How the August tragedy at Prospect Valley Dairy reveals critical gaps in manure storage safety protocols—and the practical steps farms are taking to protect workers
Executive Summary: Six experienced dairy workers died in a Colorado manure pit this August—five of them trying to rescue each other, a pattern that causes 60% of confined space deaths. The tragedy exposed an uncomfortable truth: oil and gas operations face identical hydrogen sulfide hazards but prevent deaths through mandatory protocols, while dairy farms still treat these as accidents. Manure pits, especially with gypsum bedding, can produce H₂S levels that kill in seconds—up to 40 times the lethal threshold. Prevention costs less than treating mastitis: $450 for monitors, $1,800 for retrieval equipment, and free Extension training. But what actually changes behavior is asking yourself whether you’d send your own kid into that pit with your current safety measures in place. If that makes you uncomfortable, you know what needs to change today.
You know, when six men died from hydrogen sulfide exposure at Prospect Valley Dairy in Keenesburg, Colorado, on August 20, it sent a different kind of shockwave through our community. We’ve all dealt with equipment failures, weather disasters, and market crashes. But this? This hit differently.
The Weld County Coroner confirmed on October 30 what many of us suspected—all six victims died from hydrogen sulfide exposure in a confined space during what should’ve been routine maintenance work. And here’s what’s keeping me up at night: these weren’t greenhorns. We lost Ricardo Gomez Galvan, 40, the dairy manager. Noe Montañez Casañas, 32, assistant dairy manager. Jorge Sanchez Pena, 36, who managed services for High Plains Robotics. Alejandro Espinoza Cruz, 50, an experienced service technician, along with his two sons—17-year-old Oscar Espinoza Leos and 29-year-old Carlos Espinoza Prado.
What I’ve learned from sources familiar with the incident—Denver7 did some solid reporting on this—is that maintenance work was being performed on underground manure storage when a worker may have accidentally activated a valve or pump. That triggered a massive release of hydrogen sulfide. When the first person collapsed, the others rushed in attempting a rescue.
Here’s the thing that really gets me: Denver7 reported that a supervisor on-site was screaming at workers not to enter. But you know how it is—when you see someone you work with every day gasping for air, that instinct to help overrides everything. Dennis Murphy, up at Penn State, has been documenting this for years, and his research shows this “would-be rescuer” pattern accounts for about 60% of confined space fatalities nationally. Sixty percent. Think about that.
What Oil and Gas Has Already Figured Out
| Safety Standard | Oil & Gas Industry | Dairy Industry (Typical) | Gap/Risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| H2S Entry Threshold | <5 ppm | Often not defined | No baseline safety |
| No Entry Above | 50 ppm (strict) | No standard set | Unlimited exposure |
| Gas Testing Required | Always mandatory | Frequently skipped | Workers unprotected |
| Atmospheric Monitoring | Continuous real-time | Rarely implemented | No early warning |
| Worker Training | Mandatory pre-work | Often optional | Lack of awareness |
| Rescue Equipment | Required on-site | Rarely present | No rescue capability |
| Violations Consequence | Immediate termination | Warnings only | No accountability |
Maria Espinoza’s comment to Colorado Public Radio really stuck with me. She lost her husband, Alejandro, and both their sons in this tragedy, and she pointed out something we need to hear: her other son works in oil and gas and received extensive toxic gas training before he could even approach a wellhead. As she put it, everything they do with toxic gases is impossible to do without protection because it’s so dangerous.
So why don’t dairies have that same commitment?
I pulled up Chevron’s publicly available confined space standards—you can find them online if you’re curious—and it’s eye-opening. They require H₂S levels below five ppm for safe entry. That’s half OSHA’s standard, by the way. Above 50 ppm? No entry allowed, period. No exceptions, no “we’ll just be quick about it.”
What’s interesting is the difference isn’t technology or even cost. They’ve simply made safety completely non-negotiable. A roughneck who skips atmospheric testing gets fired, no questions asked. Can we honestly say the same on our operations? I know I couldn’t until recently.
This comparison matters because—and this is what many of us miss—oil and gas faces the exact same hydrogen sulfide hazards we do. Same deadly gas, same confined spaces. But they treat it as a predictable, manageable risk requiring systematic controls. Meanwhile, we’re still treating these incidents as unforeseeable “accidents.” They’re not.
Understanding What We’re Really Dealing With
I’ve been around manure pits my whole life, and I’ll bet many of you have, too. But what’s interesting here is how hydrogen sulfide plays tricks on our senses in ways most of us never learned about.
At low concentrations, H₂S smells like rotten eggs. We all know that smell. But once it hits about 100 parts per million, it actually paralyzes your olfactory nerves. You literally can’t smell the danger anymore. Your body’s warning system shuts off right when you need it most.
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has benchmarks we all need burned into memory:
- 10 ppm: That’s OSHA’s permissible exposure limit for an 8-hour workday
- 100 ppm: Immediately dangerous to life and health—this is where smell disappears
- 500-700 ppm: You’re staggering and collapsing within 5 minutes
- 700-1000 ppm: Unconscious within 1-2 breaths
- Above 1,000 ppm: Death is nearly instantaneous
Now here’s what really caught my attention. Eileen Wheeler’s team at Penn State has been monitoring dairy farms across Pennsylvania for years, and they’ve found that manure pits—especially those containing gypsum bedding—can produce hydrogen sulfide concentrations 17 to 39 times these fatal thresholds during agitation. We’re not talking about slightly over the limit. We’re talking about concentrations that kill in seconds.
The Gypsum Connection Nobody Saw Coming
This development really surprised me when I first learned about it. Gypsum bedding has become pretty popular over the last decade, and honestly, for good reasons. It absorbs moisture like nothing else, maintains that neutral pH cows prefer, and I’ve seen operations cut their mastitis incidence dramatically after switching. Plus, with lumber prices these days, recycled wallboard gypsum can be a real money-saver. Many Wisconsin operations have been using it with great success—from a cow comfort perspective.
But here’s what Wheeler’s research team discovered that should concern all of us: farms using gypsum bedding showed dangerous levels of hydrogen sulfide during manure agitation. Farms using traditional organic bedding—sawdust, straw, that sort of thing? Almost no H₂S release at all.
The chemistry, once you understand it, makes perfect sense. Under those anaerobic conditions in your manure storage, sulfate-reducing bacteria—mainly Desulfovibrio species, if you want to get technical—convert gypsum’s calcium sulfate into hydrogen sulfide gas. Lab work has shown that adding just 1% gypsum to cattle slurry can increase H₂S levels to nearly 4,000 ppm. That’s 40 times what NIOSH considers immediately dangerous to life and health.
Mike Hile put it simply when I talked to him about this: “Any time you work around manure storage, it is dangerous, but gypsum elevates the level of hydrogen sulfide. We want people to be aware of the hazards.”
Now, I’m not saying abandon gypsum if it’s working for your herd health. What I am saying is that if you’re using it, you need different safety protocols than your neighbor using sawdust. It’s worth noting that several insurance companies are starting to ask about bedding types in their risk assessments. That should tell us something.
Practical Steps Dairy Operations Are Taking
I’ve been talking to operations across the Midwest since August, and what’s encouraging is seeing farms take concrete action. Here’s what’s actually working:
Changes You Can Make Today—And I Mean Today
Lock Down Your Confined Spaces
Walk your operation this afternoon. I’m serious—put down this article and do it if you haven’t already. Get your supervisors together and identify every single confined space. Your underground pits, obviously, but also above-ground tanks, those old concrete silos, feed bins, and even that bulk tank if someone has to crawl inside to clean it. Mark them all.
Then make this announcement, and make it stick: “Nobody enters any confined space without my direct authorization. If someone collapses, you don’t enter. You call 911.”
I know of several operations that went through this after near-misses, and they now treat violations as immediate termination offenses. Their incident rates? Dropped from double digits down to under 4%. That’s not a typo.
Order Gas Monitors Now
I called around to suppliers this week. BW Technologies makes a four-gas monitor that runs about $450 through Grainger. The Dräger X-am 2500 is around $650. Both detect oxygen, hydrogen sulfide, carbon monoxide, and methane. Most industrial safety suppliers offer next-day shipping to dairy regions—I had mine the next afternoon.
Here’s the thing that should motivate you: that’s less than the average workers’ comp claim for agricultural injuries, which the National Safety Council puts at over $40,000. We’re talking about equipment that costs less than a decent set of tires for your mixer wagon.
For those wondering about ongoing costs, calibration gas runs about $85 per bottle and lasts 6-12 months, depending on use. Most manufacturers recommend bump testing weekly—it takes only 2 minutes. My milkers do it while they’re waiting for the parlor to fill.
Have the Hard Conversation
Gather everyone who works on your place. And I mean everyone—your milkers, your feeder, that high school kid who helps on weekends, the nutritionist who comes monthly. If they set foot on your operation, they need to hear this.
Tell them exactly what happened in Colorado. Be blunt about it. Then drill in three things:
- Someone down in a confined space? You don’t go in. You call 911.
- Nobody approaches manure storage without testing the air first.
- Don’t understand English? Speak up now. We’ll get Spanish training.
Tom Schaefer from the National Education Center for Agricultural Safety has been taking their confined space rescue simulator around the country for years. What he’s found—and this is crucial—is that the biggest challenge is overriding that rescue instinct. You have to give workers something else to do, like operating retrieval equipment, or they’ll go in anyway. Human nature is powerful.
Your 30-Day Action Plan
Get Your Paperwork Right
OSHA regulation 29 CFR 1910.146 requires written confined space procedures. Now, I know paperwork isn’t fun, but your Extension office has templates that make this painless. Dennis Murphy at Penn State has developed some excellent ones, and Cheryl Skjolaas at Wisconsin has materials specifically for dairy operations. Iowa State’s ag safety team has good resources, too. The key elements are atmospheric testing results, equipment checks, and rescue procedures—all documented before anyone goes in.
Buy Retrieval Equipment
Tripod and winch setups from companies like 3M Fall Protection or Miller by Honeywell run $1,500-3,000. That gets you the tripod, a 50-foot winch cable rated for 310 pounds, and a full-body harness. FallTech makes an entry-level system for about $1,800 that several Wisconsin dairies tell me works really well in our conditions.
As one safety investigator with decades of experience told me, the retrieval system lets you channel that rescue instinct into something that actually saves lives instead of creating more victims. Think about it—if High Plains Robotics had retrieval equipment staged that day, maybe we’d be telling a different story.
Schedule Real Training
Most states offer free Extension training. Wisconsin’s program through UW-Madison includes hands-on practice—they bring the equipment right to your farm. Michigan State trains hundreds of workers annually. The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension team has developed excellent bilingual training specifically for Hispanic workers, and they’ve reached thousands over the past few years.
If your state doesn’t have strong offerings—and I know some don’t—the National Safety Council offers online confined space training for around $195 per person. It’s worth every penny.
Learning from Farms Getting It Right
Let me share what I’m hearing from operations that have made safety transformation work.
One Nebraska dairy I know—they milk about 850 cows—had a near-miss a couple of years back where an employee lost consciousness near their reception pit. Fortunately, he was outside where fresh air revived him. But it was a wake-up call. They spent about $15,000 total on monitors for every building, retrieval equipment at both pits, and professional training for all 30 employees. Their insurance company—one of the big agricultural mutuals—cut their premiums substantially. The safety investment basically paid for itself in the first year.
But what really changed was the culture. They now start every shift with what they call a “safety minute”—just checking in about hazards for that day’s work. Are we agitating today? Anyone working near the pits? New people on site who need orientation? The owner tells me it’s actually made them more efficient, not less. When people feel safe, they work better. Simple as that.
Another operation I’m familiar with in Minnesota implemented what they call “Stop Work Authority” after attending a safety workshop. Any employee—from the newest hire to the herd manager—can stop any job if they see a safety issue. No questions asked, no punishment, no grief about it later. They’ve used it several times over the past couple of years, and each time it prevented what could have been serious incidents.
The Economics Nobody Wants to Discuss
Look, I know what you’re thinking. Money’s tight, milk price is volatile, and here’s another expense. So let’s be real about the numbers.
Research from the University of Texas School of Public Health lays it out pretty clearly:
- Average dairy injury workers’ comp claim: Over $40,000
- Cost of a workplace fatality, including indirect costs: Over $1 million
- OSHA serious violations: Up to $161,323 as of 2025
- Comprehensive safety program implementation: $10,000-25,000, depending on operation size
But here’s what’s harder to quantify—can you find workers after a fatality? What happens to your milk contract if you’re shut down during an investigation? How does your community look at you?
I’ve talked to three operations that had fatalities in the last decade. They all say the same thing: finding workers afterward was their biggest challenge. One operation told me they had to increase wages significantly across the board just to get applicants. The financial hit lasted years.
What This Means for Different Types of Operations
If you’re running a smaller dairy (under 100 cows): Your close relationships with everyone on the farm are actually an advantage. The safety conversations might be easier because everyone knows everyone. But the equipment is just as necessary. And remember, OSHA’s small farm exemption only applies to operations with 10 or fewer employees—it doesn’t exempt you from liability if someone gets hurt.
For mid-size operations (100-500 cows): You’re in that tough spot where you’re too big for everyone to know everyone, but maybe not big enough for dedicated safety staff. Consider sharing resources with neighboring farms. I know of three farms in Wisconsin that went together on confined space rescue equipment they share. Cost each farm a fraction of what they’d have paid individually, and they train together quarterly.
Large dairies (500+ cows): Your challenge is consistency across shifts and with contractors. Prospect Valley had High Plains Robotics doing service work—that contractor relationship adds complexity. Every shift, every crew, every contractor needs the same standards. Consider appointing safety champions on each shift—workers who get extra training and maybe a small pay bump to help maintain standards.
Custom operators and contractors: You folks are walking onto different farms every day, each with its own hazards. You need portable equipment and—this is crucial—the authority to refuse unsafe work. Several states have developed model safety policies for custom applicators that are worth looking into.
For operations outside North America or those without strong Extension services nearby, online resources from the National Safety Council, OSHA’s website, and university programs offer downloadable materials. Many are available in Spanish, and some in other languages too.
Moving Forward: What Actually Changes Behavior
After reviewing dozens of successful safety transformations, here’s what I’ve noticed actually works:
Make it personal. One milker told me, through a translator, that when his supervisor explained the retrieval equipment was so his kids wouldn’t lose their dad, like those families in Colorado, everything clicked. Safety became about family, not rules.
Start small, but start now. You don’t need a perfect system tomorrow. But you need something better than what you have today. Even just buying monitors and requiring their use is progress.
Learn from near-misses. Every farm that successfully transformed its safety culture had stories of close calls that became teaching moments rather than secrets. Create an environment where people can report near-misses without fear.
Share what works. This isn’t competitive intelligence—it’s keeping our people alive. If you find a training program that really resonates with your Hispanic workers, tell your neighbor. If a certain monitor brand holds up better in our conditions, spread the word.
Quick Reference: Resources That Can Help
For immediate help setting up protocols:
- Your state Extension safety specialist
- OSHA Consultation: 1-800-321-OSHA (it’s free for small businesses)
- National Education Center for Agricultural Safety: (319) 557-0354
Equipment suppliers who understand ag:
- Grainger: 1-800-GRAINGER
- MSA Safety: 1-800-MSA-2222
- Industrial Scientific: 1-800-DETECTS
Visual resources: Search online for “confined space retrieval equipment setup” or “H2S concentration effects chart” for diagrams that complement this information.
What Happens Next
The six men who died in Colorado—Ricardo, Noe, Jorge, Alejandro, Oscar, and Carlos—they weren’t statistics. They were the guys who kept operations running, who knew which cows were off feed before anyone else noticed, who could fix that temperamental mixer wagon when nobody else could.
Their deaths were preventable with technology that costs less than we spend on hoof trimming and protocols that have been available for decades. The question now is what we do with that knowledge.
You can finish reading this, feel bad for a few days, then go back to business as usual. Or you can pick up the phone, order those monitors, and start changing how your operation values safety. Not eventually. Not after you talk to your banker. Today.
Every dairy owner needs to ask themselves: would I send my own kid into that pit with our current safety measures in place? If the answer makes you uncomfortable, you know what needs to change.
The technology exists. The knowledge exists. The training exists. What’s needed now is the decision that no production goal, no maintenance deadline, no economic pressure is worth the price of someone not coming home.
That’s a decision each of us has to make. And after Colorado, we can’t pretend we didn’t know better.
Key Takeaways for Your Operation
Looking at everything we’ve learned from Prospect Valley and farms that have successfully improved their safety:
- Every dairy with manure storage faces these hazards—size and experience don’t eliminate risk
- Bedding choices have safety implications—if you’re using gypsum, you need enhanced protocols
- The technology is affordable—we’re talking about monitors that cost less than a decent bull calf
- Culture beats compliance every time—workers follow what management demonstrates, not what’s written in the manual
- Training must be ongoing and hands-on—that safety video from 2015 isn’t cutting it anymore
- Engineering controls beat willpower—make the safe choice the only available choice
Complete references and supporting documentation are available upon request by contacting the editorial team at editor@thebullvine.com.
Learn More:
- The Ultimate Manure Gas Safety Checklist – This tactical guide provides an actionable checklist for manure gas safety, detailing specific protocols for atmosphere monitoring, lagoon management, and equipment upgrades. It’s an essential resource for implementing the hands-on safety measures discussed in the main article.
- Why the Smartest Dairy Operators Are Unlocking Over $150,000 in Potential Returns While Others Get Blindsided by Market Chaos – Shifting from physical to financial risk, this article reveals the strategic framework top producers use to manage market volatility. It demonstrates how a comprehensive risk management culture, beyond just on-farm safety, drives overall profitability and business stability.
- AI and Precision Tech: What’s Actually Changing the Game for Dairy Farms in 2025? – This piece explores how innovative technologies are fundamentally reducing operational risk. It shows how AI-powered health monitoring and precision feeding not only boost yield but also minimize the need for employees to perform high-risk manual interventions on the farm.
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