Many Iowa farmers are firing up their tractors for the first time this spring, and one expert suggests before you plant the first seed, make sure your equipment, your body, and your mind are ready for the season ahead.
Dr. Kimberly Lansing, a family medicine physician with Gundersen Health System, says do a thorough check of your heavy equipment to make sure it’s safe to operate after sitting dormant for the winter.
Dr. Kimberly Lansing (Gundersen photo)
“Even if you checked it in the fall, you want to make sure that some family of raccoons didn’t move into your machine shed and rearrange your hydraulics,” Dr. Lansing says. “So, going over everything right before you get out in the field, making sure your finisher’s ready to go, and your equipment’s all functional is probably one of the most important things.”
Farming ranks as one of the nation’s most dangerous professions, and Lansing says all tractors should have rollover protection systems, as many farmers who have to be rushed to the emergency room had an accident with a tractor.
“Typically, equipment-related injuries, equipment, motor vehicles, including ATVs, tractors and motor vehicles are among the largest things that bring people in,” Lansing says. “We see the most injuries in these areas between April and September, which of course, corresponds to the time when most farmers are out in the field and active.”
Farming can be a very strenuous profession, placing extreme demands on the body. “Of course, you want to have yourself in as good a condition as you keep your equipment,” she says. “So, making sure you do get adequate sleep, because if you’re sleepy behind the wheel, bad things happen. Also, making sure you’re in condition to do what you’re doing. People that work on farms may have other health problems, and you need to be really careful and cautious about what your own limitations are.”
Farmers are considered the toughest of the tough, but Lansing says if you’re having a physical problem, don’t shrug it off for later, as there may not be a later.
“You definitely should not ignore warning signs just because you’re busy. I literally once had somebody who said they were calving and couldn’t come in with chest pain and they got in and they were having an active heart attack,” Lansing says. “Fortunately, he survived but your own health and being there for your family is more important.”
Studies find that farmers are one of Iowa’s most vulnerable populations for mental health struggles, and rural suicide deaths are two times higher than the state’s city and metro areas. Lansing encourages farmers to look after one another.
“Farmers are very observant because they need to be in order to keep their farms running,” she says. “You’ve got to look for that animal that’s starting to look sick, or, ‘Oh, the weather’s going to do this,’ but being somebody who will go out and grab an extra cup of coffee and bring it to their neighbor and say, ‘Hey, how’s it going?’ Just checking in with them and seeing how they’re doing is probably a nice first step.”
Gundersen Health System has clinics in Calmar, Decorah, Fayette, Lansing, Postville and Waukon, and a hospital in West Union.