Dead Farmers

[tinknal]

Just a friendly reminder. Please be carefull. All these folks are locals, who died or were seriously injured in my memory. Bear in mind, these are not newspaper stories. These are all local history.

Ralph Benson. Fell into a corn picker. Died

Farmer Defries. Killed by a Red Angus steer.

Farmer Jenson. Killed by a dairy cow.

10 yo boy. Parents were "homesteaders" raising popcorn. got arm stuck in auger. Died.

Frank Becker, lost 2 fingers in a wood splitter.

Craig Carlson, severly injured arm in hay swather.

Wally Steiner, gashed head with a chain saw ( I now own that saw)

13 yo girl, killed in a horse accident.

12 yo girl, killed in a horse accident.

24 yo man, severe knee injury, horse.

Larry Patton. Plugged in barn fan while standing in puddle of cow pee. Electrocuted. Died.

Marvin ( 12 yo boy) electrocuted while moving auger,( connected power line) died.

These are not newspaper reports. These are all local storys, and I have first hand knowledge of all these incidents.

Some one loves you. Please be careful.

[pancho]

Farming has always been one of the most dangerous jobs. The more machinery used the more dangerous it becomes.

[uncle Will in In.]

Many arms or hands have been lost while trying to unplug a corn picker with the snapping rolls still running. It was much quicker and easier to pull the stalks out of the machine while it was running. Famous last words, "I"M ALWAYS CAREFUL!"
Unshielded power shafts have tore up, maimed for life, or killed many a risk taking person.
I've know of farmers who cut their own arm off with a pocket knife to get free from a corn picker.

[Silvercreek Farmer]

My grandfather was almost killed by a PTO on a 1930's Ford Tractor, they didn't come with covers. He was working one moment and naked the next, the PTO had torn his clothes off, luckily he was poor and his clothes where thread bare, had they been new, he would have been dead. After that, the PTO had a cover!

[pookshollow]

When I was young, two brothers and their hired hand died going up in to the silo, from silo gas. A few years later, our neighbour and close friend tried to adjust the corn silage chopper without turning it off, and was pulled in head first.

Needless to say, these deaths made a big impression on me.

[MaineFarmMom]

Frank Becker, lost 2 fingers in a wood splitter.

I caught my hand in the wood splitter two years ago. It scared the heck out of me. I had gloves on and was too scared to take one off to see what I'd done until I was half way to the hospital. It took two months for everything to heal but I'm fortunate to still have both hands. I've been splitting wood with a hydraulic splitter for 10 years and probably got too comfortable with the whole process. I'm out of that comfort zone now. I didn't split wood last year and I've been very very (very very very) careful this year.

Thanks for the reminder.

[Danaus29]

Leroy Billingsly, (I think that's how it's spelled) arm caught in a round baler, lost his arm (can't remember if it was right or left) up to the shoulder. He was one of our FFA state officers when it happened. Freaky thing to read about when it happens to someone your age.

One of Grandpa's neighbors was towing/pulling something behind his tractor when the chain he was using snapped. Tore him up real bad, they thought he was going to die but somehow he survived. I forget how long he spent in the hospital but it was a long time.

[crtreedude]

We have a lot of workers in Costa Rica and I am always having to make sure all of them are being safe. They do appreciate it.

So often we are so intent on getting the job done that we take chances - eventually the dice come up snake eyes unfortunately.

[Shygal]

Originally Posted by tinknal

Some one loves you. Please be careful.

I knew I should not have opened this thread.....sigh

[fordson major]

i have to train 3-6 new people every year to run liquid manure equipment for the last 15 years. really hate what i am going to forget one day! so far only had to boot one guy off the crew and a few others have come close! once found 2 of our crew in a tanker getting a stuck stone outa a pump, yelled for half an hour then poppped the cork on the rear, make sure i give them a confined space entry lecture now!

[RLStewart]

Lots of farm accidents around here too. I can think of way too many. I had my front teeth knocked out and my face smashed up from a chain breaking while pulling out a tractor at age 18. You just can't be too careful.

[Jennifer L.]

I can think of six names right off, of people that I knew, living within, oh, 15 miles of this farm. One electrocuted by a bare wire on the barn cleaner, one lost most of a hand in an auger, another lost fingers in a chopper accident, one lost an arm in the same type of situation. Another was killed in a tractor rollover. One gored by a mother cow.

You always have to be careful around machinery and animals.

Jennifer

[donsgal]

We just had a report today of a local farmer who fell off his tractor and was run over by one of the rear wheels. His neighbor found him at 8 pm. Very unfortunate. I know of several people personally who died in farming accidents. All that machinery, you know.

donsgal

I guess farm accidents happen quit frequently. In the last 10 years we have several incidents around here too.

A 4 year old boy was stomped and bitten to death by a horse.

A man cut his leg badly while cutting firewood and bled to death before he even reached his truck.

Another man was brushhogging close to a creek bank when the bank caved in and the tractor pinned him in under water. He drowned.

Another man was electricuted to death when he went to lean on a feed truck that was parked against a high line wire.

[Kim_NC]

Farming and homesteading accidents with equipment can happen so quickly without thinking. And it's not just mechanical things, but also unexpected animal confrontation, or grain silo and ditch-related incidents that can result in engulfment deaths/injuries.

My grandfather, now in his 90's, grew up as a dairy farmer - and remained one until no longer able. Two generations have followed him as farmers.

Point is - my grandfather's right hand was only a thumb and forefinger cutoff at the first knuckle. The other 3 fingers were completely gone. He lost them in a corn cribbing machine in his early 30's. If asked, he was always quite matter-of-fact in explaining how he had lost them.

My grandfather's loss of his fingers served as a lesson and reminder to all of his children and my generation (his grandchildren).

At all times on a farm or homestead, you MUST be thinking about
1) where your extremities are with any equipment
2) what are the larger potential ramifications of your surroundings
3) the capacity/potential of the animals around you

Edited to correct a typo

[BeeFree]

Farming and sawmilling are all dangerous jobs.

My DH had his eye bursted open when he was in his teens, by a hook on a log chain as it was thrown over the load of logs. He was rushed to ER and the doctor there put something in his eye that apparently saved it. He was then transferred to St Louis where they worked on it some more. They were able to save his eye and his sight.

My Grandpa was cutting wood with a saw being powered by an old truck and belts. He reached under the saw as he had many times before to rake out the sawdust and the saw grabbed his shirt this time and cut his arm off except for just a bit of skin. I can remember him walking down from the sawmill to our house and he had his old suit coat he always wore wrapped around what was left and was applying pressure. Dad was trying to get a vehicle to take him to the hospital. The doctor there was also able to save his arm. It is amazing what the doctors could do back then with much less than they have now.

Not long ago a local man was checking his stock and somehow his 4 wheeler turned over with him in his pond. He was able to keep his head above the water but not get out as the machine was on him. When he didn't show up for church on Sunday some of the men in the congregation knew something was wrong, and went to check. They found him, still alive in the pond but in bad shape. He had been there around 3 days. He survived.

A few years ago, a guy was bush hogging his farm. All the family was at work or school. When they came home he wasn't home yet so they started searching for him. He was found under the tractor when it had turned over and penned him. He had lived for quite awhile as there was signs where he had tried to get him self out.

Another neighbor was up under their house and was wanting a light plugged up. His wife plugged it up and it electrocuted him.

It just goes on and on. People get busy and forget to pay attention. It is so easy to do.

[MELOC]

there have been lots of folks die in this area from tractors over-turning. i remember hearing of at least two episodes of manure pit/pond fatalities...one was a multiple fatality. a local dairy farmer was gored and nearly killed by a bull he turned his back on. the local sawmill has had several accidents, luckily none fatal. one guy lost a few teeth and broke a leg on two seperate accidents. the leg was from a tree that snapped while being cut.

another accident was terrible. it was not on a farm, but is so commonplace that it should be mentioned. it was just like the manure pit multiple where several folks died trying to save the first victim. three volunteer fire fighters died while cleaning an old lady's cistern. they had some sort of kerosene heater in it and the first succumbed to the fumes when he went to retrieve it. two more died trying to save him. never, ever, ever take a confined space for granted.

[woodsrunner]

Back in high school a friend and I rented side by side fields for FFA projects. A little competition of sorts. Land owner was a teacher at our school. Usually we were out there at the same time. His field had this big rock that was always in his way. It was too big to pick up so for the most part he just worked around it. One day when nobody else was around he figured he'd dig under it and try to get a chain around it, then at least get it to the hedgerow where it wouldn't bother him anymore. He made the mistake of wrapping the other end of the chain around the rear axle housing of his tractor rather than the drawbar. He's spent the last 30 years in a wheelchair over that lapse in judgement. The land owner went down and found him after dark when he realized the tractor had been making the same sound for too long. He spent over an hour pinned under that running tractor.

I still carry scars from an old crosscut saw that was hung in the ceiling of an old barn I was cleaning. It hung there for years before I just tapped it with the end of a broom handle. Another inch and it could have hit my jugular when it cut me.

I learned to keep aware of everything around me. I just wish my stepkids would learn it before they hurt themselves.

[sewtlm]

My FIL has only his left arm because he was careless with the corn picker. Before that he was a highly sought after carpenter.
He retired at 85 from farming.
My DH says thank god that Mom was a nurse.

My own dad rolled at tractor with spray tanks and his angels where handy cause he felt it start to go and stepped off unscathed.

Both my dad and my Grandpa had anhydrous accidents which were scarey. Never rinse with hot water use COLD.

[Shrek]

A favorite memory of a local fam wife here is the story of her husband and a city cop who often hid out on their farm when off duty.

Her husband was pulling a combine with his tractor and the cop was on riding on the combine to watch for jams in the workings.

Her husband hit a bump and into the combine went the city cop. Before she could chase her husband down in her pickup , she started seeing rags hanging out the combine where the guy was being skinned by the auger and trying to get out.

She said the combine took off almost all of the mans clothes and the bill to his ball cap.

She said when he got out all he had on was his cap with no bill, belt and hip pockets and his boots.

The man didnt loose any body parts but was scratched all over from the auger gear in the combine.