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—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, July 22,1978
When you’re staring straight up at
the belly of a cow and you see two
hind legs coming towards you, you
know you’re in trouble
I was
Only a split second before it
happened I was leading the animal
with a rope halter Suddenly she
bolted and I ended up squeezed
between a 1400-pound galloping cow
and an abrasive concrete block wall I
hung on to the rope But the cow
moved on like a locomotive and 1 just
about got smeared over the plaster I
tumbled down and instinctively
raised my arms in a crossed position
for what little protection that might
offer
But the cow stepped over me with
legs raised high for abundant
clearance
That was just one of many lessons
in farm safety which I learned the
hard way
Another dangerous episode in
volved that deadly machine - the
forage harvester It’s sharp spinning
knives are fascinating, and everyone
has a healthy respect for its power
and ability to chop forage crops at
the rate of one ton per minute
The scene of the accident was a
hay field I was greenchopping a load
of feed for the cows and somehow
managed to clog the mechanical
"digestive tract" of the metal
monster It was taking the crop in,
but none was coming out That big
red machine was really constipated
I disengaged the power-take-off
clutch, shut off the ignition and
vaulted over the right tire of the
tractor into the clover and orchard
grass stubble below
The huge flywheel with the six
knives on it was still spinning when I
approached the rear of the machine
Some of the gears and chains were
still making their rounds too clicking
and dancing to a rhythm all them
own
I calmly loosened the latches which
held the flywheel cover in place
figuring that 1 could do that without
danger I was wrong
As I pulled the cover up and
towards me 1 somhow got just
enough of a twist in it to set it up for a
direct hit by the knives Without even
the slightest warning, the heavy
metal cover was ripped from its
hinges, hit me square in the face, and
sent me flying into the stubble
Life on the farm
Naturally, the cover came right
along It wasn’t comfortable, to say
the least
Miraculously, I didn’t even get a
bloody nose out of that deal But it
hurt tremendously and I almost got
enough sense knocked into me to
never again want to expose a part of
a machine which is still in action -
even if it is only due to its own
momentum
I say “almost got enough sense
knocked into me” because it took a
similar lesson a few years later to
really register the point
Working for a friend on a Lancaster
County dairy farm, I was unloading
corn silage at the blower It was a
familiar routine I had been doing it
for years The only difference was
that in this case we were adding an
obnoxious smelling protein additive
and silage preservative to the corn
snage as it was being blown up to the
top of the 60 foot silo
Then the moment came which
everyone unloading silage wagons
dreads The pipe clogged So much
for Piowers which are supposed to be
fool proof against such happenings I
shut all of the equipment off and
removed the ring which held the pipe
to the top of the blower
As was true with the forage har
vester accident, the machine still
carried plenty of momentum in its
moving parts especially that 57-mch
fan
Lessons in
My
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Again, the unexpected happened
As I shoved the pipe aside in order to
begin clearing it, the fan shot a heavy
dose of the ammonia-based additive
into my face
The inside of my head was in such
pain that I wondered if it was all
there The nasal cavities were stung
severely and an extreme burning
sensation engulfed my eyes I
thought I would never see again It
was one of the worst and most
to
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painful farm disasters I ever
penenced
I staggered into the milk house and
flushed my face with gallons of cool
water The burning and stinging
sensation ebbed An even bigger
relief was knowing that I could still
see A few minutes later I was back
on the job But I would never again
let a spinning fan on a silage blower
shoot ammonia into my face
Farm accidents - like any other
accidents - come unexpectedly That
was the case with a fourth accident
which almost killed me
My brother, Ingo our hired man
Marvin, and I were repositioning an
all-purpose 30-foot elevator Recent
rams had left a couple of puddles and
some mud in the area in front of the
silos On dry ground the rig could
usually be moved by one man On
that fatetul day, three weren’t
enough On a final attempt to clear
the muddy area, we pushed and
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picked up some momentum The two
rubber tires and our feet plowed
through the mud as we pushed with
all our might Just as things were
moving along well, we hit a rock or
something which wasn’t visible in the
puddle
The sudden stop caused the high
end of the elevator to dip Although I
tried to hold my end - the loading end
- down, I failed While the top end
was going down, my end went up
When the other end hit the ground >t
jarred the bed from its upright
supports The cables lost thenW
tension and the whole works tum
bled
Seeing it coming, I crouched and
ran But I wasn’t last enough The
bottom end of the conveyor hit me
square in the back before I had made
my getaway
One might think that that would be
an extremely painful experience, yet
it wasn't It was worse
Even though I was safely out from
under it the conveyor, I continued to
jog around the 'object The
frightening realization was that I
couldn’t breathe My chest was in
pain I needed and wanted air and
couldn't get it
I glanced over to Ingo and Marvin
and saw their frightened ex
pressions Later they both said they
were afraid it was all over for me
Thank God the lungs started to
function again I felt ill, rested in bed
for a while and was as good as newA)
later in the day
The lesson in all of this (and much
more) is that life on the farm certainly
carries with it some dangers And, as
is always true, the danger hides in
the most unsuspecting situations
Danger that is recognized presents
little threat But disguised or veiled
danger is the potential killer
1 remember the time I drove a
tractor along a field, for example, and
a deep hole camouflaged by grasses,
nearly upset the tractor In a similar
incident, grasses m our pasture
veiled a steep slope In other words,
the sharp drop-off in the terrain
began sooner than what would think
if the growth of the grass is the only
measurement
One can't be too careful on the
farm, whether working with
livestock, equipment, or chemicals
Please have an accident-free
Summer and safe farming ex
periences
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