None of these things are friendly to flesh, I think they ought to have a demonstration and send a side of beef or something of the sort through a rotary cutter, with an audience safely protected, but viewing the results.
What is ironic, is how many of us rode the fender or anything of the sort when we were kids ? We did get away with it. Never hit that bump, ground hornets nest, broke a front axle or hit a chuck hole, swiped off by a limb, slid down a hill or how many other scenarios. Are we more conscious now, or were our parents idiots ? LOL ! I don't have the answer to that.
I'd like to say, sure its fine I did it, and I'm still here, unscathed, but we heard about farmer Joe up over yonder who baled his kids up, (true story somewhere around here). That alone kept my distance from that pick up, we did hand feed it a few times, I ran it, but I knew what a mistake meant. All people, kids etc. are different, its extremely hard to assess a kids character, and their level of respect for things that they may not have realized how dangerous this equipment really is. Some learn and know very quickly, others may need a boot in the behind to grasp the concept of tearing flesh, the weight of a tractor wheel, how fast it happens, even though you may think you are quick enough, you are NOT.
In '06, just over the hill, a man running a 640 Ford and a rotary cutter while on rough or unknown terrain, got bounced out of the seat, run over by the tractor, (which I hope killed him first) and was then run through the mower, this was an ugly scene,blood and guts, torn limbs, massive gouges, rips and tears, + hard core blunt trauma. I have seen a fawn go through mine at full throttle, a small kid ain't going to fare any better. Long time farmer friend had a man, an older semi-retired farmer get taken up to his waste in the silo blower or some darned thing that could do this, I was too young, but the paramedic, who responded told me the details, a few years back, he said it was like when someone is pinned, they look fine and are coherent, but die as soon as the pressure is off. This man was in a similar situation and they were good friends. Hard to deal with.
People are still going to play chicken with this equipment, its fine, won't happen to me right ?
I can only recall my experience with equipment at young age, having a lot of exposure with our dealership, what we owned and being around when the farmer worked our fields, all of it commanded respect, you learned this at a young age and you listened and respected instructions when you were involved or were told to stay clear. It was just that simple. I rode in my dads lap on a 2010 wide front with a loader, I recall him driving up along the power lines to check out a brush fire, from a hill, that was just a ride. I used to ride on the D7, lots of room and safe on the flat, but I knew what would happen if I went out onto the track or touched the exhaust stack. I remember at the dealership one evening, someone was backing the C series ford roll off, tilt tray winch truck into the garage bay, and I think my kick ball was in its path, "don't go near that", I watched it pop, lesson to be learned, I got a new one, it had just happened to roll in its path, did not belong in a shop, but you know how that goes with kids around, was after hours. You learn from these things, I'd never chase a ball after that if it went into the road or similar.
It takes a graphic depiction to get the point across. We have 115,000 volt transmission lines bisecting our land. When I was a kid I was shown a photo of burnt sneakers, and was told there was nothing much left of the kid who climbed one of the towers. Never went near them for any reason. It worked.
I think its good to teach and expose them young and not shelter them, but don't be inattentive for a moment, ever, my parents were inattentive and I paid for it as a child, you can't parent like that, its a huge mistake, more so around a farm. There is a time and place for things, rush it and you will regret it.
I rode the fender while my father ran a rotary mower, mower conditioner, opposite side and the rotary cutter, often like it was my job, but not so much the baler, as he would have me run it, so he could sling bales, after the troublesome thrower was removed, bales were too heavy for me to lift or gather til I got older. I used to stack in the wagon behind the thrower, that was always fun, but also grabbed bales from the end of the chamber and there was no chute or tray. You had to stand on the wagon tongue. We baled hills where all of us clung to the side of the wagon to ballast the uphill side, I am looking towards that field as I type, minus the home there now. None of this I would do for any reason now. My father got ticked off at the darned baler, always something until he had a friend get it in tune, I was in the wagon, he stopped suddenly and I was thrown on the ground right behind the baler, while it was running at full throttle, and had enough sense to roll away from the path of the wagon as soon as I touched, not every kid will do that, I knew and had those kinds of reactions, quick reflexes. He never saw it happen. I still remember the spot in the field and think of it when I cut that field now. I think back about riding that fender, I'd just never do the same with a kid riding along. We had an open station '64 4000 Ford SOS, he'd stop, take a water break, I'd chase critters. I knew what that mower could do, with the independent PTO he paused when in thick burdock like we used to have, to shred them up but good. I soon ran that tractor and others, doing all sorts of things, mostly mowing, way too young and not all that experienced, I never had any issues, I sort of wish I had someone to instruct me more, but I did learn early. There is a high risk, but also a benefit, I think the risk still outweighs the benefit. The worst was cutting the same fields and areas with a 2010 narrow front, a lot different than the ford that someone screwed up with a transmission oil change. I remember the side hill pucker factor, for the first time with that 2010 NF, I suppose it was not steep enough, and I cut there with the ford to this day, our parents in those days just never took the time, like we would now, to instruct or teach a kid, and get into the details. I cut that same area now with an 850 ford and I think back about this, man if that thing ever went over, no one told me how different these tractors are. I grew up around this stuff, knew better, but my father was complacent enough that I could have easily gotten in trouble. Cripes, I used to fuel up down the state road, at a mobil station and have been on tractors on the road before, but never had any real instruction, nor any issues, I did pull over to let traffic pass and did use care, I learned but... who would let their kid run a tractor down the road with little or no experience. One time the hydraulics failed and the mower dropped to the pavement, don't even recall how I figured that one out. I even had a friend ride the fender once, just took a tractor ride on the farm, and here I was really not old enough by todays standards, the things we did .... not good LOL ! Same rig sent a round rock flying out the front side of the mower and it went over the hedgerow, I saw it, could have taken my head off, and the tractor into the trees, running with the wheels spinning, I was a freshman in HS, by that time had several years experience, can you imagine your parents finding you like that? One has to take this seriously.
I was passing a hayfield nearby a few years back and I see my farmer friend out there baling with the NH 315, and there was a kid in the cab of the 4440, I used to think back when he baled here, he'd stop and I'd ride along, some things never change, and he was a good sort, always fun to work with, great sense of humor, he smoked a pipe then, and now he's kind of laid up.
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Today's Featured Article - Usin Your Implements: Bucket Loader - by Curtis Von Fange. Introduction: Dad was raised during the depression years of the thirties. As a kid he worked part time on a farm in Kansas doing many of the manual chores. Some of the more successful farmers of that day had a new time saving device called a tractor. It increased the farm productivity and, in general, made life easier because more work could be done with this 'mechanical beast'. My dad dreamed that some day he would have his own tractor with every implement he could get. When he rea
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