Little Tradition

This is my son's puller. He is 7 yrs old and gonna start pulling this year. I justed finished the sheetmetal work. Now gotta get some paint on it.

My heart says that I love to see youthful enthusiasm for the sport. I try to do my part here in our parts to promote it to kids when I get the chance. It�s a great family sport for all generations, and a great way to keep the machines that we love to see in action away from the scrap yard.

On the other hand, my head says that a kid at the age of 7 probably shouldn't be pulling a garden tractor let alone a 2500 pound(or better?) farm tractor. In about an hour of google research, I�m guessing you could find a few dozen articles and research projects that would conclude that this age/machine combination has major potential for a serious accident.

I think the minimum age I've seen on pulling in our area is around 12, which in my opinion is probably okay for stock garden tractors, but still a little young for farm tractors. As an ag teacher, I run a farm tractor and machinery safety course for our FFA in cooperation with our local antique tractor club, and there is a lot of information out there about age appropriateness of chores and farm related tasks. Kids must be 14 in order to receive the certificate(if they pass the course), and our club has made 14(with a certificate) the youngest you can drive in a parade or pull. Without the certificate, they must be 16. I also know that our club has had some serious safety concerns with some of our rules outside of age limitations, so I'm not trying to say that our club is 100% safety conscious with all of the rules(although I think we've made some serious progress this year in that regard).

I'm not trying to be a party-pooper, nor am I trying to condemn you or your family for trying to get the kid excited about the sport. In addition to teaching I also run an 80-cow dairy farm, so I know all about trying to keep the kids involved and excited about ag at an early age. Just be careful in what you're considering - a kid will never turn down the opportunity to do what the big people are doing, but sometimes the big people need to be able to tell the kid what they're ready to handle. I'd hate to read an obituary or accident report on here about a kid who should have been trying to learn about the sport from the bleachers instead of the drivers seat.

Take care, and good luck with whatever you decide.

PS. Nice looking machine!

I took time to type up the reply I did because I have a brother who almost lost his leg in what could be called a "freak" silo accident when he was in 8th grade in a place he shouldn't have been - even though he was there dozens of times before without incident. At the time he was the fastest kid in his class, threw an 80 mph fast ball(yes - in 8th grade), and was the leading receiver/rusher on the football team. In 2 seconds all of that potential was shot down the tubes. He's had over 15 surgeries on his leg, and has another one coming up in the next month or two. That accident was 15 years ago, and it changed his life(and the rest of the family's) to this day. I don't teach the safety course that I do because I'm made to do so from someone in government - I do it voluntarily out of an obligation I feel to my community. And I do it because I feel that someone in my position as a teacher has the responsability to do what they can to try to educate people(kids especially) to do things as safely as possible.

I've done things in the past that I know were not safe, and I'll do things in the future that I know aren't safe. My intention wasn't to come across as as a safety officer of some sort - just sharing my thoughts for what they were worth.

Again - please accept my appologies if you felt I was somehow trying to tell the other gentleman how to raise his kid. Not my intentions at all - just trying to persuade him to think about it one more time before making that decision.

Take care.