Thanks, Mike (and Tommy). I've been a tractor owner for 1 month now. It's been my practice to fasten my seat belt when I'm on an incline so the ROPS can do its job, but on level ground I don't bother. That was today. Tomorrow, I'll be using the seatbelt regardless of the terrain.
I'm a former EMS helicopter pilot and now have about 25 acres we "homestead". I'll never forget the time we picked up a guy that was bush hogging his pastures and somehow went off the tractor. I suspect it was a situation just like you describe in this video. Long story short is that the rear tractor tire ran over his leg as the tractor continued forward. The brush hog caught his left ankle and almost severed it completely. I have no idea if they were able to save his foot or not after we dropped him off at the trauma center in Bristol, TN. I never brush hog below about 6 inches even in terrain I know like the back of my hand. I always wear the seat belt. You'll never notice a difference between a 2" cut and a 6" cut except for the amount of time spent sharpening / replacing blades. As an aside we have 3 hunting dogs. A 2 or 3" cut stabs their paws as they run thru it. A 6" cut bends over and doesn't hurt them. All in all a better way to go and.....WEAR YOUR SEATBELT ON A TRACTOR!
I have a son who is living with me now. He has almost no experience with tractors. He surprised me when he said he was amazed at how many different ways a tractor and implement can kill you. It made me think about how I never take the time to to anything safely. Thanks for these videos and best wishes to Tommy.
Mike I really appreciate the constant reminder about safety. It's because of some of the things you have said over the years that has caused me to slow down and rethink what I was about to do. Thank you for the continuous reminders!
Don't forget this could easily apply to a riding mower too. I try to aim the chute away from the road and house if and when possible. Moles dig up rocks all the time. My wife brought our oldest out to "watch dada mow" which I thought was fun and sweet but I had to be very aware of which way I was aiming and asked her to wait so I could mow the close area first to make it safer. When I was a young kid we had one of the 5hp cheaper wood chippers that had a branch chute and a leaf "slide" hopper area. I got hit in the shoulder by a rock that shot out from the leaf slide. I had been wearing safety glasses but I went and found my dad's face shield and always used that from them on, something I continue to wear when chipping to this day over 20 years later.
Mike, I had a big chunk of cactus hurl out of the front of my bush hog. It hit me in the right shoulder and the spines went deep due to the force that it hit me. I couldn’t remove it by myself and had to get help. Needless to say, I purchased a chain guard to mount on the face of the cutter. It won’t alleviate this problem but it sure will slow it down. Thank you for your great videos!
Thanks for the video Mike. I recently moved to Pulaski County and I’m actually closing on the last lot to complete our 19 acres today. We are in the market for a tractor now and I’m doing my best to learn everything that I can about tractors and how to safely operate them. I grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia so I have very little practical experience with this type of machinery. You are quite right about the rocky soil here in the Ozarks. When I moved in I had to install a mailbox and I thought “Oh no big deal, it’s only a three foot hole”. Boy was I wrong. It took me over three hours to dig that hole because I didn’t have a pickaxe at that point and the amount of rocks were wild. I bought one the very next time I made my way to Lowes. Thanks for the tips about how I can stay safe with my rotary cutter. Our property is mostly neglected, overgrown, mobile home lots with lots of trash and garbage. I’m sure there are going to be plenty of surprises hiding out in all that brush. I’m even contemplating just biting the bullet and doing it all with a brush saw the first time around so I don’t break my tractor or hurt myself.
Mike, while Tommy didn't do anything wrong, I am happy to hear that he is doing better after the incident. I agree with you as SAFETY is #1 and seatbelts do help in these situations. Thanks for sharing Sir
Thanks for sharing Mike. These stories are hard to hear but a great opportunity to learn from other's misfortune. Thanks for the seat belt reminders, we all seem to think they are a pita, nonetheless a necessity in these and many cases.
thanks, Mike! Your videos have probably already saved my life, from when I got my first larger tractor a few years I took up your advice on the seatbelt thing, and I do hate them but thinking about it, I'm typically out on our property alone so it puts my mind and my wife at ease when I'm out there using it. As soon as I get on that thing, I buckle up. And all your other safety videos concerning brush-hogs, all good advice to heed to. Keep 'em coming!
Tommy is a lucky man. Every one of us that's ever operated a bush hog, disc mower even a baler, has had rocks come flying by. Mine happened fifty years ago and was a bush hog that threw a rock about the size of a baseball. I heard it when I hit it and ducked. Tore up the muffler when it hit it. Can hear the buzzing noise it made when it went by to this day.
Mike, this story really grabbed my attention. Thank you for sharing it. I Bush Hog over 5 miles of very rocky 12' wide woodland trails plus clearings twice a year and rarely use a seatbelt. My 6' Bush Hog side housing looks like someone beat it to death with a sledge hammer from the inside from all the rocks. I'm going to put that belt on and pay a lot more attention to the condition of the guards from now on. Thank you and I'm happy to hear that Tommy came through this OK.
This is not a tractor accident but a gas push mower accident. When I was 17 teen or 18 I lived with my brother ands wife. I had a Covair Van that he let me work on in the back yard. The back yard was inclosed by a brick wall fence except for the 8 ft drive way gate and a walk thru gate. I was mowing the back yard when just as my brother walked thru the walk in gate I hit a bolt that I had dropped in the grass earlier. The bold hit my brother just below the knee directly on the bone. We rushed him to the hospital and he luckily recovered over time. The doctor was excited to see the wound because it looked like a gun shoot wound and the staff hat not worked on one yet. Your comment about wearing your seat belt made a lot more sense to me. The rule I remember is "ROPS up seat belt on ROPS down seat belt off". FYI, I have never operated my tractor with the ROPS down but I do forget to use my seat belt sometimes. About the tractor stopping on its own. I have a John Deere 3039R tractor and it has a selection on how long you want the tractor to travel before it stops when you take your foot off the peddle. It goes from "jerk to a stop" to "glide to a stop over several feet".
Years ago, I ran over the end of a piece of a dead Pine tree about 3 inches around and 8-10 foot long. I hit it just right with the front left tire that it flipped up and slammed me in the side of my face with the force of a baseball bat. I was pulling a 15-foot Bat Wing mower with a 20-foot half-pipe "Drag" behind that. I had my Seat Belt on and was near knocked out but stayed on the Tractor. To this day, that event reminds me to always wear my Seat Belt, especially if I'm at the Ranch by myself, or just working alone down at the Bottom. Accidents can happen very quickly! Be Safe!
Mike, thanks for this video. I normally mow without my seatbelt because I normally mow with the ROPS down. From now on I will make sure my ROPS are up and my seatbelt on when I mow. Thanks again for sharing this video. Stay safe everyone!
My Dad was running a brush cutter and we were following behind picking up debir from the new road he was cutting at our hunting camp. The cutter hit a large piece of wood and slung it out the back and hit me in the midsection and bent me over double.... I was a teenager then and in my 60's now... but I still remember how that felt.
Mike, this video brought reality to the surface. I've rarely worn the seatbelt but have learned to not fiddle with safety mechanisms designed to protect an operator. Thank you for this true trator story. 👍🏽🤠 10/21/22
JESUS, Mike! I would have NEVER expected a rock to hit the opertor. I mean, what are the chances??? WOW! So glad to hear Tommy is okay! Ugh! I was on rescue 20 years here in Vermont, and some of the worst calls I have ever been on were farming accidents! These machines are so powerful!
Your father sounds a lot like my grandfather. He always ran by the motto of “Safety third”. Only in my case the rock that came out of his bush hog actually hit me and didn’t just fling by my head. 44 stitches later and he still calls me a sissy when I refuse to mow while he’s bush-hogging in my vicinity. Ever since that incident I’ve been uber careful when out cutting. So much so that I’m a little scared to use my reverse rotation tiller. I’m terrified it’s going to send a rock flying right at me.
Great video on safety.Seat belt usage cannot be overemphasized.I was acquainted with someone who was run over by his own brush hog.We do not know whether is was a heart attack,knocked off by a limb while looking the other way or what.I have never thought about the possibility of a rock but it could have been possible.Thanks for pointing this out.
Mike, good reminder, especially for those of us who have gotten into "tractorin" late in life. I'm 65, and didn't grow up on a farm, and even though I DID grow up in wheat country in Eastern Washington, I never drove farm equipment till lately. I have 5 acres in the country and had (It's been sold) a '72 Ford 3000 with a 60" rotary cutter, which had no shield on the front of the cutter. I was mowing the perimeter of the property and looked to my right just as my front wheel popped up a metal pipe that was bent from the tall grass. I didn't have the presence of mind (nor the experience) to quickly step on the clutch and the brake. I drove the cutter OVER that bent pipe, which made a horrific sound and it got spit out to the side. It was embarrassing,, and expensive, as the cutter had to get a new seal and bearings, but it could have been much worse. I installed a chain guard on the front of the 'hog, and after the story you shared, I'm going to start using the seat belt on my new Branson 2515. Thanks...
I used to wear a logging hard hat that had hearing protection attached as well as a face screen. One time a customer was watching me mow and when I got all done he asked me if I was expecting bowling balls to fall out of the sky. It was nice when brush hogging under tree limbs along the edges of the fields because I have gotten whacked in the head more than once by tree limbs. No matter how careful you are, there's always that one limb you didn't see. Quite often that ROPS, even when it's folded up will catch a limb and it'll slap you in the back of the head as you go by. I've seen debris shoot out from that mower and, like you said, go flying maybe 40-50 yards away. It's a dangerous world out there.
In the town I live in, (and was born and raised in), a guy I knew fairly well was bush hogging his field, the rotary cutter was old and didn't have a front guard, or the guard was in bad shape. He accidentally ran over a barbed wire fence.. the fence wrapped up under the cutter and ended up throwing a staple, (or small piece of fence) up into the back of his neck and killed him instantly. The guy was in his early 30's. Very sad deal. When it happens in your town, it's surreal.
Thank God Tommy lived to tell the story. And I much appreciate the seat belt reminder, Mike. ROPS and kill switches are mandatory, too. Every single time. Life happens, so be sure to protect yourself and others.
I’ve had two mower incidents. Back in the 60s, we gave our collie bones to gnaw on. Dad threw one up with the mower and it broke my finger. About 30 years ago, I was mowing my lawn, and my wife ran out the front door yelling at me at the top of her lungs. She is a normally calm lady, so I thought she had lost her mind. Come to find out, I had thrown a large rock through the front window and it hit her. We all need to be reminded about safety!
I was brush hogging near the woods in my pasture on my old 8n when I hit part of a downed limb hidden in the weeds. That hog shot a 3” diameter log about foot long right up between the wheel and my leg just clipping my boot before spinning into the distance. Good boots and luck prevented a broken leg that day.
It's amazing how much a rock can get around and through. Added used baler belts to the bottom of disc mower guards to add length and keep them from jumping as much
We don't have many rocks in the field here in the Texas Panhandle but I have had a safety wake-up call. A few years ago I was trying to put the last couple pieces of trim on a rabbit hutch I had built. I thought I could get it finished during the Bears half time so I was rushing to make it back for the second half. I had grabbed a long piece of trim and was stopping by the barn to pick up a tool before heading to the hutch. Like several times before my plan was to let off the HST acceleration pedal, jump off the tractor, grab the tool inside the barn then continue on. Unfortunately, while traveling toward the overhead door of the barn, the piece of trim had worked its way under the pedal of the accelerator pinning the pedal down. As I let off the pedal to jump off, the tractor kept moving forward and into the overhead door. Before I could react I was half way through the 14' door. Amazingly, the only thing injured was my pride and the 14' door. An $800 repair bill was better than a hospital bill. Since then I never carry anything on the tractor that could interfere with the pedals.
I work for a Township in NJ. I drive a Deere 5075E with a Woods 720BB rotary mower. I mow mostly open spaces an retention basins, but also some places where I have to deal with foot traffic. I get a lot of people that will charge right up to me while I’m working. This is much more common since the ‘Rona. Everybody is home and they are just dying to come stop me from working. I haven’t kicked up a rock at anybody yet, but it’s a huge stressor. Earlier this season I had to shut down 77 times while mowing a rails-to-trails. And those were just the times I actually saw them coming! Every chance I get, I try to explain to the residents that it is super dangerous to be within 100’ of me while I’m working. The worst ones are some of the more remote locations where I shouldn’t really have any contact with anyone, so I get focused on my work and BOOM there’s a resident right next to me for who knows what reason. Scares the hell outta me, I tell ya!
Mike, the phenomenon of rocks rising to the surface is a fairly well undestood, it is the same phenomenon that makes larger heavier things (like nuts or dried fruits) float to the top of your cereal box. In the cereal box , vibration during transport causes the larger objects to move and this can create a small space below them which is then filled with smaller (cereal) particles, eventually it goes all the way to the top. A similar thing happens in the soil, the rock moves due to vibration or freeze thawing or water and makes a small hole below it which is then filled with smaller soil particles and eventuall the rock reaches the surface. On the subject of thrown objects, I have a hedge flail mower attachment on my compact tractor and on the advice of the dealer I fitted a perspex screen to the back and side of my tractor to protect me from thrown objects.
I’m really fortunate here in southeast Pennsylvania in that the land has been cultivated since before 1750 and generations of farmers have cleaned almost all of the rocks out of the fields. A similar problem is small rocks being thrown by the belly mower on your lawn tractor. They can take out an eye.
Hi from Queensland Australia... Some people here will run a steel mesh panel attached to the rops to prevent this when running a slasher. .or bush hog as you call them.. PS never drill or weld to a rops .. I use radiator hose clamps to attach it.... Throwing items from cutters are serious.. trust me.. had a rock come out of a ride on mower and hit me in the leg ... Cut me up pretty bad.. glad It was only a small rock and a ride on... Now if I can see some one mowing ... I'm to close... I'm not going to link a picture.. to grafic ..was not nice.... Stay safe y'all Love from Queensland Australia
Mike, I had a bush hog send a large piece of wood about 250 feet across a road and into my neighbor's yard. Unfortunately it missed their damn mean dog. Maybe next time.
Mike, I can't tell you how many times I have been cutting grass in our old 60 acre peach orchard and hit gravel that came through the back of the tractor above and below the seat. Being "pepper'd" with gravel is no damn fun. I am presently fabricating a heavy, expanded metal screen to clamp onto the ROPS of my new tractor to avoid such "flying objects".
I was pulling a 7ft bush hog brand pull type bush hog behind a little 424 IH. The top of the mower was rusted away in a few places. I was getting stung when hitting Johnson grass. Thought it was up high enough to clear the rocks. Nope. I started hearing the banging and instinctively ducked down and watched two fist sized rocks sail just over my head and glance off the hood of the tractor, leaving dents and scratches behind. Close call. That really was too much mower for the tractor, too, and the front end was light as a feather pulling up much of a hill. Dodged two bullets that week...rocks and a near rare up with no rops. Lesson learned.
I got a tc40 like yours, bought it from a guy in Missouri, he brought it to me here in Louisiana, he fabbed an expanded metal screen in the Rops, when I first saw it I thought it was pretty unnecessary but I've been bush hogging at a hunting lease on more than one occasion and had substantial pieces of wood fly up and hit that screen and you would never think that a piece of wood that size could somehow come up from that bush hog and hit that screen but if that screen had not been there it would have hit my head
Reminds me of when the WVDOH just had received new boon mowers, one of our operators was mowing along one of the main roads in the county. The mower picked up a shock absorber in the weeds throwing it about 200 feet and through the windshield of a new Thunderbird destroying the dash. Luckily no one was in the car. Only one of many mishaps with these boom mowers.
Sent a sprinkler head 50 feet through the Livingroom window, with just a side discharge push mower, back in the late 70's. Didn't notice until I went in the house and saw a hole in the window (tinting held it together). Since then I'm carful of cutting height and safety guards.
I had a small stump part get thrown from the lawn mower and went through window and landed 10’ inside of the house. The piece went 30’ before hitting the window. Glad my wife was not sitting next to the window which was her normal spot to sit at the time.
I mowed right of way for many years for the Illinois Highway Dept. I always wore my seatbelt in case a car would hit the batwing I was pulling I wouldn’t be thrown off and be mowed up by the wing. Also some of the slopes me mowed were more than we should have been on.
I had one a couple months ago come from my rotary brush cutter and hit me in the back while using the cutter on my B2601. It stung pretty bad but didn’t injure me. I’ve seen them thrown hundreds of feet. Had a neighbor’s nephew come up to ask me something while I was mowing once and I yelled at him for ever getting around me let alone behind me when I was mowing my fields.
I know a man who of all things was the coroner of Fulton county Illinois some years back. He was standing next to his tractor operating a post hole digger and got his long sleeve shirt caught in the auger and you can figure out what happened, other problem is it was sometime before he was found.
Wow! I always put my seat belt on when running a piece of equipment, not sure that would help getting knocked out, but hopefully I won't fall off! Glad he's ok!
While I was spreading manure a rock come out and hit me in the back of my shoulder. From that moment on I ALWAYS wore a hard hat. Also have seen rotary cutters pull roots out of the ground and fling them. Always put safety first. My favorite saying "I like me too well" to let something happen
I have had rocks come out from under my 15’ flex wing rotary cutter several times and they shattered the safety glass on the back of my John Deere 4440 cab. Scared the bajeezes out of me when it happened. Thank goodness for safety glass.
I have bump caps inside my caps just to help protect my head. Won't stop a large rock but it would reduce it a bit. Helps for limbs, low hanging machinery, etc. Dropping objects, etc.
Glad to hear he's OK! I had a friend climb up on a silage wagon while it was running to kick some crusted silage into the auger and fell in. Unfortunately it was the wrong choice and he's not with us anymore. Like the John Deere moto Safety first never last have a future not a past.
This past spring I was hired to mow what turned out to be a rock field. It toasted the brushog big time a I luckily dodged one that shot forward about 40’. The brushog looks like it has measles and I had to buy a new gearbox shortly thereafter. Gained a healthy respect and am more choosy about what I take on and will walk away from.
we got an old kuhn tedder that will break and throw tines if you run it to close to the ground in rough terrain, its down right scary, especially if you're on a tractor without a cab, she'll throw them 60' or more and they stick in the ground like a javelin, i can go several hundred hours between breaking them but some older members of my family can't hear or see as good as they used to and break several in one day before realizing it which is even more scary
I wonder if the tractor seat kill switch worked you didn't mention that in your video Mike it should have stopped pretty quickly once he existed the seat which opens up a new question how far and where would he have stopped? Had he been using the lap belt!
Ive had something like that happen. was running a rotary hoe through a field without a rock guard and a rock was kicked up, shattered the back glass of my tractors cab, some how still had a enough energy to keep going forward and it cracked the windshield and To add insult to injury all the glass from the back window landed on me. Thankfully it was safety glass so I wasn’t cut up but I have since installed a rock guard of my rotary hoe
I had an instance once using a skid steer to demo concrete driveway. Tires were on smaller chunks of concrete already broken and one goose egg size one shot out from under the tire like a line drive, hitting a vehicle passing by on the street. Hit the car door so hard the window no longer worked. I had people working around me thank God they were not hit. So beware that tires can shoot rocks too.
Thank you for talking about Safety. By my home there is major Airport. One of the company's hired ( this was all Union job) so work safety was required on job. Anyway a poor guy was clearing brush with a brush Hog attached to Dipper on Excavator instead of Bucket. A piece of something he HIT, fly's into cab. KILLING the poor operator. I have a piece of WOOD I saved from the County side boom MOWER flying into my property over next door Property. It stuck it ground like a spear.
Since you’re talking about freak accident we’ll I’ll tell you a good one. Owner of a kioti 7320 only a couple of years old. And for my self I’m a one legged guy, got amputated approximately tree years ago. Last year I was taking off my front bucket. The tractor has a quick attachment system. Me not knowing that my friend parked the tractor and dropped the front loader to the ground and pushed that loader lever to the floating position so when I opened the second lever of the quick attachment the loader fell off the bucket and landed on my good foot. I never expected that loader would slide off that bucket attachment!! I yelled my lung’s out being stuck and prisoner of that loader. Luckily I had my cell phone and called my friend to lift the front loader off my foot. There was no way that I could pull my foot off the underneath. I had many bones broken from my toes and foot. I’m way more careful with all attachment’s. There heavy and dangerous. By the way, I’m from Maniwaki, Quebec Canada and love watching your videos. Your information sure helps me and others being a better and safer tractor owner.
I'll add a recommendation in the interest of safety. Educate anyone who might have access to an area you might be mowing to be sure the operator is aware of their presence. I mow a 1/2 mile gravel driveway with about 15' of grass on each side. I wear ear plugs and am usually oblivious to a vehicle that might be approaching me from behind. I would take no offense to being honked at so I can stop and allow the vehicle to pass, or otherwise wait until I'm out of the way to proceed.
Perhaps Tommy could make a guard out of expanded metal for the back of the tractor behind him. In case a rock gets through the 2 layers of canvas. I do not allow anyone near me when I am running the cutting equipment. One of my rotary mowers throws chunks of wood and rocks over 100 feet. I won't mow around the cattle either. If there are cattle near where I am workin g, I will find somewhere else to work.
In around 1978 I was ploughing a field for summer fallow. The plough caught a rock about the size of a fist and launched it back at the tractor. Luckily for me it hit the seat with one hell of a bang. Could have ended real bad for me that day. And put a dent in the seat. There was no cab for any protection.
I am sure glad he made it, one of the worst pieces of equipment I own for throwing things is my drum mower, one ant hill and flying stuff goes everywhere. A note on the safety switch, If I just turn my Kubota off it will roll, unless I set the parking brake, That is one bad disadvantage of a hydraulic shuttle, I had a new holland the same way, but it had a parking gear you had to be in, if not away she went . So if his tractor is like mine his safety switch may have shut the engine down but it would not have stopped rolling without the park brake set. This is where you have to know your equipment, and the dealer/salesman needs to tell new owners about this carefully.
A local farmer, Warren McKenzie, was killed while bush hogging back in July. He got off his tractor to open a gate with the blade still spinning. He was run over and the results was an awful mess for the people who had to pick up the pieces. A farmer across from my shop was killed twenty-ish years ago when his shirt was caught in a PTO shaft. Be careful folks. It only takes a second to drastically alter or end a life.
Glad he's ok. Not that it helps for hay, but that's one big reason I prefer a flail over a rotary mower; flails are much less prone to throw stuff at you. It's not zero percent of course, but much lower.
Back when I was a milkman I was driving my step van milk delivery truck down the highway heading for my next town. A farmer mowing the road side with a bush hog hit a concrete right of way marker. The bush hog shot out a chunk of concrete about the size of a fist straight at me at high velocity, adding to that my speed on the highway when approaching him. The concrete hit directly in front of me but just slightly below the windshield gasket. It caved in the steel panel and shattered the safety glass windshield. If the concrete had hit two inches higher it would have went through the windshield and hit me directly in my sternum. The farmer never knew what happened until I stopped him and told him. He did not want to pay for the damage.
We got hit in the back of the head back in August while bush hogging . Lost consciousness for a few minutes but luckily a buddy came up and shut everything down . Please be careful those Ozark rocks will kill ya .
Thrown rocks are no joke with a disc mower. Seen several broken cab windows over the years. Spreading manure with old 560 Farmall & 5x12 Kelly Ryan manure spreader when I was about 15, on a bitter cold day in February. Going along fine and next think I knew I ate the steering wheel, couldn’t breathe, and felt like I’d been hit with a baseball bat. Looked down and saw a dead baby pig that somehow the beater flung forward!
An expanded metal screen behind the operator area could help with a bush hog situation. I have a drum mower for my hayfield , but luckily. no rocks in my area.
Glacial till was not kind to us boy did you get that right this o'l rocky hilly Missouri ground somehow yields more more and more rocks every year !!!! 😅
This is why flail mowers are worth every extra penny over a rotary cutter. A flail throws things DOWN instead of OUT like a bullet. That's why VDOT uses flails and sickle bars instead of rotary cutters. They don't want to be constantly breaking windows. There are too many stories of people getting seriously hurt or killed and rocks and other debris damaging property.
This did not happen to me, however it was bad. A kid i knew (my freshman year in highschool so it has been more years then i will admit too) was cutting with a tractor in the 40hp range (roughly may have been a bit bigger) on a hill and had a blade brake, sliced threw rear tire and caused the tractor to roll and it rolled a couple times(fairly steep hill) and even with rops and seatbelt on some how still snapped his neck and he did not make it. I still think about that every time i cut my grass as i have some steep hills to cut(all be it not nearly as steep as the one he was cutting)and try to really watch around me, and replace any blade that i question in the slightest. Even knowing that is not a normal situation, and that my tractor has all the safety equipment and i use them i still cant get that out of my mind, to the point if my son or my wife uses the tractor i have drove home the point the seatbelt goes on before the key goes into the tractor, and go over each way to kill the engine multiple times threw the seasons and still will NOT let either of them cut any of the hilly areas of our property. They tell me i am paranoid but i can live with them calling me that, i could NOT live with a freak accident happening to either of them. Maybe i am a little paranoid but i dont want them hurt period.
Man I've had my share near misses with them rocks ricocheting off of the trees after getting batted through the bush hog ... I had a rock come out of The hog at high velocity and take my sock head off .. and sent it to some place where I never did find it again (probably Narnia) and there was nothing but clear ground all around me ... not too long ago a guy was bush hogging the ditch lines across the road from me and the wire handle off a 5 gal. bucket flew a hundred yards from where he was at and come down and lassoed my head like I was part of a carnival show game alongside a whack a mole or something ... back in the day my dad was mowing with a little push mower a hundred feet away from me and that thing threw up a big stick and it hit me between the shoulder blades it took my breath away to where I passed out for a bit and I had a big o'l welp over that one
When.I was about 14 I was mowing with massy 135 and a 5 foot 3 point hog. Hit a rock and hit a flint rock and had to have shrapnel dug out the back of my head by my mom. Then back out to finish up.
I had a friend who was disking and his son was setting on the fender and the fender broke ,he ran over and killed him before he could get the tractor stopped
Had a blade bolt break on a 6 ft bush hog, slung the blade 30 yds hitting a tree. 135 MF felt like it was coming off the ground vibrating so bad before I could stop the PTO. Freak accident like this in Jackson MS killed in a car hit by a broke blade throwed by a state dept mower.
By the way the letter sounded the tractor kept going quite a ways after he fell off. So, either it don't have safety switches, they were bypassed, or it was old tractor...and if it was an old tractor, probably don't have a ROPS either, so maybe lucky for him he was knocked off the tractor, IDK, kind of one of those things where it just wasn't time for him to go yet, and no matter what he did it wouldn't have made a difference. I'd imagine the tractor probably ran into something at the end of the field that stalled it, which like I said means no safety equipment or it was bypassed. My sub-compact tractor has all the safety nanny stuff on it, which is irritating at times but I'm actually happy its there as a novice operator, and from what I understand those switches aren't that expensive to replace either, and need to be checked from time to time for proper adjustment and operation. I'm just surprised my tractor don't have a safety shut off if you get off it while its in gear...its a hydrostatic transmission, so high and low range, even with the brake disengaged you can get on and off the machine without it shutting off, I could only imagine accidently hitting the forward or reverse side of the pedal while entering or exiting the tractor and getting knocked off and ran over....I make sure the parking brake is set, and I always try to just make sure to shut the tractor off before I get off of it.
I was mowing my grass with a Husqvarna mower & I had the grass Shute forced up with a bungee cord , I forgot it was open and a rock shot out And hit my living room window and shattered it. Luckily no one got hurt !
I got hit in the head by rocks on more than one occasion, fortunately I never got knocked out. I have a cab tractor now and I've had a few hit the windows that sounded like they should have broken them.
Thanks, Mike (and Tommy).
I've been a tractor owner for 1 month now.
It's been my practice to fasten my seat belt when I'm on an incline so the ROPS can do its job, but on level ground I don't bother.
That was today.
Tomorrow, I'll be using the seatbelt regardless of the terrain.
I'm a former EMS helicopter pilot and now have about 25 acres we "homestead". I'll never forget the time we picked up a guy that was bush hogging his pastures and somehow went off the tractor. I suspect it was a situation just like you describe in this video. Long story short is that the rear tractor tire ran over his leg as the tractor continued forward. The brush hog caught his left ankle and almost severed it completely. I have no idea if they were able to save his foot or not after we dropped him off at the trauma center in Bristol, TN. I never brush hog below about 6 inches even in terrain I know like the back of my hand. I always wear the seat belt. You'll never notice a difference between a 2" cut and a 6" cut except for the amount of time spent sharpening / replacing blades. As an aside we have 3 hunting dogs. A 2 or 3" cut stabs their paws as they run thru it. A 6" cut bends over and doesn't hurt them. All in all a better way to go and.....WEAR YOUR SEATBELT ON A TRACTOR!
I have a son who is living with me now. He has almost no experience with tractors. He surprised me when he said he was amazed at how many different ways a tractor and implement can kill you. It made me think about how I never take the time to to anything safely. Thanks for these videos and best wishes to Tommy.
Mike I really appreciate the constant reminder about safety. It's because of some of the things you have said over the years that has caused me to slow down and rethink what I was about to do. Thank you for the continuous reminders!
Don't forget this could easily apply to a riding mower too. I try to aim the chute away from the road and house if and when possible. Moles dig up rocks all the time. My wife brought our oldest out to "watch dada mow" which I thought was fun and sweet but I had to be very aware of which way I was aiming and asked her to wait so I could mow the close area first to make it safer.
When I was a young kid we had one of the 5hp cheaper wood chippers that had a branch chute and a leaf "slide" hopper area. I got hit in the shoulder by a rock that shot out from the leaf slide. I had been wearing safety glasses but I went and found my dad's face shield and always used that from them on, something I continue to wear when chipping to this day over 20 years later.
Mike, I had a big chunk of cactus hurl out of the front of my bush hog. It hit me in the right shoulder and the spines went deep due to the force that it hit me. I couldn’t remove it by myself and had to get help. Needless to say, I purchased a chain guard to mount on the face of the cutter. It won’t alleviate this problem but it sure will slow it down. Thank you for your great videos!
Thanks for the video Mike. I recently moved to Pulaski County and I’m actually closing on the last lot to complete our 19 acres today. We are in the market for a tractor now and I’m doing my best to learn everything that I can about tractors and how to safely operate them. I grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia so I have very little practical experience with this type of machinery. You are quite right about the rocky soil here in the Ozarks. When I moved in I had to install a mailbox and I thought “Oh no big deal, it’s only a three foot hole”. Boy was I wrong. It took me over three hours to dig that hole because I didn’t have a pickaxe at that point and the amount of rocks were wild. I bought one the very next time I made my way to Lowes. Thanks for the tips about how I can stay safe with my rotary cutter. Our property is mostly neglected, overgrown, mobile home lots with lots of trash and garbage. I’m sure there are going to be plenty of surprises hiding out in all that brush. I’m even contemplating just biting the bullet and doing it all with a brush saw the first time around so I don’t break my tractor or hurt myself.
Wow, he is unbelievably fortunate to be alive. Thank goodness!
Mike, while Tommy didn't do anything wrong, I am happy to hear that he is doing better after the incident. I agree with you as SAFETY is #1 and seatbelts do help in these situations. Thanks for sharing Sir
Thanks for sharing Mike. These stories are hard to hear but a great opportunity to learn from other's misfortune. Thanks for the seat belt reminders, we all seem to think they are a pita, nonetheless a necessity in these and many cases.
thanks, Mike! Your videos have probably already saved my life, from when I got my first larger tractor a few years I took up your advice on the seatbelt thing, and I do hate them but thinking about it, I'm typically out on our property alone so it puts my mind and my wife at ease when I'm out there using it. As soon as I get on that thing, I buckle up. And all your other safety videos concerning brush-hogs, all good advice to heed to. Keep 'em coming!
Tommy is a lucky man. Every one of us that's ever operated a bush hog, disc mower even a baler, has had rocks come flying by. Mine happened fifty years ago and was a bush hog that threw a rock about the size of a baseball. I heard it when I hit it and ducked. Tore up the muffler when it hit it. Can hear the buzzing noise it made when it went by to this day.
Mike, this story really grabbed my attention. Thank you for sharing it. I Bush Hog over 5 miles of very rocky 12' wide woodland trails plus clearings twice a year and rarely use a seatbelt. My 6' Bush Hog side housing looks like someone beat it to death with a sledge hammer from the inside from all the rocks. I'm going to put that belt on and pay a lot more attention to the condition of the guards from now on. Thank you and I'm happy to hear that Tommy came through this OK.
This is not a tractor accident but a gas push mower accident. When I was 17 teen or 18 I lived with my brother ands wife. I had a Covair Van that he let me work on in the back yard. The back yard was inclosed by a brick wall fence except for the 8 ft drive way gate and a walk thru gate. I was mowing the back yard when just as my brother walked thru the walk in gate I hit a bolt that I had dropped in the grass earlier. The bold hit my brother just below the knee directly on the bone. We rushed him to the hospital and he luckily recovered over time. The doctor was excited to see the wound because it looked like a gun shoot wound and the staff hat not worked on one yet. Your comment about wearing your seat belt made a lot more sense to me. The rule I remember is "ROPS up seat belt on ROPS down seat belt off". FYI, I have never operated my tractor with the ROPS down but I do forget to use my seat belt sometimes.
About the tractor stopping on its own. I have a John Deere 3039R tractor and it has a selection on how long you want the tractor to travel before it stops when you take your foot off the peddle. It goes from "jerk to a stop" to "glide to a stop over several feet".
Years ago, I ran over the end of a piece of a dead Pine tree about 3 inches around and 8-10 foot long. I hit it just right with the front left tire that it flipped up and slammed me in the side of my face with the force of a baseball bat. I was pulling a 15-foot Bat Wing mower with a 20-foot half-pipe "Drag" behind that. I had my Seat Belt on and was near knocked out but stayed on the Tractor. To this day, that event reminds me to always wear my Seat Belt, especially if I'm at the Ranch by myself, or just working alone down at the Bottom. Accidents can happen very quickly! Be Safe!
Good information. Will definitely share!
Mike, thanks for this video. I normally mow without my seatbelt because I normally mow with the ROPS down. From now on I will make sure my ROPS are up and my seatbelt on when I mow. Thanks again for sharing this video. Stay safe everyone!
My Dad was running a brush cutter and we were following behind picking up debir from the new road he was cutting at our hunting camp. The cutter hit a large piece of wood and slung it out the back and hit me in the midsection and bent me over double.... I was a teenager then and in my 60's now... but I still remember how that felt.
Great video, Mike! Thanks for beating the safety drum; it's easy to get complacent doing daily work. Your reminders are always welcome.
WOW. I have now started wearing my seatbelt and I'm thinking about wearing a hard hat !!! 🙂Thanks for sharing
Good talk, thanks Mike!
Mike, this video brought reality to the surface. I've rarely worn the seatbelt but have learned to not fiddle with safety mechanisms designed to protect an operator. Thank you for this true trator story. 👍🏽🤠 10/21/22
JESUS, Mike! I would have NEVER expected a rock to hit the opertor. I mean, what are the chances??? WOW! So glad to hear Tommy is okay! Ugh! I was on rescue 20 years here in Vermont, and some of the worst calls I have ever been on were farming accidents! These machines are so powerful!
Jesus Mike new guy?
Your father sounds a lot like my grandfather. He always ran by the motto of “Safety third”. Only in my case the rock that came out of his bush hog actually hit me and didn’t just fling by my head. 44 stitches later and he still calls me a sissy when I refuse to mow while he’s bush-hogging in my vicinity. Ever since that incident I’ve been uber careful when out cutting. So much so that I’m a little scared to use my reverse rotation tiller. I’m terrified it’s going to send a rock flying right at me.
Great video on safety.Seat belt usage cannot be overemphasized.I was acquainted with someone who
was run over by his own brush hog.We do not know whether is was a heart attack,knocked off by a limb while looking the other way or what.I have never thought about the possibility of a rock but it could have been possible.Thanks for pointing this out.
Mike, good reminder, especially for those of us who have gotten into "tractorin" late in life. I'm 65, and didn't grow up on a farm, and even though I DID grow up in wheat country in Eastern Washington, I never drove farm equipment till lately. I have 5 acres in the country and had (It's been sold) a '72 Ford 3000 with a 60" rotary cutter, which had no shield on the front of the cutter. I was mowing the perimeter of the property and looked to my right just as my front wheel popped up a metal pipe that was bent from the tall grass. I didn't have the presence of mind (nor the experience) to quickly step on the clutch and the brake. I drove the cutter OVER that bent pipe, which made a horrific sound and it got spit out to the side. It was embarrassing,, and expensive, as the cutter had to get a new seal and bearings, but it could have been much worse. I installed a chain guard on the front of the 'hog, and after the story you shared, I'm going to start using the seat belt on my new Branson 2515. Thanks...
I used to wear a logging hard hat that had hearing protection attached as well as a face screen. One time a customer was watching me mow and when I got all done he asked me if I was expecting bowling balls to fall out of the sky. It was nice when brush hogging under tree limbs along the edges of the fields because I have gotten whacked in the head more than once by tree limbs. No matter how careful you are, there's always that one limb you didn't see. Quite often that ROPS, even when it's folded up will catch a limb and it'll slap you in the back of the head as you go by. I've seen debris shoot out from that mower and, like you said, go flying maybe 40-50 yards away. It's a dangerous world out there.
In the town I live in, (and was born and raised in), a guy I knew fairly well was bush hogging his field, the rotary cutter was old and didn't have a front guard, or the guard was in bad shape. He accidentally ran over a barbed wire fence.. the fence wrapped up under the cutter and ended up throwing a staple, (or small piece of fence) up into the back of his neck and killed him instantly. The guy was in his early 30's. Very sad deal. When it happens in your town, it's surreal.
Most likely, a hydrostatic will still run over you on a downhill even with the motor off. Seatbelts are a must in certain situations. Great video Mike
Thank God Tommy lived to tell the story. And I much appreciate the seat belt reminder, Mike. ROPS and kill switches are mandatory, too. Every single time. Life happens, so be sure to protect yourself and others.
Glad he's OK. Not many rocks in NE but flying sticks hurt too.
I’ve had two mower incidents. Back in the 60s, we gave our collie bones to gnaw on. Dad threw one up with the mower and it broke my finger. About 30 years ago, I was mowing my lawn, and my wife ran out the front door yelling at me at the top of her lungs. She is a normally calm lady, so I thought she had lost her mind. Come to find out, I had thrown a large rock through the front window and it hit her. We all need to be reminded about safety!
I was brush hogging near the woods in my pasture on my old 8n when I hit part of a downed limb hidden in the weeds. That hog shot a 3” diameter log about foot long right up between the wheel and my leg just clipping my boot before spinning into the distance. Good boots and luck prevented a broken leg that day.
It's amazing how much a rock can get around and through. Added used baler belts to the bottom of disc mower guards to add length and keep them from jumping as much
Good advice!❤
We don't have many rocks in the field here in the Texas Panhandle but I have had a safety wake-up call. A few years ago I was trying to put the last couple pieces of trim on a rabbit hutch I had built. I thought I could get it finished during the Bears half time so I was rushing to make it back for the second half. I had grabbed a long piece of trim and was stopping by the barn to pick up a tool before heading to the hutch. Like several times before my plan was to let off the HST acceleration pedal, jump off the tractor, grab the tool inside the barn then continue on. Unfortunately, while traveling toward the overhead door of the barn, the piece of trim had worked its way under the pedal of the accelerator pinning the pedal down. As I let off the pedal to jump off, the tractor kept moving forward and into the overhead door. Before I could react I was half way through the 14' door. Amazingly, the only thing injured was my pride and the 14' door. An $800 repair bill was better than a hospital bill. Since then I never carry anything on the tractor that could interfere with the pedals.
I work for a Township in NJ. I drive a Deere 5075E with a Woods 720BB rotary mower. I mow mostly open spaces an retention basins, but also some places where I have to deal with foot traffic. I get a lot of people that will charge right up to me while I’m working. This is much more common since the ‘Rona. Everybody is home and they are just dying to come stop me from working. I haven’t kicked up a rock at anybody yet, but it’s a huge stressor. Earlier this season I had to shut down 77 times while mowing a rails-to-trails. And those were just the times I actually saw them coming! Every chance I get, I try to explain to the residents that it is super dangerous to be within 100’ of me while I’m working. The worst ones are some of the more remote locations where I shouldn’t really have any contact with anyone, so I get focused on my work and BOOM there’s a resident right next to me for who knows what reason. Scares the hell outta me, I tell ya!
I was thinking seatbelt as you were talking. Only issue is rops. If you gave it and it's down. Don't belt up. Rops up belt on!
Mike, the phenomenon of rocks rising to the surface is a fairly well undestood, it is the same phenomenon that makes larger heavier things (like nuts or dried fruits) float to the top of your cereal box. In the cereal box , vibration during transport causes the larger objects to move and this can create a small space below them which is then filled with smaller (cereal) particles, eventually it goes all the way to the top. A similar thing happens in the soil, the rock moves due to vibration or freeze thawing or water and makes a small hole below it which is then filled with smaller soil particles and eventuall the rock reaches the surface. On the subject of thrown objects, I have a hedge flail mower attachment on my compact tractor and on the advice of the dealer I fitted a perspex screen to the back and side of my tractor to protect me from thrown objects.
I use to mow this old lady's lawn and she told me that "flat rocks sink and round rocks rise"! I've never forgotten that and it seems to be true! 😁👨🚒
I’m really fortunate here in southeast Pennsylvania in that the land has been cultivated since before 1750 and generations of farmers have cleaned almost all of the rocks out of the fields.
A similar problem is small rocks being thrown by the belly mower on your lawn tractor. They can take out an eye.
Hi from Queensland Australia... Some people here will run a steel mesh panel attached to the rops to prevent this when running a slasher. .or bush hog as you call them.. PS never drill or weld to a rops .. I use radiator hose clamps to attach it....
Throwing items from cutters are serious.. trust me.. had a rock come out of a ride on mower and hit me in the leg ... Cut me up pretty bad.. glad It was only a small rock and a ride on... Now if I can see some one mowing ... I'm to close... I'm not going to link a picture.. to grafic ..was not nice....
Stay safe y'all
Love from Queensland Australia
Mike, I had a bush hog send a large piece of wood about 250 feet across a road and into my neighbor's yard. Unfortunately it missed their damn mean dog. Maybe next time.
Mike, I can't tell you how many times I have been cutting grass in our old 60 acre peach orchard and hit gravel that came through the back of the tractor above and below the seat. Being "pepper'd" with gravel is no damn fun. I am presently fabricating a heavy, expanded metal screen to clamp onto the ROPS of my new tractor to avoid such "flying objects".
I was pulling a 7ft bush hog brand pull type bush hog behind a little 424 IH. The top of the mower was rusted away in a few places. I was getting stung when hitting Johnson grass. Thought it was up high enough to clear the rocks. Nope. I started hearing the banging and instinctively ducked down and watched two fist sized rocks sail just over my head and glance off the hood of the tractor, leaving dents and scratches behind. Close call. That really was too much mower for the tractor, too, and the front end was light as a feather pulling up much of a hill. Dodged two bullets that week...rocks and a near rare up with no rops. Lesson learned.
I got a tc40 like yours, bought it from a guy in Missouri, he brought it to me here in Louisiana, he fabbed an expanded metal screen in the Rops, when I first saw it I thought it was pretty unnecessary but I've been bush hogging at a hunting lease on more than one occasion and had substantial pieces of wood fly up and hit that screen and you would never think that a piece of wood that size could somehow come up from that bush hog and hit that screen but if that screen had not been there it would have hit my head
Reminds me of when the WVDOH just had received new boon mowers, one of our operators was mowing along one of the main roads in the county. The mower picked up a shock absorber in the weeds throwing it about 200 feet and through the windshield of a new Thunderbird destroying the dash. Luckily no one was in the car. Only one of many mishaps with these boom mowers.
Sent a sprinkler head 50 feet through the Livingroom window, with just a side discharge push mower, back in the late 70's. Didn't notice until I went in the house and saw a hole in the window (tinting held it together). Since then I'm carful of cutting height and safety guards.
I had a small stump part get thrown from the lawn mower and went through window and landed 10’ inside of the house. The piece went 30’ before hitting the window. Glad my wife was not sitting next to the window which was her normal spot to sit at the time.
I mowed right of way for many years for the Illinois Highway Dept. I always wore my seatbelt in case a car would hit the batwing I was pulling I wouldn’t be thrown off and be mowed up by the wing. Also some of the slopes me mowed were more than we should have been on.
I had one a couple months ago come from my rotary brush cutter and hit me in the back while using the cutter on my B2601. It stung pretty bad but didn’t injure me. I’ve seen them thrown hundreds of feet. Had a neighbor’s nephew come up to ask me something while I was mowing once and I yelled at him for ever getting around me let alone behind me when I was mowing my fields.
Good video, and what a near miss for this guy.
I know a man who of all things was the coroner of Fulton county Illinois some years back. He was standing next to his tractor operating a post hole digger and got his long sleeve shirt caught in the auger and you can figure out what happened, other problem is it was sometime before he was found.
Wow! I always put my seat belt on when running a piece of equipment, not sure that would help getting knocked out, but hopefully I won't fall off! Glad he's ok!
While I was spreading manure a rock come out and hit me in the back of my shoulder. From that moment on I ALWAYS wore a hard hat. Also have seen rotary cutters pull roots out of the ground and fling them. Always put safety first. My favorite saying "I like me too well" to let something happen
I have had rocks come out from under my 15’ flex wing rotary cutter several times and they shattered the safety glass on the back of my John Deere 4440 cab. Scared the bajeezes out of me when it happened. Thank goodness for safety glass.
I bet it was one of those new-ish flail mowers that you can swing to the side, the back and even swivel it up vertical.
I have bump caps inside my caps just to help protect my head. Won't stop a large rock but it would reduce it a bit. Helps for limbs, low hanging machinery, etc. Dropping objects, etc.
Glad to hear he's OK! I had a friend climb up on a silage wagon while it was running to kick some crusted silage into the auger and fell in. Unfortunately it was the wrong choice and he's not with us anymore. Like the John Deere moto Safety first never last have a future not a past.
This past spring I was hired to mow what turned out to be a rock field. It toasted the brushog big time a I luckily dodged one that shot forward about 40’. The brushog looks like it has measles and I had to buy a new gearbox shortly thereafter. Gained a healthy respect and am more choosy about what I take on and will walk away from.
we got an old kuhn tedder that will break and throw tines if you run it to close to the ground in rough terrain, its down right scary, especially if you're on a tractor without a cab, she'll throw them 60' or more and they stick in the ground like a javelin, i can go several hundred hours between breaking them but some older members of my family can't hear or see as good as they used to and break several in one day before realizing it which is even more scary
I wonder if the tractor seat kill switch worked you didn't mention that in your video Mike it should have stopped pretty quickly once he existed the seat which opens up a new question how far and where would he have stopped? Had he been using the lap belt!
Regular farm tractors don’t have seat switches.
Ive had something like that happen. was running a rotary hoe through a field without a rock guard and a rock was kicked up, shattered the back glass of my tractors cab, some how still had a enough energy to keep going forward and it cracked the windshield and To add insult to injury all the glass from the back window landed on me. Thankfully it was safety glass so I wasn’t cut up but I have since installed a rock guard of my rotary hoe
I had an instance once using a skid steer to demo concrete driveway. Tires were on smaller chunks of concrete already broken and one goose egg size one shot out from under the tire like a line drive, hitting a vehicle passing by on the street. Hit the car door so hard the window no longer worked. I had people working around me thank God they were not hit. So beware that tires can shoot rocks too.
Thanks for the safety PSA!
Thank you for talking about Safety. By my home there is major Airport. One of the company's hired ( this was all Union job) so work safety was required on job. Anyway a poor guy was clearing brush with a brush Hog attached to Dipper on Excavator instead of Bucket. A piece of something he HIT, fly's into cab. KILLING the poor operator. I have a piece of WOOD I saved from the County side boom MOWER flying into my property over next door Property. It stuck it ground like a spear.
Good video Mike, one tip, if you have your ROPS down dont wear your seatbelt. If the ROPS is up, wear your seatbelt.
Since you’re talking about freak accident we’ll I’ll tell you a good one. Owner of a kioti 7320 only a couple of years old. And for my self I’m a one legged guy, got amputated approximately tree years ago. Last year I was taking off my front bucket. The tractor has a quick attachment system. Me not knowing that my friend parked the tractor and dropped the front loader to the ground and pushed that loader lever to the floating position so when I opened the second lever of the quick attachment the loader fell off the bucket and landed on my good foot. I never expected that loader would slide off that bucket attachment!! I yelled my lung’s out being stuck and prisoner of that loader. Luckily I had my cell phone and called my friend to lift the front loader off my foot. There was no way that I could pull my foot off the underneath. I had many bones broken from my toes and foot. I’m way more careful with all attachment’s. There heavy and dangerous. By the way, I’m from Maniwaki, Quebec Canada and love watching your videos. Your information sure helps me and others being a better and safer tractor owner.
Good job
I'll add a recommendation in the interest of safety. Educate anyone who might have access to an area you might be mowing to be sure the operator is aware of their presence. I mow a 1/2 mile gravel driveway with about 15' of grass on each side. I wear ear plugs and am usually oblivious to a vehicle that might be approaching me from behind. I would take no offense to being honked at so I can stop and allow the vehicle to pass, or otherwise wait until I'm out of the way to proceed.
Another good tip when using your tractor keep your phone in your pocket. Tommy was lucky to walk home.
Perhaps Tommy could make a guard out of expanded metal for the back of the tractor behind him. In case a rock gets through the 2 layers of canvas.
I do not allow anyone near me when I am running the cutting equipment. One of my rotary mowers throws chunks of wood and rocks over 100 feet. I won't mow around the cattle either. If there are cattle near where I am workin g, I will find somewhere else to work.
In around 1978 I was ploughing a field for summer fallow. The plough caught a rock about the size of a fist and launched it back at the tractor. Luckily for me it hit the seat with one hell of a bang. Could have ended real bad for me that day. And put a dent in the seat. There was no cab for any protection.
27 hp tractor 6ft bushog stuck a peace of thin wire like piano wire in the rear tire that's an eye opener glad Tommy is okay
I am sure glad he made it, one of the worst pieces of equipment I own for throwing things is my drum mower, one ant hill and flying stuff goes everywhere. A note on the safety switch, If I just turn my Kubota off it will roll, unless I set the parking brake, That is one bad disadvantage of a hydraulic shuttle, I had a new holland the same way, but it had a parking gear you had to be in, if not away she went . So if his tractor is like mine his safety switch may have shut the engine down but it would not have stopped rolling without the park brake set. This is where you have to know your equipment, and the dealer/salesman needs to tell new owners about this carefully.
A local farmer, Warren McKenzie, was killed while bush hogging back in July. He got off his tractor to open a gate with the blade still spinning. He was run over and the results was an awful mess for the people who had to pick up the pieces. A farmer across from my shop was killed twenty-ish years ago when his shirt was caught in a PTO shaft. Be careful folks. It only takes a second to drastically alter or end a life.
Glad he's ok. Not that it helps for hay, but that's one big reason I prefer a flail over a rotary mower; flails are much less prone to throw stuff at you. It's not zero percent of course, but much lower.
Back when I was a milkman I was driving my step van milk delivery truck down the highway heading for my next town. A farmer mowing the road side with a bush hog hit a concrete right of way marker. The bush hog shot out a chunk of concrete about the size of a fist straight at me at high velocity, adding to that my speed on the highway when approaching him. The concrete hit directly in front of me but just slightly below the windshield gasket. It caved in the steel panel and shattered the safety glass windshield. If the concrete had hit two inches higher it would have went through the windshield and hit me directly in my sternum. The farmer never knew what happened until I stopped him and told him. He did not want to pay for the damage.
Time for someone too start making quick attach safety screens for roll bars on tractors . Keep the Operater area shielded .
Keeping a cell phone on your person would be a good dea as well..
I was mowing a roadside a few years ago and launched a 4 inch diameter rock thru a bedroom window about 50 feet away
We got hit in the back of the head back in August while bush hogging . Lost consciousness for a few minutes but luckily a buddy came up and shut everything down . Please be careful those Ozark rocks will kill ya .
Thrown rocks are no joke with a disc mower. Seen several broken cab windows over the years.
Spreading manure with old 560 Farmall & 5x12 Kelly Ryan manure spreader when I was about 15, on a bitter cold day in February. Going along fine and next think I knew I ate the steering wheel, couldn’t breathe, and felt like I’d been hit with a baseball bat.
Looked down and saw a dead baby pig that somehow the beater flung forward!
An expanded metal screen behind the operator area could help with a bush hog situation. I have a drum mower for my hayfield , but luckily. no rocks in my area.
Glacial till was not kind to us boy did you get that right this o'l rocky hilly Missouri ground somehow yields more more and more rocks every year !!!! 😅
Yes, when I lived down by Fort Wood I used to joke about a bumper crop of rocks each year
@@MrDdaland Maine is no different, I always budget in a new set of blades on my mower because they grow like weeds around here.
This is why flail mowers are worth every extra penny over a rotary cutter. A flail throws things DOWN instead of OUT like a bullet. That's why VDOT uses flails and sickle bars instead of rotary cutters. They don't want to be constantly breaking windows. There are too many stories of people getting seriously hurt or killed and rocks and other debris damaging property.
We’ve lost a couple rear cab windows on a 100+ hp tractor running a 16’ discbine. Not cool.
This did not happen to me, however it was bad. A kid i knew (my freshman year in highschool so it has been more years then i will admit too) was cutting with a tractor in the 40hp range (roughly may have been a bit bigger) on a hill and had a blade brake, sliced threw rear tire and caused the tractor to roll and it rolled a couple times(fairly steep hill) and even with rops and seatbelt on some how still snapped his neck and he did not make it. I still think about that every time i cut my grass as i have some steep hills to cut(all be it not nearly as steep as the one he was cutting)and try to really watch around me, and replace any blade that i question in the slightest. Even knowing that is not a normal situation, and that my tractor has all the safety equipment and i use them i still cant get that out of my mind, to the point if my son or my wife uses the tractor i have drove home the point the seatbelt goes on before the key goes into the tractor, and go over each way to kill the engine multiple times threw the seasons and still will NOT let either of them cut any of the hilly areas of our property. They tell me i am paranoid but i can live with them calling me that, i could NOT live with a freak accident happening to either of them. Maybe i am a little paranoid but i dont want them hurt period.
Should you wear a seatbelt if the tractor doesn't have a ROPS? My first guess would be that it would make a roll over worse??
Oh yeah, he is very lucky just too have leg injury. There is a God looking out for him.
Man I've had my share near misses with them rocks ricocheting off of the trees after getting batted through the bush hog ... I had a rock come out of The hog at high velocity and take my sock head off .. and sent it to some place where I never did find it again (probably Narnia) and there was nothing but clear ground all around me ... not too long ago a guy was bush hogging the ditch lines across the road from me and the wire handle off a 5 gal. bucket flew a hundred yards from where he was at and come down and lassoed my head like I was part of a carnival show game alongside a whack a mole or something ... back in the day my dad was mowing with a little push mower a hundred feet away from me and that thing threw up a big stick and it hit me between the shoulder blades it took my breath away to where I passed out for a bit and I had a big o'l welp over that one
When.I was about 14 I was mowing with massy 135 and a 5 foot 3 point hog. Hit a rock and hit a flint rock and had to have shrapnel dug out the back of my head by my mom. Then back out to finish up.
I always wear my seat belt in my truck. Now, also on the tractor. Thanks.
Maybe some Lexan Polycarbonate sheilds on the tractor, hell even a football helmet . Good to hear he is ok.
I had a friend who was disking and his son was setting on the fender and the fender broke ,he ran over and killed him before he could get the tractor stopped
Had a blade bolt break on a 6 ft bush hog, slung the blade 30 yds hitting a tree. 135 MF felt like it was coming off the ground vibrating so bad before I could stop the PTO. Freak accident like this in Jackson MS killed in a car hit by a broke blade throwed by a state dept mower.
Lexan sheild on ROPS.
By the way the letter sounded the tractor kept going quite a ways after he fell off. So, either it don't have safety switches, they were bypassed, or it was old tractor...and if it was an old tractor, probably don't have a ROPS either, so maybe lucky for him he was knocked off the tractor, IDK, kind of one of those things where it just wasn't time for him to go yet, and no matter what he did it wouldn't have made a difference. I'd imagine the tractor probably ran into something at the end of the field that stalled it, which like I said means no safety equipment or it was bypassed.
My sub-compact tractor has all the safety nanny stuff on it, which is irritating at times but I'm actually happy its there as a novice operator, and from what I understand those switches aren't that expensive to replace either, and need to be checked from time to time for proper adjustment and operation. I'm just surprised my tractor don't have a safety shut off if you get off it while its in gear...its a hydrostatic transmission, so high and low range, even with the brake disengaged you can get on and off the machine without it shutting off, I could only imagine accidently hitting the forward or reverse side of the pedal while entering or exiting the tractor and getting knocked off and ran over....I make sure the parking brake is set, and I always try to just make sure to shut the tractor off before I get off of it.
I was mowing my grass with a Husqvarna mower & I had the grass Shute forced up with a bungee cord , I forgot it was open and a rock shot out And hit my living room window and shattered it. Luckily no one got hurt !
All I can say is Yikes!!!
I got hit in the head by rocks on more than one occasion, fortunately I never got knocked out. I have a cab tractor now and I've had a few hit the windows that sounded like they should have broken them.