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The western slope is a land of contrast when it comes to people and lifestyles. Lifestyles range from professional people of all types to hard working migrants. The area accommodates urban dwellers as well as rural ranch and farm families. This page is meant to focus on the self reliant farm and ranch people and maybe provide them with resources they might otherwise not have or know about. Rural life can be quite dangerous for the unaccustomed. It is important for rural ranch and farm people to become proficient in the use of potentially dangerous resources such as electrical power or propane gas for example. A critical personal first decision is if a person has the basic skills and learning ability to deal with dangerous resources without getting killed or injured. If you have the slightest doubt, by all means do not engage in such activity. This page attempts to focus on those who already, out of necessity, are using such resources.
Building Things - For smaller jobs such as animal loafing sheds, machine sheds, car ports etc. many choose to build such structures themselves. For larger projects such as a house or large barn, a person may try to gain the assistance of a contractor. Doing so, can be a major challenge. It's not unusual to have contractors walk off in the middle of projects without good reason. As far as I've able to tell, there is no Better Business Bureau on the western slope nor is there any contractor licensing except as provided under the State DORA group. . You are pretty much on your own short of hiring an attorney. A review of the State Electrical Board Newsletter and the State Plumbing Board Newsletter shows the caliber of contractors one can end up with.
Animal Diseases - Recent outbreaks of hoof-and-mouth diseases in Great Britain is enough to send a chill down the spine of any cattle producer here. To see what the U.S. Government has in store should something happen here, visit the Government NAIS site to see their animal traceability efforts. d. The Cattle Network Magazine article provides a real world review of what will happen should a real incident happen here. It appears that a website (1-13-08) is being set up for Colorado at this URL. Subtitute ne for co to visit the Nebraska site.
Electrical Issues - Electrical inspectors typically take the dogma code approach to electrical installations. They can't or won't explain the reasons behind certain code requirements even though there are usually very valid reasons for why the code requires what it does. There have also been some very dangerous and wide spread equipment failures that have gone largely unreported. The Federal Pacific fiasco is typical of things that don't get reported. In my view, it's largely up to the individual to become educated on the items that can seriously injure or kill a person or family. One can not depend on either commercial or governmental organizations for either protection or notification of dangerous situations.
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