Inconsiderate drivers and tractor operators, bad mix...

[Hay Dude]

Nothing more pathetic (IMO) than a person trying to make arguments coming from a position of emotion and anger. Just saying.

AND, just for the record, I do have not one but TWO tennant farmers, on the farm where I live full time. One Organic and one CASH CROPPER. So I am not some city slicker sitting in my armchair high in my penthouse, without as you say, a clue.

Or worse, a person making observations from a position of complete ignorance Like one that doesn’t understand farmers are only complying with STATE LAW ALLOWING AG equipment to be over width, then blaming the farmer! Now that would be clueless. Just sayin.....

 

[Hay Dude]

The thing to think about is in most businesses, if the cost of doing business increases, you can pass that cost on to the customer. The farmer is raising a commodity. Their cost of doing business goes up and the price they get for their crop can go down. A totally different ballgame.

Farmers are moving equipment a few miles at a time not hundreds of miles over the road. Having to go get a permit to change fields would be ridiculous and would do nothing to make things safer or better.

I also think regulations on other businesses is getting a little ridiculous as well. But anyway, my hat is off to the farmer. Thank you for doing what you do!

Thank you! It’s a mostly thankless, risky business dependency on weather and conditions make it extremely challenging.
I agree, the thought of MORE regulations and permits has got to be the most absurd proposal I have yet to read on this website or probably the internet. :thumbdown:

 

[Hay Dude]

Well if you are going to drive on the roads yes there probably should be some regulations about maximum width and where and when they can use the roads. I don’t think that is to much nor is anyone asking you to go back to mules but let’s be over dramatic for effect ��

I don’t know why you think your job is any more or less important than anybody else that you should be less regulated than anyone else. And if cheap food is what we want giant farm complexes with vast swaths of land is probably ideal not 1000’s of smaller farms scattered around the country so probably not the best argument to make in this instance.

Listen to me, because industrial toys obviously doesn’t get it. It ain’t the farmer that makes the rules, it’s the state. If you don’t want large AG machinery on the road, call your DOT and complain to them. Complaining to the farmers is like telling it to the rain.

Cheap food? Do you know how many people want small farm organically grown food, meats, and milk now?
I think my job is very important. No farmers or food is a problem.

 

[Frankenkubota]

Do they still teach drivers ed in school? Do they teach anything in schools? My dad taught me to drive, I learned to crash on my own. So many single parent households and most female. You know what I知 thinking!

I absolutely DO NOT want to be Japanese but, recently read they spend the first few (3-5?) years learning.......manners . Can you imagine?

I think this sums it up.

We are a ME culture, not a WE culture. Simple as that. There is reality and....there is.....wouldn稚 it be nice if......

If you don稚 like things the way they are, you must change the culture, not elect The Donald or Hillary or anyone else, they are the same people.

So, how do we change the culture, change it to what and, are the people in rural Kansas going to agree with the people on the south side of Chicago.

Good luck, I致e given up.

Good luck and keep your head down!

 

[Tx Jim]

All farmers ever do here is complain. I know it's more complicated than this, but if they don't like, find something else to do. Just tired of hearing farmers (in this country) complain.

You don't usually have airports sharing runways with Jumbos and Cesnas. Who would think that massive farm equipment could share a two lane paved road with vehicles? At least without some basic rules understood by all.

It's definitely not the farmers fault that city dwellers decided to move to the country then drive on country roads at or above freeway speeds that was designed for slower traffic. If it weren't for farmers where do you think your groceries & fast food would come from? Food sure doesn't originate at Kroger,HEB OR Wal-mart,etc!!!!!!!!! My observation is most auto/suv/pu drivers driving out in the country don't observe many driving laws if any at all!

 

[Hay Dude]

I didn't know that responding to a thread was complaining. And Big equipment on the roads is NOT even on my radar for peeves, pet or otherwise. Just making observations.

The stupid flashing lighting schemes on modern equipment is just simply retarded! Like has been discussed (if you even read it), some kind of beacon, and standard automotive lighting and turn signals. With use thereof enforced as with vehicles under the highway traffic act.

Then some restrictions as to where very large equipment can and can't go. Just like with trucks. Maybe time restrictions.

Then, some clear proceedures for large equipment operators and the motoring public as far as right of way and so forth.

Can you imagine the mayhem if suddenly everyone started driving around with their four ways on?

Honestly that is the silliest observation I have ever read. :laughing:
So let me see if I’ve e got this: you want a regulation on WHEN I can drive equipment down a given road. Now let me try to explain to your extremely ignorant stance on the subject of TIMING in farming. Lets say I have crop on the ground down the road that needs to be baled right away because we have rain coming, but because Industrial Toys is regulating TIMING of road use by AG equipment, I cannot get 100 acres of alfalfa baled. Rain comes and crop is ruined. Profits destroyed, cows dont get to eat. Do you also wear a mask when driving alone? :laughing:


Yep! Makes perfect sense. Lets get it signed into law. :laughing:

 

[LouNY]

Some do. Like the time a farmer wound up 50 feet of fiber optic after busting a handhold while bush hogging. And then there is the time they burned their land and used the road as a fire brake melted the the box holding the coil of fiber. That one one only cost about $30k. Then there is the numerous time a farmer decided to clean the ditch in front of their house with a backhoe on Saturday.

"farmer wound up 50 feet of fiber optic after busting a handhold" ;
it should have been better protected and more visible.

"they burned their land and used the road as a fire brake melted the the box holding the coil of fiber";
they own and pay taxes to the center of the road in most cases, you have just decided to use the utility easement design for regular and normal occurrences.

"decided to clean the ditch in front of their house with a backhoe on Saturday";
then bury it deeper then the bottom of a ditch should be, too many times cables are put in just a few inches below grade then get po'ed when dug up bury them deeper.

 

[Redlands Okie]

^^^^^ yes

 

[paulfun9]

Almost had an oops yesterday with a speeding driver while I was pulling out of my farm lane onto the dirt road in front of the farm, idiot coming at warp speed (way too fast for a dirt road) and almost collided with the tractor, scared the heck out of me. I think he (yes it was a he) would have come out on the 'bleed' end of the incident, hitting a 10,000 pound tractor.

What people fail to realize (or are too stupid to realize) is that in most states, on secondary roads, powered farm equipment have the right of way. No exceptions.......

This statement tells me volumes about your mind set when you decided to pull out onto the road with a vehickle coming!
Your right away does not extend to proper protocol at an intersection. You must still stop and await traffic to clear, and your entering the roadway should not force all traffic to slow because of you.
Just glad you took the time to explain your feelings on the speed at which traffic flows. Do you remember that two wrongs don稚 make a right?
You should have waited for the car to go by before entering the roadway instead of trying to force you will and opinion of his travel speed with the thought of This will slow him down.

 

[Citydude]

I’m sure glad we don’t have to get permits to move cattle from one area to another via a county road or highway. Putting slow moving signs on them would be a pain.

 

[daugen]

in boating one of the core rules of maritime law is the requirement to avoid a collision no matter who is right or wrong.
There is a concept of who had the "last chance" to avoid the collision.
When in doubt, wait for the other guy to pass.

Even if you are in the "right", how are you going to feel if kids in the dumb texting Mom's suv get hurt?
Sometimes we have to be more careful and smarter than the next guy to protect us all.
To me that defines defensive driving, no matter whether a car, boat, semi or tractor.

Basically I just assume everyone is crazy around me and drive defensively to match...

I've never driven a combine on the road but I have driven a full size tractor with a mower on the back and while most folks going by wave
and are courteous, I've been flipped off too. I always wonder how much coffee have you been drinking?

 

[tduby]

Trust me I know farmers don’t make the rules but for a group of people who hates more regulation they sure do a bad job of self regulation.

So in your arguments what is people depend on you for cheap food so you have to cut corners or people want expensive organic foods you are safe? Sure food is important but I got news for you people have been replacing farmers for thousands of years so don’t get to high and mighty everyone has a job to do and yours isn’t any more or less important that the 300 million that keep this country moving.

 

[K5lwq]

I do not view farming as a job. It is a life. Most farmers are very humble people and care more for others than themselves. They don't ask for a lot and are very thankful for what they have. Very rarely do you hear a farmer complain about anything. Most will pray that God will honor their hard work.

Our nation has about a 6 months food supply. If farmers failed to put in a crop one year, getting food and the basic necessities would be far worse than when Covid hit the world.

I am very thankful for all that served in our military to give us the freedom to have this discussion. Likewise I am very thankful for the life the farmer chose to feed the world.

 

[3Ts]

Farmers have the need to move large equipment short distances frequently (i.e. between fields) in a low density area, construction crews have a need to move large equipment long distances thru congested areas and they sit at the site until the job is done. I can see permits for construction eqpt., I don't see what a permit for ag equipment would accomplish, other than just increase the costs to the farmer with no change in safety or road maintenance.

As for the fiber cable, I don't know what the code requirements are for signal wires (including copper phone lines), but electrical lines are supposed to be buried 2 to 4 feet down (with some exceptions). I've also encountered regular romex buried about 3 inches down and 1.5" electrical conduit providing power to a building 6" down. If they aren't buried properly then they should expect some interruptions in service.

 

[LouNY]

Farmers have the need to move large equipment short distances frequently (i.e. between fields) in a low density area, construction crews have a need to move large equipment long distances thru congested areas and they sit at the site until the job is done. I can see permits for construction eqpt., I don't see what a permit for ag equipment would accomplish, other than just increase the costs to the farmer with no change in safety or road maintenance.

As for the fiber cable, I don't know what the code requirements are for signal wires (including copper phone lines), but electrical lines are supposed to be buried 2 to 4 feet down (with some exceptions). I've also encountered regular romex buried about 3 inches down and 1.5" electrical conduit providing power to a building 6" down. If they aren't buried properly then they should expect some interruptions in service.

Lets add that any "codes" are minimums, not necessarily best design or best or better install.

 

[MossRoad]

Before You Dig

 

[Diggin It]

Most of our county roads are barely 10 feet wide, some 12-15 feet with less than a foot of shoulder. Two passenger cars in opposing directions can't pass at road speed. Both have to slow and put one set of tires off the pavement. You get behind a tractor, you stay behind it until they turn off or move over. You come up one coming at you, one of you pulls off the road.

State highways are normal lane width, but again, no shoulders in most places. Some drop off 3-4 feet, many drop much further. There is no where safe to pull off.

Most farmers travel between fields on the county roads only, but some have to use the state highways for a mile or two. Some make the trip several times a day when bailing and hauling hay. Permits or time restrictions ain't a'gonna work.

We also have the very large Ag groups that travel 50 miles or more between leased fields. One comes in convoys of 6 or 8 harvesters, that many or more semis with grain trailers, plus all the support vehicles, fuel trucks, etc. I've seen them roll in at 8 or 9 in the morning, work the fields straight through the day and night, then leave at 3 or 4 the next morning.

 

[Jstpssng]

Yes, definitely restrict when they can move. Everybody knows that harvesting a field is a very controlled activity and they know exactly how much each field will produce, how long it will take to harvest, the weather is always perfect and equipment never breaks down.
Therefore they should be able to schedule for the convenience of people who are always in a hurry because they didn't plan ahead.

I've long believed that the price of groceries should reflect the actual cost of production.

 

[Drstrangeglove]

"farmer wound up 50 feet of fiber optic after busting a handhold" ;
it should have been better protected and more visible.

5 foot markers on each side.

"they burned their land and used the road as a fire brake melted the the box holding the coil of fiber";
they own and pay taxes to the center of the road in most cases, you have just decided to use the utility easement design for regular and normal occurrences.

go tell that to the guy that I had to plow though several acres of peanuts. He planted up next the the paved road and county said the cable will be on the back 5 foot of the ROW.

I have seen the state take an excavator to pull up a fence and then send the owner a bill.

 

[LouNY]

Yes, definitely restrict when they can move. Everybody knows that harvesting a field is a very controlled activity and they know exactly how much each field will produce, how long it will take to harvest, the weather is always perfect and equipment never breaks down.
Therefore they should be able to schedule for the convenience of people who are always in a hurry because they didn't plan ahead.

I've long believed that the price of groceries should reflect the actual cost of production.

There would be a lot of hungry and thinner people around.