Baled Kid!!

[KrumpsBrother]

Found this pick on a site that sells small balers and equipment.

The man running the tractor is looking backwards, if the kid slips off, I don't think he'll have time to stop the tractor.

Be safe

KB

[AKfish]

Yah, that's not the kind of thing you want to make a habit out of doin'!

If the rear tire didn't clip him the baler might get 'em on the second punch!

[thcri]

Not too bright. They both think they are pretty cute. If the guy would just read some of the stories out there about accidents he would not do it.

murph

[KeithInSpace]

Not too bright. Looks like a "it happened so quick" story in the making. He's not even looking at the kid and may not even notice if he goes overboard. Certainly not notice in time to stop many tons of machine in forward motion.

Pretty bad "advertising" in my estimation.

[N80]

That's a cool looking little tiny baler though aint it?

I agree. He's breaking every rule in the book. But do you guys really, even being honest, never let anyone ride along?

I've seen local farmers do it frequently. I've had the local farmer tote me along on occasion, sometimes on the side, sometimes standing on the lift arms. I've done it with my 16 year old son when we needed to go somehwere on the tractor. In neither case does this occur when an implement is being used on the back.

Any time my son rides along, it comes with a brief lecture on how to do it, what the dangers are and that it is not recommended in general.

The kid in the picture seems to be on there for the fun of it, making it all the more senseless. But life on the farm is not like life in the suburbs. They ride horses without helmets, they ride in the backs of pick-ups...sometimes on the tailgate. They walk around in pens with bulls.....the list goes on. Is it safe? No. But I just see it as a different world with different cares and concerns.

[rcmike]

What really gets me around here are the people on riding mowers holding very small kids, babies even, in one arm and driving with the other. Don't know about their kids but I have trouble holding on to mine with both arms sometimes.

[wrangler6831]

I really don't understand why everbody gets so critical about this. Come on now who hasn't ridden in the back of a truck before or even on the tractor with someone else. This type of stuff happens all the time on farms. I have ridden with my late grandfather for more summers than I care to count and I'm glad I have had the chance to do it. I learned a great deal from him riding like that, things that you can't learn buy watching or someone telling you. Usually I was in between him and the fender not on the running board. I remember on place in particular that I had to ride on the back, upper side of a side delivery rake because it was so steep the the rake would tip over if there wasn't any weight back there. Would I let my son do it? Probrably not the the extent I did, but yes he does ride in the cab with me under certain conditions. Come on guys these kids need to learn from experience not from text books. I realize this will start the flames, but I had to say my peace and now I'm done.

Rich

[redlevel]

No doubt it is dangerous. Probably not nearly as dangerous as me riding on the fender of the old 600 Ford as my Daddy plowed peanuts, or sitting on the platform of an old bag type grain combine helping the hired man twist up grain bags when I was eight.

If there is a swimming pool in the backyard the kid is probably statistically ten times as likely to drown as he is to be hurt riding on the tractor. If he has a small ATV and rides it unsupervised, he is probably hundreds of times more likely to break his neck on it than to be hurt on the tractor. When he gets sixteen or seventeen, he will become a real time bomb in an automobile for a few years. Some get defused before they explode and some don't. There are few things in this world as dangerous to themselves and anyone who gets in their way as two seventeen year old boys in an automobile.

Life is a dangerous business. We sometimes choose to ignore some dangers and pitch a fit about others. Again, statistically, if there is a child, a gun, and a swimming pool on the same premises, the child is 100 times more likely to drown than to be shot accidentally. Trampolines are extremely dangerous to young kids. Many a young quadraplegic won his wheelchair on a trampoline. My in-laws used to fuss at me for having so many guns, including several loaded, in my home. However, they would come pick my daughter up and ride the 10 miles to their home with her standing in the seat between them. I solved that by training my daughter to refuse to ride with anyone who didn't have a seat belt for her.

Yes, the tractor driver is doing a very dangerous thing with the child. I would bet that isn't the most dangerous thing he does with the kid.

[Soundguy]

Honestly.. I have ridden on a tractor as a passanger before.. once standing on the floor boards as redlevel did probably ( when I was a kid ) riding out to the field on my granpa's old ford ( back then that probably wasn't illegal!! ) and a couple times more recently as an adult at a tractor show where I stood on the drawbar of a tractor to get a ride out to the parking lot. Past that.. nothing.. And have never taken a passanger on while I was driving...

Soundguy

Originally Posted by N80

That's a cool looking little tiny baler though aint it?

I agree. He's breaking every rule in the book. But do you guys really, even being honest, never let anyone ride along?

I've seen local farmers do it frequently. I've had the local farmer tote me along on occasion, sometimes on the side, sometimes standing on the lift arms. I've done it with my 16 year old son when we needed to go somehwere on the tractor. In neither case does this occur when an implement is being used on the back.

Any time my son rides along, it comes with a brief lecture on how to do it, what the dangers are and that it is not recommended in general.

The kid in the picture seems to be on there for the fun of it, making it all the more senseless. But life on the farm is not like life in the suburbs. They ride horses without helmets, they ride in the backs of pick-ups...sometimes on the tailgate. They walk around in pens with bulls.....the list goes on. Is it safe? No. But I just see it as a different world with different cares and concerns.

[thcri]

Originally Posted by Soundguy

Honestly.. I have ridden on a tractor as a passanger before.. once standing on the floor boards as redlevel did probably ( when I was a kid ) riding out to the field on my granpa's old ford ( back then that probably wasn't illegal!! ) and a couple times more recently as an adult at a tractor show where I stood on the drawbar of a tractor to get a ride out to the parking lot. Past that.. nothing.. And have never taken a passanger on while I was driving...

Soundguy

I do agree with you. As a kid or even on just about every farm that is a common circumstance. The problem we are starting to see is we now have people moving from the city to the rural areas and getting into the hobby farms. We have adults running tractors now with only 3 or 4 years of experience. Heck that kid in the picture on a farm in our area would not be riding but actually running the tractor. I remember many times on the farm I worked on I was on the wagon stacking the bales and the farmers son at 6 or 7 running the tractor. I remember one time the farmer sent his youngest kid out to rake. The kid got out there got half way down the field and there was a Y in the windrow. The kid didn't know what to do so he sat there with his foot on the clutch for over two hours waiting for someone to come along. So I always caution when I see pics like that.


murph