This farming life

[Garry Edwards]

My son had a slight mishap today. There he was, minding his own business and not knowing that there's a massive hole in the ground, completely hidden by vegetation. But he knows about it now

Fortunately he's unhurt, but it could have been much worse as the hole is full of water and he could have ended up in it. Farming isn't safe.

 

[arclight]

Back in the days when tractors had no protection for the driver tumbles of that sort were often fatal.

 

[Garry Edwards]

Back in the days when tractors had no protection for the driver tumbles of that sort were often fatal.

And they are also often fatal with machines that don't have a safety cab, complete with anti roll bars.
And with these drotts, they're much more likely to roll if the bucket is high, but a high bucket stops them rolling over and over.

 

[MatBin]

I used to listen to the BBC farming programme on my way to work and they were often saying how dangerous farming was, particularly as it's often a solo activity where obviously you can't call for help.
The nation really should be very grateful to our farmers, especially now, helping to keep us townies fed and healthy, well done guys.
Glad your boy is ok.

 

[Jelster]

We were in Somerset today (we live on the 3 county border of Wiltshire, Somerset & Dorset, so we weren't far away from home) and there were some really big, strange looking tractors on the roads, plus some really old ones, like a 1970's Ford 5000, and another that was so scratched I couldn't see what it was.

All being used off road as the tyres were all quite "flat" when on the road. Glad your lad was OK Garry...

 

[Garry Edwards]

By the way, here's a shot of it being put back on its feet, just a bit of cracked glass, otherwise OK..
The pushed it back with his small drott, 7 tons shifting 15 . . .

The smaller one has a cab but not a safety cab, so he chose the right machine to roll.

 

[Garry Edwards]

I used to listen to the BBC farming programme on my way to work and they were often saying how dangerous farming was, particularly as it's often a solo activity where obviously you can't call for help.
The nation really should be very grateful to our farmers, especially now, helping to keep us townies fed and healthy, well done guys.
Glad your boy is ok.

Yes, the dangers are very real, and farming now has by far the highest accidental death and serious injury rate in all industries. On average, about 10 people are killed every year in the UK just in tractor accidents and that's pretty horrific, especially considering the tiny number of people who work in the industry.

Poor communications are part of the problem, mobile phones often can't get a signal. On our own farm we have a good 2 way radio system for emergency use and we also use the brilliant What3words app for precise location identification but of course this relies on the injured person actually being able to call for help. The real problem is that The Health & Safety at Work Act seems not to be enforced at all in the farming community, people have to work alone, they have to make do with inadequate equipment and if an accident happens it can be a day or so before anyone notices that they haven't returned home, especially during busy periods when they have to work insanely long hours.