Baled Kid!!

[N80]

I see where you are coming from and I was making the same point above, but also have to admit that in the picture in the original post, it doesn't look like the kid is on the tractor for any reason other than a joy ride.

Taking risks to get the job done on the family farm is one thing, taking risks to goof off is another.

 

[Tractors4u]

My kids have asked me "When do we get to ride on the tractor". My reply: I'm sorry but you will never be able to ride on the tractor. When you're 16 I can show you how to use it.

I won't take a chance with the kids.

I am 37 years old, to give you an idea of the era I am talking about. I learned to drive my grandfather's C Farmall when I was 10 or 11. We didn't live on a farm, just out in the country. Sometimes my dad would cut firework a mile or so from our house and we would haul the wood on a trailer behind the Farmall. My brother an I would ride standing on the axle housing and holding on to the seat going down the road. My oldest daughter is 10 years old today. She has driven a tiny little Ford 1100, a Bolens G152, and my John Deere 4310 (32hp). I put her out in the field, select a gear and tell her when she is ready to go let out on the clutch. When she is finished she knows to clutch it. She is surpervised. I don't see why one would wait until they are 16 to learn. In probably another year she will be mowing the lawn. I started using the riding mower when I was 8, but I was a boy after all. I have told both my daughters that I will not put age stipulations on them. It is when they think they are ready and when I think they are ready at the same time. The 10 year old drives the Polaris Ranger all over our place. She knows to keep it in Low range. Now that she has another year under her belt and more experience we might experiment with High. It is actually kind of handy. She can fetch tools and ice water for me now. My point is, different people, different abilities. I see people here on TBN ask about some of the most obvious things. No some of them shouldn't have their kids within a hundred yards of a tractor, some shouldn't be on a tractor themselves. With others it is second nature.

 

[Soundguy]

Yep.. it's the experience issue. I can remember when we were kids.. we lived on a dirt road that joined up to a slag road. On the weekends all the familly came over for a cookout / bbq.. and all the kids played around in the pasture. If we kids wanted some candy from the 'corner' store, one of the adults would pull out a couple bucks ( 2$ worth of candy back then fed alot of kids! ) and then tell us to take the tractor to the store. About 4 or 5 of us would pile on the tractor.. setting on fenders and what not.

Was common.. nobody thought anything of it... no one took notice even..

Today that would be a capitol crime I think..

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

 

[Soundguy]

Yep..

I can remember going out to a farmers hay field to help a family member load up some squares that were laying inthe field to take to his cows. He had an old flatbed truck.. not sure what it was.. but it wasn't a passanger truck like a f100 .. it was more like an industrial . old delivery truck. ( split shifter.. etc. ) Anyway. I can remember driving the truck thru the field in 1/low while he walked along and tossed squares on the back.. then he'd hop on when a section was done and point to the next place to go to.. had to upshift for that one.. I can remember being small enough that i had to stand onthe floor board to see over the dash.. and had to brace myself to use the clutch.. not sure how old I was.. but do remember it pretty clearly.

Soundguy

Well, I seen one local farmer haul his kid around on the back of the tractor when he is moving hay. She jumps down and unhitches the hay wagons. Then he takes the tractor and loads up the wagons with hay. Then he backs up and she hooks the wagons back on and off they go. Repeat process when they unload the hay and again for the next batch. This saves him a tremendous amount of time when feeding the cows. Wouldn't it be safer for her to ride on the hay wagons? Not on those hay wagons!

I guess she could follow him around in the jeep (she's been driving since she was 10) or a horse. But that would still be a huge PITA.

But, I've never seen the kids anywhere close to him when baling, raking, tetting, cutting or mowing. Nor have I ever seen the kids riding passenger just for fun.

Like I said, I think farm life is a different world. Totally unregulated. More calculated risks than what most of us are used to, some out of necissity, some out of tradition. And I'm not sure any of that is a bad thing. I think in many cases, they grow a better sort of kid on the farm.

And this guy and his kids have all been injured on the farm. Nothing life threatening, but some requiring hospital stays or ER visits. Was it from machinery? No. The cows? No. Horses every time. Kicks and falls. I think his kids are safer around the machinery than their own horses.

 

[Soundguy]

I think 'in the old days' we all learned to drive seting on a lap.. or on a back road. My first driving exp in a car was in a chrysler valarie (spelling? ) what a beast for a kid to lear to drive on back/dirt roads.. No power steering either! Can't remember what type of shifter it had...

Soundguy

Was it perfectly safe? No, it wasn't. But I had grown up around machinery, had seen injuries (at 8, I drove my grandfather to the emergency room in town while he held pressure on a bad cut on his hand, which he received when a cow caught the hand between a horn and a fence post). Was this safe? Some would say no, but as my grandfather told the doctor at the hospital, I got him there, and since there was no ambulance service available, I was the only option.
.

 

[AlanB]

Am I going to be devestated if my kids get hurt operating the tractor or the backhoe, yes. (son 10 and daughter 16)

Am I going to second guess why they were doing it, and should I have let them? absolutely.

But am I going to stop them from doing it? Nope.

I will not stop them motorycle riding, nor unicycling, nor trying to horseback ride at a freinds house or (most) anything else. Will they go Kayaking with my dad, and parachuting with my stepmom's boss? Yep, will I be nervous as all get out, yep..... I will also send them to Germany again this summer, put them on a plane and kiss them goodby and know they will be driving tractors in the field, and riding on all sorts of tractors and equipment (matter of fact, all the tractors I know of there have jump seats) and will I be nervous, Yep......

Was that kid joyriding? looks like it too me, but is that really the point? Do we do everything only when "needed" I would venture to say far more kids end up hurt and hospitalized (certainly in my town) by bicycle vs. Car accidents, but I still let my kids ride their bike on the street. (and 5' unicycle for that matter)

I guess there is no point in my dissertation here, other then we all have to judge for ourselves if something is "too" risky to do.

Then again, I am the guy who felt the tug on my leg of the backhoe tire, while I was standing in the door showing my 10 year old how to operate it. Would have been a bad memory for him if he had drove over his dad (and his dad would not have been so keen on the thought either to be honest)

 

[tuolumne]

Kids are suprisingly cool in a crises. My four year old was returning to the wood cutting site on an old 110 with a small trailer. They only ever use the creeper gear which can be almost imperceptable motion at low throttle. When he needs to stop he turns off the key. In a panic stop, I instructed him to turn off the key, then depress the clutch/brake...this involves partially leaving the seat. Well he was coming down a hill and knocked the shifter out of gear. The tractor naturally began to accelerate. He shut it off...when he continued to accelerate he moved to the brake...the tractor broke traction...did he panic? No, he didn't run over me or the chainsaw or the felled log across the path...he steared between a few trees and into a brush pile. I was very proud of the boy, and thoroughly ashamed of myself for allowing him to be in such a situation. Just when I though all situations were covered, a child found a loophole. I still feel he can safely operate a garden tractor to haul wood, but it will be years before he can safely operate a bigger machine or a machine with any implements attached.

 

[scott_vt]

Afternoon KB,
I have to agree that I would not put any young child in that position running a PTO driven implement or even a 3PT implement !

Have I given some rides to youngsters, yes, but with tractor running slow and me straddling my arms around them so they cant go anywhere ! And Im sure even that would be frowned upon by the safety police ! But Im comfortable enough with it that I dont have a problem with it !

 

[tuolumne]

Can't be too careful.

 

[mjarrels]

About ten years ago, I went to a local job fair for the railroad... left at the first break after finding out the job included jumping on and off moving freight trains! Not for me!

mark

 

[AKfish]

I don't even want to talk about all the dumb, wild and downright crazy things I've done on the farm and around equipment!!

(And I won't/don't talk about some of those things around my boys 'cause I don't want them to get the impression that it's ANYTHING I want them to copycat!)

Hindsight and payin' close attention to the grief of others is a well-spring of common sense.

I measure the risks and try to find a balance between being too **** and getting in the way of my son's learning and developing a sense of his own capabilities and being too lackadasical or negligent.

Reading these posts --- it sure sounds like that what most of us do. Strike a balance between giving ourselves and our kids enough latitude to develop important skills, yet, at the same time, ensuring that we're not putting them in a situation that is simply too risky and dangerous that would create a "memory of several lifetimes..."

AKfish

 

[Birdhunter1]

I learned how to run equipment sitting on the fender just like that kid on my dad's tractor, he'd run a few roudns in a field and after a few rounds we'd switch places and he'd be on the fender with me running the machine, two or three rounds and he would jump off and leave me to it, if he felt I could handle it. Granted I had been on that tractor alot already but I always remember being on the tractor with my dad as a kid, from his Allis Chalmers WD 45 or the MF 135 or 165 I always remember being on that tractor with him. I liked the WD 45 the best, if I remember right the lift controls were up by the steering wheel and he'd let me operate them, the 135 and 165 the lift controls were off to the side and I always stood on the other side where I coudl not reach them.

 

[Rara Avis]

As a active Firefighter/EMT and trained Farmedic...I can attest that
Farm Work is dangerous...in fact it's #8 on the hit list...

The 10 most dangerous jobs
Occupation Fatalities per 100,000
1. Timber cutters 117.8
2. Fishers 71.1
3. Pilots and navigators 69.8
4. Structural metal workers 58.2
5. Drivers-sales workers 37.9
6. Roofers 37
7. Electrical power installers 32.5
8. Farm occupations 28
9. Construction laborers 27.7
10.Truck drivers 25

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics; survey of occupations with minimum 30 fatalities and 45,000 workers in 2002

If you ever get a chance you should have your Farm Organization have someone from the Farmedic Program come in and give a safety presentation to your group...it will open your eyes...

 

[BXRICK]

Some random observations:
- Life is risky.
- Most everything has a risk associated with it.
- We all have different risk tolerances, both for ourselves and for others, including our kids.
- Most risks are not perfectly calculable.
- I get annoyed when I see a person buy a Volvo because of its supposed crash-worthiness, and then drive it 85 mph down the highway.
- It's not ALL about "safety first". If it were, we'd all be wearing helmets and firesuits in our cars. We don't. There's other elements at play besides safety.
- I once read somewhere on this forum that the most effective safety device that could be added to a car is a 10 inch spike on the steering wheel, pointed at your chest. You'd drive REALLY carefully with such a device.
- My father (both my parents, really) spent a lot of time teaching practical safety. Everything had a reason; it wasn't just an arbitrary rule. For instance, when he'd get out the circular saw, he'd pick up a piece if wood about the size of my finger, quickly buzz through it, and point out how easily that could have gone through my finger. When you're 6, that has a lasting effect.

 

[N80]

I know a neurologist who wears a motorcycle helmet.....in his car. He takes care of a lot of head injuries.

I was looking over some farm photos the other day. Found a picture of my 15 year old niece hanging off the side of the tractor as her dad pulled the hay wagons around. As I described above somewhere, she jumps down and unhooks the wagons so her dad can get the bales down. Hooks them back up when he's done, etc, etc. Don't even want to post the pic since a lot of folks would be horrified.

Along with that pic is her 17 year old sister standing beside and petting one of their bulls. He is taller than she is at the shoulder.

I'd hitch a ride on the tractor before petting that bull. Of course I was only a few feet away with the camera at the time.

 

[TrippleT]

I used to ride to what we called the bottoms with a kid on an old Farmall. Would stand there on the axle housing and no fender or anything. The kid smoked and he would dip a piece of rope in the fuel tank then pull the plug wire off and let the spark light his cigarette. Actually Dukes, roll your own. I guess I digressed there. But, on the serious side I posted this once before. I knew a guy who was running a brush cutter with his grandson on the tractor. The kid fell off and went right under the cutter, and came out in pieces. The grandfather never got over it.
My owners manual says to never let anyone ride on the tractor. I am sure the manufacturer knows as much as anyone, machinery can be dangerous. Yet, I have succumbed to giving a short ride to my own grandson. But not with a mower running and I was on flat ground. Even that is not safe. It is better to be safe than sorry.

 

[Renze]

My father is very cautious with kids on tractors... about 25 years ago, when he had an open station Deere 510, he had neighbor's son on the mudguard.
HE cant tell how, but next thing he (will allways) remembers himself holding the kid on his T-shirt, in front of the rear tire, while using his other limbs to brake all he can to stop the tractor before the T-shirt would give...
My brother ties his kid in the mate's seat with bale twine even on cabbed tractors. When risks are predictable, they arent as risky... when they are unpredictable, like a kid told to hold himself to the rops structure and sit still, that's the real risk....
Or actually.... this is risk predictable as well because we know kids are unpredictable...

 

[horse7]

Seems there are a lot of people saying they think the risk (pick your risk) is acceptable, but everything I've read shows that if they lose a risk that has a severe downside-- like the kid is chopped up in a BH-- suddenly they regret it.

Everyone's line in the sand is different, but too many people don't think about the price of losing before doing something, only after having the odds come up against them.

History is written by the winners, not by the losers in the graveyard.