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Saturday, April 19, 2014

Safety Equipment on Tractors can Save Lives

Are you in the habit of ignoring the safety devices installed on your farm equipment. They are there for a reason, just as are the warning signs about not sticking your hands into moving parts. We have a small Case IH DX 40 tractor. I love this tractor in that it has a hydrostatic transmission so I don't have to change gears and mess with a clutch. Yeah, I'm THAT kind of tractor driver. It has a loader on it that makes it easy to use a bucket to clean snow in the winter (even without a cab- brrr) and scrape manure out of pens and load the spreader, it also has a bale spear attachment for the front and a set of hay forks for the back, it is small and light compared to other tractors and gets into small places. Handy it is; safe for heavy work- not so much. We use it to haul round bales out of the fields in the summer, which it does fairly well because it is counterbalanced with a bale on the back. What I have found is that when it comes time to actually feeding those bales, one tends to only have a bale on the front and it bounces with the weight. Why do I bring this up in an article about safety equipment? Here's why. This tractor has a roll bar that can be folded down for getting into low places, such as our heifer shed, which my husband does, only he has a habit of not putting it back up and he also won't wear the seat belt. "If it tips, I want to be able to get out the way." Well, chances are high that if it tips and you jump, you will be caught in the rollover and squashed; not thrown out of the way. That roll over bar was installed to keep the tractor from landing on the driver and the belt to keep them in place.

The other day it snowed a great deal and with the spring thaw in progress it made it hard to find the soft spots in the cow yard. I wasn't able to drive to work (the roads were treacherous) so I stayed home. My husband asked it I would feed the cows but warned me 'it likes to tip a little, so be careful'. Holy mud pies! Was that an understatement. I dutifully changed out the bucket for the bale spear and commenced to pick up the hay bale he had it stuck into thinking that was the first bale he wanted fed. Then I noticed the rollover bar was down. I shook my head and put it back into place and then hooked the seat belt again. (I always use the seat belt). The first thing that happened was that as I backed out of the shed it tried to tip - a few times-  before I found some way to back out that it didn't. Thank goodness for the seat belt. It would have tossed me right off into the steering wheel. Then I got the gates open and went in to feed the cows. Since I couldn't see where the solid places were I fell right into the softest place by the gate and the front tire sank to the hub. The rest of the tractor tipped precariously. Why yes, my heart like to have pounded right out of my chest. I immediately put the bale down to put the tractor back on at least three wheels because at that point it was only on two, both on the same side and one of those was buried in mud. Again, the seat belt kept me from being thrown off and it wouldn't have been into the steering wheel; it would have been right where the tractor was going to roll. After several tries and more scary moments, I knew I was not going to get that tractor righted. I held onto the high side of the tractor and unhooked the seat belt and jumped off that side hoping it wouldn't roll and take me with it. I was sure if I went off the low side it would. I got a look at it once I was on the ground (mud) and that back tire was a good four feet off the ground. I had to tell the cows to stop eating my anchor, but I guess it kept them in the pen while I went to the house to call my nephew for help. He drove up in a vehicle and I told him I thought he'd bring a tractor and he said he probably should have once he got a look at the situation. He climbed on and did some maneuvering (apparently having done it before himself) and got it put back right, but it tipped several times with him too. I declined to deliver another bale. My husband said I got the heaviest bale in the barn.

Now, had that tractor rolled, that seat belt would have held me in place so as not to be in the path of the rollover and that roll bar would have kept it from smashing on top of me.

Farmers, in spite of old jokes to the contrary, are not dumb; they just do things like everyone else when they see a problem. Case in point: Several years ago a relative was trying to figure out why his forage chopper was not cutting properly. The only way to do this was to lift the cover and actually watch the blades spinning. "Oh, that's the problem!" he said and without thinking reached for it. He lost several fingers. Most farmers after such an incident will say "*&$#! That hurt!" Followed by, "Well, that was stupid." There are guards and covers with warnings for a reason. The graphics may look funny, but if one pays attention to the actual gruesomeness they portray, they would realize just how serious they are. Keep covers in good shape on things such as cutting bars and PTO shafts. An arm or leg caught in a PTO shaft can result in one severing an artery and bleeding to death; and not just mangling the limb. If your shirt gets caught in a shaft that is spinning; getting to a shut off switch is impossible and it will pull you into it.

The bottom line is seat belts, rollover bars, and guards save lives. Use them and maintain them.

My next assignment, find a bigger tractor and trade off my little one!