Combines Whats your closest call with a piece of farm machineryIJ

Unloading baled hay with a friend when he leaned over the base of the elevator to grab a bale that had fallen off on the opposite side. The pto caught his T-shirt which disappeared so fast that I had to think a minute to remember if he even had one on. lucky - no harm done but a good lesson for us.

Most kids in seventh grade are about 13 or 14 years old and almost grown. I don't think there is any problem with a 13yo kid driving a large farm machine on the highway in a rural area as long as he knows how to handle it. Here in VA anyone 12 and older can drive farm vehicles on the highway legally. By the time I was that age, I was working a couple of farms on my own using dad's equipment in addition to helping him farm his land. The farms I had were some distance from home, and I used to take the 4230, or 4440, with pieces of equipment on them to and from there as well as the combine with a 15 foot grainhead. By the time I started running the equipment on the highway I had been running it on our home farm under dad's close supervision for several years so I knew what I was doing. Back then it was unusual for me to ever meet another vehicle on the highway though. If I passed anyone on the road it was usually another farmer, a hunter, or a log truck. Now we have these rich urbanites who have moved out here in the country and built $300,000 houses. These morons drive these narrow, winding, country roads in fast cars like they think they are Dale Earnhart, and get a major case of road rage when they get behind a tractor or a combine. They are the ones who really scare me. Just remember to turn the headlights and flashers on, and make sure you have a good clean and shiny SMV, and put plenty of reflectors on the equipment so the idiots can see you. I can't believe how many farmers around here who either don't turn the flashers on, or have burned out bulbs in them. Most of them either have the same old faded SMV that came with the equipment when they bought it several years ago or no SMV at all.

hey easy on Dale Earnhardt! he's the greatest driver of them all ! i agree with you on the age thing i've been drive since i was about 8 or 9 on the road .. but i had a great teacher my dad showed me how to do it in a safe way !! to me the way the young man was talking it wouldn't have mattered if it was an old person or not behind the wheel of that tractor !!! sounds like he was taught the right way if something like this was going to happen too him ! hey i have two daughters that have been driving deere lawn mowers for about 5 years and they are real safe and DON'T GOOF OFF ON THEM !!!!!!!!!! BUT THEY WERE AlSO TAUGHT RIGHT FORM THE BEGINNING!!!! lETS JUST TRY TOO All BESAFE !

hey easy on Dale Earnhardt! he's the greatest driver of them all ! i agree with you on the age thing i've been drive since i was about 8 or 9 on the road .. but i had a great teacher my dad showed me how to do it in a safe way !! to me the way the young man was talking it wouldn't have mattered if it was an old person or not behind the wheel of that tractor !!! sounds like he was taught the right way if something like this was going to happen too him ! hey i have two daughters that have been driving deere lawn mowers for about 5 years and they are real safe and DON'T GOOF OFF ON THEM !!!!!!!!!! BUT THEY WERE AlSO TAUGHT RIGHT FORM THE BEGINNING!!!! lETS JUST TRY TOO All BESAFE !

It's getting worse. Now now we are talking 8-9 yrs old.Sorry but I have a real problem with that age driving anything on roads.Maybe these are the same caring parents that let kids take guns to school.Thats probly a bit low, but as parents we all need to be responsable.Its too late after the accident. KEEP THOSE COMMENTS COMING!

I tend to agree with VAfarmboy, I think the age a kid should start operating equipment should be based on the actual kid, not on some age that is deemed good for all. By the time I was in seventh grade I was running tractors all the time, never had a mishap. I can also think of some guys around that weren't trusted to operate machinery until they were well into their high school years. Mental age and responsibility, not biological age, should be the determining factor.

You obviously didn't grow up on a farm. Farm kids start driving pickups, combines, and tractors at early ages and are responsible enough for it as well. I am a senior in high school now and that is the only accident that I have ever been involved in. What would a older person have done in the situation, tried to drive off of the bridge to avoid the semiIJ My dad fully trusted me with $100,000 worth of machinery and he still trusts me with his machinery!

Are the people that post messages on this show not familiar whatsoever with farming or have a farming background!IJ By placing your child on a bicycle and letting him ride around he would have a higher risk of getting injured or killed then by having a farm kid drive a tractor!!! Maybe you think it is dangerous for a young farm kid to drive a 4-W-D tractor down the road or in the field but farm kids simply learn to have responsibility placed on them and it makes them better for it. Most of the kids in my high school class goof off most of the summer and I have driven tractor during the summer since I was in the fifth or sixth grade. My dad has yet to place me in a dangerous situation on the farm where my life was at risk. Farmers love their children too and don't just go around putting them in places where they are going to get hurt easily!

let's see here. Did the kids in Colorado, Dylan Kleebold and Derek Harris work on farmsIJ NO. Did they even have jobs at allIJ NO. Farm kids have more responsibilty than most workers who have jobs in town. They do not have time to plan out mass bombings and killings. Farm kids spend more time with their parents than any kid ever does that lives in town. Farmers are not careless with their equipment or their kids because they can't afford to be. Farm kids are more prepared for the workforce than any kid raised in town will ever be because they have responsibily and they have earned the trust of their parents and others. And mark my words, I bet you will NEVER see a farm kid take a gun to school. Idiots like you Oz who sheild their kids(if you even have any) from the "Dangers" in life will end up causing them more harm in the end. I will give you credit though you seem to have a lot of guts(but no brains) to come in here and attack farmers for putting their kids on tractors. I hope to hear some more feedback from such a great mind like yourself. And by the way I am also a senior in high school like skinny farmer and have been driving tractors since I was 8. My 2cents.

Instead of moving dirt OZ you should try farming to, this is what makes a family farm. To me it seems like you have done it all. My brothers are 18 and 13 and work just as hard as our hired men. I trust my young brothers more than I trust our hired men. Growing up on a farm is a lot different than growing up in the city. Skinnyfarmer don't listen to him