with Cargill for their The lenders lent money based on livelihood. The 33 contract growers that. Up front, it looked good so invested nearly $13 million of you could get the loans going.” borrowed money after being actively “We’re here because of them,” recruited to become baby pig said Coplen. “We believed these producers for the multi-billionpeople. Cargill got us into the dollar corporation. business with the mindset that it With millions in mortgages still would be a 50-50 type relationship and that it would be for the long hanging over their heads, the contract growers now must face the stark term. It was a good deal at the time.” reality that Cargill appears bent on abandoning them in lieu of bigger The producers were swayed by Cargill’s recruiting efforts, and the operations. “I stand to lose everything I’ve worked for all my life,” says Haskell certainty those first five-year contracts provided. County Farm Bureau member Ron Baker, who Cargill provided the breeding stock and "Cargill came in…and it quit a job he had held for 23 years to become a feed, and offered attractive bonuses for Cargill contractor. “I’m between a rock and a or surpassing certain production sounded real good. When Cargill meeting hard place.” goals. Producers provided the facilities (built Baker and fellow Haskell County farmers E.L. came in they said it was for the to Cargill specifications) and the labor. Coplen and Robert Owens along with LeFlore Contractors have invested about $400,000 County farmer Ron Dill are representative of the long-term where we could pass each for the 500-sow units required by Cargill. 33 Cargill contractors. The company mandated the specifications of it along to our kids. They said The four are representative growers, but each unit, and regularly inspected each unit as atypical because by sharing their dilemma they it was being constructed to assure those sure, we're here for the long place Cargill’s crosshairs squarely on their specifications were met. term. The first contract was a operations. The intimidative, take-it-or-leave-it “This is just a slow death,” said Dill, who contract each grower must sign goes so far as to serves as a director on the Oklahoma Pork real sweet deal." eliminate their constitutionally guaranteed Council. “They give us just long enough to get freedom of speech – when it comes to Cargill. in debt and leave us holding the bag.” – Ron Baker “I’ve pretty much already lost,” said Baker. “Companies should, at the very least, be “They’re very likely to shut us down,” added Coplen. “They can always made to keep their promises that they made upfront and let the farmers find something to say that’s a breach of contract. I’d rather bring it to a pay off their mortgages,” said Coplen. head now.” “Morally and ethically, we both know this is not the deal you were Problems for the producers began after their original production promised and that Cargill has breeched their verbal promise,” responded contracts with Cargill expired. Rep. Ray Miller, D-Quinton, when contacted by producers about their plight. The contracts Cargill offered growers at start-up were equitable to When those original contracts expired, Cargill management was not both sides. They did everything the industry giant promised when it as kind. It began charging them for gilts – $25 each – Cargill provided at recruited contract growers in the two southeastern Oklahoma counties. no cost originally. It began charging them for semen – $2.50 per dose. A “Cargill came in. . .and it sounded real good,” said Baker. “When maintenance match program – offered to help producers with the cost of Oklahoma Country • Fall 2004 • 17
making company-mandated improvements to their facilities – was eliminated. Cargill did, however, give producers a $1.15 per head raise for each piglet in the second contracts. “They gave us a raise, but took away twice as much in other stuff. Now, they’re bleeding us to death. They’ve turned us into a servant instead of a partner,” said Coplen. “Based on shipping the same number of piglets under the previous contract compared to the new contact, farmers are being required to give back to Cargill approximately $20,000 of gross income per year per farm. They just want their profits to go up.”
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ome growers operated without contracts when the initial ones expired. Some waited almost a year before even being offered a new contract. Why would any producer sign a new contract that was so one-sided in Cargill’s benefit? “It’s a contract by adhesion,” said Dill. “It’s one-sided. You’re forced to sign it or go bankrupt. You know you’re going to get bit eventually.” “It was a take it or leave it deal,” said Coplen. “If you don’t, Cargill will come in and get your pigs. We had to sign the contracts out of duress or go out of business. We don’t want to lose our operations, because they are family farms. We put everything into these farms.” “Large companies often offer contracts to producers on a take-it-orleave-it basis,” said Jeramy Rich, Oklahoma Farm Bureau’s director of public policy. “Indeed,” he said, “the producers were forced to sign the new contracts because Cargill was the only game in town. It was either contract with Cargill or fold. Their special-purpose facilities were designed only for producing swine and are useless otherwise.” Companies such as Cargill benefit from the capital outlay by farmers. “The company still owns the hogs, controls the kind and number of animals the farmers get, controls the feed, controls the pay system and can cancel a contract at almost any time,” said Rich. “Contracting often results in unfair shifting of economic risk to farmers and ranchers, especially those who are required to make large capital investments in buildings and equipment,” said Rich. Sixty-one percent of all the hog production in the U.S. occurred under contract in 2002. “The contractors take on great financial risk. Producers shift the marketing risk but take on the risk of the integrator pulling out. The 18 • Oklahoma Country • Fall 2004
contracting farmer faces the risk he could be instantly bankrupt,” Rich said. As Owens put it, “The hogs are all we’ve got,” so despite loss of significant revenue under the new contracts, producers kept on to eek out a living.
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“ ust out of the blue, it came,” said Coplen, referring to a letter dated April 21, 2004, from Cargill Pork to producers. “Nobody had any inklings of any problems.” Cargill, which has 175 small farms under its corporate umbrella, announced it was making a “significant change” so it could remain a “viable competitor.” The giant company, which listed an 18 percent increase in revenue to $62.9 billion for fiscal year 2004, decided to phase out sow operations in Illinois and North Carolina (operations similar in size to those in Haskell and LeFlore counties). It also announced its intention to reduce the size of the geographic circles where it has hogs, and identified “target” areas. It essentially told producers the company now considers sow units less desirable when they are more than 100 road miles from its feed mills. The Cargill mill serving the Haskell and LeFlore County growers is in London, Ark. – the exact same location it was when Cargill recruited the southeastern Oklahoma growers. The mill is 120-plus miles from Stigler and nearly 105 miles from Poteau. “It’s hard to agree that by being outside the 100 road miles by this amount would actually make the difference between doing business or not doing business after all this time,” said Coplen. “Remember, Cargill is the one who solicited us!” Cargill also informed the producers of its intention in two years to offer only short term contracts to farms with less than 80 farrowing crates (the majority of the Oklahoma units have 84 crates), and in four years to offer only short term contracts to farms with less than 200 crates. “It’s the last straw,” said Dill. “You know four years down the road you won’t be in business.” “They’re putting us on a leash,” declared Owens, “and yanking us around.” “That letter is a threat,” added Coplen. “It’s so threatening that the majority of the growers sit back and lay low.” The producers insist that Cargill is not downsizing, citing planned expansions in other states that include massive 3,500sow units. They insist that Cargill