Was on my way home today and saw a Case IH 4 wheel drive tractor with a big cultivator parked close to the road. There was a truck there too with orange flashing lights. Looked like the driver was just starting the field. Driving past it I saw why it was stopped. It looks like the driver snagged a power pole as it was laying on the ground. I've often marveled at how close farmers can get to fences and poles without hitting them when pulling wide implements. Not this time. What's weird is this was in the middle of the field and cultivating hadn't really started. I think maybe the driver was cultivating the field at an angle and when he turned he forgot about and/or didn't leave enough room to miss the power pole.
Big oops indeed! It is pretty incredible how close those guys get to things. I'm still a foot away from everything with the mower deck behind the tractor and it's right there behind me and I'm pretty sure the left wheel is out further than the deck...
Pulling a wide implement behind a tractor is some how different than a mower i cant explain it but i can do it. Its like a wind mill blade the tip is traveling or covering more distance than the hub . This being said the hub is the pole and the tractor is the blade. It seems like when you have to make a turn or maneuver around something the far end of the implement slows down giving me or other not so swift tractor herders appear to have the same abilities as a TopGun fighter pilot.
GPS guided tractor? Takes away the operators attention span...
Well, it happens. We've had a few instances with overhead lines or utility poles during farming operations. I've never hit one, but a couple guys that worked for us did. One guy did it in the same field in back to back years of spring tillage. Both time he caught the cultupacker that was being pulled behind the cultivator. The packer is 2 ft wider and another 15 ft behind the cultivator. Another time, the grain discharge auger on our grain cart snagged an extra low, sagging cable line. By the time the operator realized it, he had snapped off both poles on either side of him. As for plowing around them, most farm operations (tillage, planting, harvesting) occur at 5mph or slower. So, you're moving slow, and you have time to clutch and grab the brakes before actually colliding. All that said, once you do it a couple times, it's pretty easy to get right tight to them without hitting them. Spraying or mowing operations happen much faster and have a higher rate of incidents. Most sprayers have break away tips on the booms that can recover from striking an object at speed. Mowers don't fair well when striking objects at speed.
Could he have snagged the guy wire? That is a much easier way to topple a pole. For those who don't know. If your equipment contacts a power line, stay in the equipment if it is safe. (like not on fire). If you must leave the equipment, do not climb down to the ground. You must jump clear so you are not in contact with both the implement and the ground at the same time. Once you are on the ground, shuffle until you are some distance away, say 3 yards per rib on the insulators for the wire. Keep your feet as close to together as possible.
We have hydraulic high light tail gates on our silage trucks. We had an older gentleman driving truck for us that forgot to put his tailgate down when leaving the farm. He ripped down a service line to one of the farm houses. He shut the truck off, called my grandpa to tell him what happened, and then just stayed put until power company arrived to shut down line. Richard did this twice in his time driving for us. He was no longer asked to operate equipment on the farm after the second time.
It's not nearly as extreme but to Colson's point of slamming on the brakes I had recently moved 2 big culvert pipes in my yard so I could mow under them. My wife had a collection of rocks setting on one of the pipes, and they fell off when I moved the pipes. It was a week or two until I went out to mow, so I forgot about them and the grass was high back there, so I didn't see them until the tractor tires rolled over them, so I slammed on the brakes and didn't hit them with the mower. Then about a minute later while I was in the same little spot I noticed my foot getting soaked when the power steering hose sprung a leak. terex- Man, I've heard about equipment getting energized in that sort of situation. It would really suck to be all freaked out by hitting a pole or wire, not thinking about it, and getting out to look at the damage, only to be shocked all to ****. Yikes. I know when I screw up I give myself a hard time and if it's not immediately apparent what happened I'm getting out to look.
At the place i did work we were around the corner of a building and one of the guys drove by in a f450 that had a flat bed and crane . He had lifted something and left the crane up . It went through my mind about the power lines out front of the building he was headed for but then i thought he has worked here over 10 years he knows they are there. About the time i had thought it over i heard the cracking and other sound of high voltage jumping around. I ran around there and there was no one in the truck the driver was standing out in front of it . I had saw him driving the truck i though who was driving i was so stunned by him jumping out . Then before i could say any thing like a jack rabbit he was back in the truck? I then told him do not get out agin . I tryed to think of a way to threaten him so he would stay in the cab but what could you say to some one like him that would scare him?He stayed in the cab tell the guys came to shut the power off.
Pretty hard to jump back in a vehicle without touching it. Sounds like the guy got lucky he didn't ground out the wires. If he was out of the truck already why would he get back in it? Doesn't make sense.
Decades ago when Consumers put their poles in, they put them 100' off the road, out in the fields. No big deal using horses or deere "b"s to work ground..... Today with 40' (and more) equipment, its a major pita for farmers. Consumers asked a farmer friend for an easment, new 3 phase feed line, yup, out in the field 100'. Tom politely told them the poles were going next to the roadside ditch...lmao. Ed
It didnt make sense i was kind of in shock. I guess you would have to know this guy. From seeing stuff and reading i fill like it has been drilled into me not to leave the vehical if it comes into contact with power lines. He ask us about backing the truck up i didnt know what to say but there was 2 volunteer fire men there and they told him not to.
Consumers actually moved a powerline out of one of our fields this summer, without us having to pay for it. Same field we snagged the cable line with the grain cart about 14 years ago. They ran all new poles and wire in the ditch along the road during the summer, and then they are waiting for this winter, after harvest, to come in and remove all the old line and poles. We got a notice last spring about the project and their expected timelines. Kind of weird, but this property has two different power companies lines going across it. Consumers has a 3 phase distribution line running east to west along the road, and Great Lakes has a 3 phase transmission line running north-south about mid point in the field. Makes for a lot of poles to work around in a quarter section field.
Years ago they moved a line going across our property. I went out there and talked to them while they took down the wire. I ask when will they pull the poles they didnt know. I walked to the house got my winch truck and as soon as they were far enough away i started to pull a pole one of the guys said dont get hurt. They pulled easy.
Turning and the "arc" of the implements can be a factor. If using an implement for first time of season, you might forget the offset, turning arc, or height. Of course, always good to slow around power poles.
It's real easy to miss a wire in the air when running equipment and swinging around it 1000 times. The only line i've ever contacted was a overhead cable line to a house, just snagged it and tore the stretcher thing.