Posted on 10/07/2011 11:44:25 AM PDT by prairiebreeze
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.. Labor Dept. announced proposal that would help ensure the safety of youth on farms. But,...as farm advocates claim (they) are far too restrictive.
“Here’s what the government thinks is common sense,” says Craig Anderson, Agriculture Labor and Safety Services division manager at the Michigan Farm Bureau. “Eliminate work to protect workers. If you don’t work, you can’t be hurt on the job. Who can argue with that?”
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“The DOL assumes that youth under age 16 lack the ‘cognitive ability’ to herd animals on horseback, use battery-powered drills, put hay bales on a bale elevator or use any equipment except if powered by hand or foot.”
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The grandparents own the land, their children are buying into the farm and may have some land on their own, and the grandchildren are working to understand what it takes to be a farmer. If the parents and grandparents operate the farm, the grandchildren under 16 would be prohibited from working on the operation."
"Don't let the spin fool you," Anderson says. "They'll say there's nothing for farm families to worry about because there is an exemption for children working on their parents' farm. The DOL proposal says it will maintain the family exemption, but later limits the exemption for any business or multi-generation farm."
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The document would seem to eliminate working with 4-H and FFA animals, or proper care and well-being of animals. DOL says youth would be “prohibited from engaging, or assisting in…treating sick or injured animals.”
Youth also would not be allowed, under the proposal, to cut and separate cattle from a herd if riding a horse. Such restrictions and inconsistencies are why Anderson and other Michigan Farm Bureau officials are pleading with farmers to submit comments to the DOL before Nov. 1.
(Excerpt) Read more at cattlenetwork.com ...
My husband started driving a tractor and farm truck when he was 6. Yes...six. He started working off of his dad’s farm, for farmers with more land, when he was 12.
He put himself through college, undergrad and grad school largely through what he made working out on farms.
I also grew up on a farm. Helped in many aspects, including livestock. I never got hurt and learned just how much it takes to make a farm operational.
Thanks everybody for the comments. Please read and send your comments to the DOL if you can.
Wickard v. Filburn (1942), a SCOTUS decision under FDR, and one of the first large steps toward communism in America.
Not sure comments will do any good, but I'll do it. Plus contract my congress critter, who is a family farmer himself.
subliminal message
My almost 3 year old granddaughter helps me feed livestock, work my beehives, and work in the garden. Start ‘em early and they develop the love of farm and work early. :)
I have those words from the Declaration printed out in a red, white and blue design and it hangs on the front of my fridge.
I suppose if a steer kicks the shin of a youngster and you take him to the doctor to have it checked, the doctor will then have to report it.
As for who is going to know if farm kids are working....probably the same people who will enforce dust rules making it a crime to drive down a dirt road.
Thanks for your comments and calls.
“Maybe that is their goal.”
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It could be and maybe water will keep flowing down hill and maybe the Sun will still set in the West. What I am trying to say is that you have an unneeded word in that sentence.
I started walking behind a plow pulled by a draft horse when I was still in grade school, no more than ten years old. My mother told us how her father who died before I was born was nearly killed once by a bull he owned, this happened before mother’s birth. Her oldest brother, who was born in 1899 got the bull away from his father with a pitchfork before the bull could kill my grandfather. That uncle was fourteen or fifteen when he did that. Under these proposed rules he would not be allowed to operate the pitchfork.
Excellent.
BTW... every time I look at your profile I admire that pic in the wheat field. I have never lived near wheat fields, but I find them to be beautiful. I have no idea why.
When we travel, especially the trips we’ve made on our Harley, I can’t get the smile off of my face when we pass by them. Go figure. LOL
O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
Wheat is also very pretty when it is still green. I'll put one of those on my profile as soon as I have time to find it.
Thank you for your kind words!
I will look forward to that pic. Yes, it looks best in the wind.
My wife was born and raised in Kansas, so she appreciates wheat fields, but I am a mountain, tall trees and saltwater kinda guy, so it’s a mystery as to why I like the stuff so much..... I think it’s because it’s “country”.
While on vacation this year, we had hoped to pass by a wheat field, but because of Obama’s economy and the market, we changed our plans at the last minute, so it just wasn’t meant to be. I wanted to see if the farmer might let us pick some (buy or give) to use for decorative items in our Airstream trailer.
I am a 50’s and earlier memorabilia kind of guy, but I thought a few wheat items would go well with what I have, as well as with the style of the Airstream.
Perhaps next year.....
The Bamster wants more and more children to be raised the way he was. . . pitied, few to no expectations, coddled, spoiled.
You know. . .the way MOST middle class suburban “children of divorce” are raised by their “single” mommies; that is popping ADHD meds, afraid of their own shadow, downing the fast food, failing school, doing drugs, petty crimes and watching vid games in mommy’s basement apartment well into their late twenties.
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