Boy killed

rossow (mn) · Nov 20, 2009

See story below from today's foxnews.com. I know the topic of whether kids should be allowed to ride on tractors is controversial (I rode on them all the time as a kid and survived), but stories like this are worth remembering.

STEVENSVILLE, Mont. — Authorities in Ravalli County say a 5-year-old boy died after falling from a moving farm tractor near Stevensville.

The Ravalli County Sheriff's Office says the name of the child is being withheld pending notification of family.

The office says it is investigating and no other details are immediately available.

BigMarvinGa · Nov 20, 2009

Thats truly sad, we can never take life for granite. I'm sure the boy was having the time of his life sitting up on that tractor. We need to remember to be safe.

johndeereman · Nov 20, 2009

riding a tractor isnt anymore risky than riding in a car or crossing the street heck it might be safer

Anonymous-0 · Nov 20, 2009

When I was a kid, my dad had a Farmall Cub and I'd often ride with my feet on the drawbar while I held onto the seat as he mowed. If I fell, there was no implement behind to run over me, and the PTO belt guard for the Woods 42 kept hands and other appendages out of the belt and pulley system. That's the ONLY way I was ever allowed to ride on a tractor someone else was operating. Same thing with the H and M Farmalls with the horseshoe-shaped drawbars: I could only ride on the drawbar, and only with no implements of any kind behind the tractor.

Of course, even what I did was a safety violation, in the strictest sense. But I have no idea how a kid would hang on when riding on a row-crop tractor...especially since most of them in our part of the country didn't have rear fenders.

Anonymous-0 · Nov 20, 2009

I still see kids riding in loader buckets, dumb, dumb, dumb!

730d se · Nov 20, 2009

As a little boy, I would take any oppotunity to ride on the "big" Allis Chalmers WC. But at that age, I did not have the understanding of the dangers that lurked.
Thankfully I had a father that had good old common sense. He did not care if I cried to ride, if it was not safe, I did not get on the tractor with him.
Maybe common sense has gone out of style like other things such as honest people?

Anonymous-0 · Nov 20, 2009

I remember riding standing on the drawbar,,but never when any impliments were behind . Or sitting on the left axle housing on a Farmall B .
Never rode in the bucket unless it was in the turkey yard creeping along . I look back on all the things we did when we were younger and it's a wonder we are still alive @ Older wiser and more safety aware . Now that I have kids I really stop and think before they ride on anything. Then ya look,,,how did we make itback then ? NO bike helmets ?? lol

BDT in Minnesota · Nov 20, 2009

Sad news to hear. That family will pay the price of that moment of carelessness for eternity..

It only takes a gust of wind to put dust in a little fellows eyes. It is a natural reaction to rub your eyes. That could have been the last thing the little fellow did.. There are countless things that could cause a child to fall off a tractor.. I wonder whose child or grandchild will be next? Don't say that It can't or won't happen...

Oldmax · Nov 20, 2009

The guy on the farm next to mone rides his small boy in his lap while brush hoging on a WV hillside. It is dangerous enough for the operator much less having a child in your lap. Some times I wonder about people, Might be a way of controling thje "Gene Pool".

ChrisinMO · Nov 20, 2009

It's surprising that a five year old was on a tractor and now his family needs to be notified. I'd like to know where they were and where he was when all this happened. We have to sign consent forms when our teenagers go with 4H and might be doing "dangerous" things, like caving or some such. Perhaps we're just old fashioned parents, but we don't turn our little children over to others in such circumstances.

Still, it is a very sad thing to happen.

Christopher

HENRY E NC · Nov 20, 2009

As a 16 year old I always had people stand on the drawbar of our Farmall H. I hate to admit that I was on the hiway in 5th with my cousin (14) standing on the drawbar when I made a right turn into a lane without slowing down very much. He of course went sideways to the left, got caught by the tire cleats and took off about 15 feet into the field. He was dazed but not seriously hurt thank the Lord. Cured me then and there of being reckless with someone else aboard. Henry

Don-Wi · Nov 20, 2009

And to think, when we were younger we took an old cast iron bathtub, lined it with pillows, and chained it to the tractor and drove aroud, trying to throw each other....

I ussually drove, as I was the youngest and I was also the best at it. If they could stay in with me driving, they had accomplished something...

Ussually though, the tub would roll over and drag over their bodies. Never got hurt more than a few scatches and bruises.

Donovan from Wisconsin

Anonymous-0 · Nov 20, 2009

Didn't use a tub, but pulled a sled many times thru the ditches and fields with the tractor. You certainly were inventive. My cousins were using the 40 ft elevator for a teeter totter and the carrage collapsed. One fractured his arm and his dad was mad about breaking the elevator. These same cousins would have BB gun fights in the hay mow. I quit when the neighbor arrived with his pellet gun. Tough to police when you get a bunch of farm boys together. Lots of stuff to do experiments. I should have be maimed or dead several times but believe the higher power decided it wasn't my time. My experience is that the harder you work and try to control most kids, the more apt they will be wild when tasting some freedom.

Raysflhs · Nov 20, 2009

Reminds me of a few dangerous tractor related activities I had. As a young lad (6) both my dad and I were thrown off a Farmall C on our Wis Dells dairy farm, at about 12 yrs rode around in my buddy's tractor's loader, also about same age a nice (?) guy let me ride with him on a big caterpillar pulling a scraper - wow! dangerous & dumb but I survived. Ray S.

TimMiller · Nov 20, 2009

So me standing in the loader bucket of the backhoe with a chainsaw is a bad idea?

400Dtractorman · Nov 20, 2009

I road on tractors all day long as a kid 6 yrs old and up. Never road on one when rotory mower was behind, but plowing and disking I road all day long. Heck we pulled sixteen ft silage wagons with C and h farmalls when I was a kid. Just the way we did it back then. I road bikes without helmets back then. Just a different time.

Mike Henry · Nov 20, 2009

as a 4yr old I was riding a fender of a jd 3010 hauling a manure spredder around the barn.Young uncle was driving and watching over the other shoulder and never seen me fall in front of the rear tire. It rolled over me and then I was nearly run over with the spredder. I was concious all the time from then to the hospital. Was a lucky little boy. It did mess with my pancreas and slow my metablism seriously. This is a factor to my obisity and diabetes.But Im fine just not 100% lean and mean like my family planned.

Mike Henry · Nov 20, 2009

as a 4yr old I was riding a fender of a jd 3010 hauling a manure spredder around the barn.Young uncle was driving and watching over the other shoulder and never seen me fall in front of the rear tire. It rolled over me and then I was nearly run over with the spredder. I was concious all the time from then to the hospital. Was a lucky little boy. It did mess with my pancreas and slow my metablism seriously. This is a factor to my obisity and diabetes.But Im fine just not 100% lean and mean like my family planned.

Phil in Pa · Nov 20, 2009

If a person decides against it, nothing at all controversial about that.

It's when people begin deciding on behalf of other people is when the controversy starts.

Ric Ks. · Nov 20, 2009

My spot was on the tool box on the WD. Was like anything else, hang on at all times or get put off to walk. Must of been 4 or 5. Had to go as I had to drive when we got to the hayfield. Dad would put it in 1st and step back. I would pull the hand clutch in and head where Dad pointed. He would throw bales on the wagon and my brothers would stack the wagon. Still remember when my legs got long enough I had to sit on the edge of the fender to keep my knees out of way when the driver went for the foot clutch.
Must have grown up fast back then. When I turned 8 my brothers went off to boot camp leaving Dad and I to farm. I plowed wheat stubble, mowed hay with the bar mower. Cultivated corn, raked hay. Best summer I ever had, spent on the WD.

Don-Wi · Nov 21, 2009

I got my first ride when Mom was out in the field green chopping (gehl green chopper that swings to the side)and she just barely saw the hay moving and parting like something was coming at her. She had a good feeling who it was so she shut everything down and waited for me to appear.

I guess I was about 3-4 years old. Mom didn't trust me to walk all the way back home (musta snuck past Grandma in the 1st place) so she had me ride the fender. Right then & there I was hooked and I rode them till I was a teenager. Now a days, I do 95% of the major feildwork on our farm. Dad hauls wagons while I'm chopping and he hauls manure while I'm working. I go home and plow on weekends and fix everything that breaks. Should be able to finish fall plowing tomorrow.

Donovan from Wisconsin

buickanddeere · Nov 21, 2009

It's amazing. No matter how many people fall off tractors or equipment and get injured/killed.
Somebody comes along and proclaims it's perfectly safe for riders to be perched somewhere other than on the seat.
Must be the same rational as some smokers who believe they will never suffer any ill consequences.

Boy killed

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