Caleb Orebaugh steered his slow-moving John Deere 4320 straight down the familiar hillside when, suddenly, he felt the weight of the mower start pushing his tractor forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt was during a drought and the ground was dry and hard,\u201d Orebaugh said. \u201cI started sliding and I pushed the brakes, but I didn\u2019t have any traction and kept sliding sideways.\u201d Orebaugh was losing control.\u00a0\u201cWhen the mower\u2019s tongue caught the rear tire I just hung on.\u201d\u00a0Time seemed to slow down as he gripped the steering wheel. The tractor rolled onto its side, stopping when the rollover protection structure (ROPS) hit the ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ROPS! Orebaugh, 34, had installed it just a few months before the July 2020 incident, becoming the first reported participant in the Wisconsin Rollover Protection Structure (ROPS) Rebate Program to survive a tractor overturn with a ROPS installed through the program.\u00a0\u201cI bruised my elbow when it hit the inside of the (sun) canopy, and that was about it,\u201d Orebaugh said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
National data suggest that 1 of every 10 tractor operators overturns a tractor in his or her lifetime. Tractors are the leading cause of death on U.S. farms; the most frequent cause of tractor-related deaths are overturns, nearly 100 per year. Approximately half of U.S. tractors do not have rollover protection.\u00a0A ROPS is designed to create a protective zone around the operator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A ROPS, when used with a seatbelt, is 99 percent effective in preventing serious injury or death in the event of an overturn. Even when used without a buckled seatbelt, as was the case with Orebaugh, a ROPS is 70 percent effective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Orebaugh\u2019s father, Allan, heard about the Wisconsin ROPS Rebate Program on the radio. The rebate program, started in 2013 by the National Farm Medicine Center, Marshfield Clinic Research Institute, was offering rebates of up to $865 toward the cost of purchasing and installing a ROPS. (The National Farm Medicine Center has since made the program more cost-effective by limiting out-of-pocket retrofit expenses to $500, no matter the cost of the retrofit.) All Wisconsin farmers are eligible. The program is funded through philanthropic support from the Auction of Champions and other generous donors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen Caleb called me and told me he\u2019d rolled the tractor, I remember feeling very relieved that six months earlier we put that rollover bar on there,\u201d Allan said. \u201cWe had farmed that land for two or three years without one.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Orebaughs grow about 100 acres of hay and other crops, and raise a few beef cattle. Both work off the farm. This part of Southwest Wisconsin features steep, rolling hillsides, rocky outcrops and deeply carved river valleys, features that escaped the flattening effects of glaciation during the last ice age.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But it wasn\u2019t the hazardous topography that motivated Allan and Caleb. The ROPS retrofit grew out of a simple desire for sun protection.\u00a0\u201cWe had talked about getting an umbrella,\u201d Caleb said. \u201cBut then we thought, \u2018no, it would just get snagged on the trees and wrecked,\u2019 so we thought we might as well look for a ROPS with a canopy.\u201d\u00a0\u201cAnd sure enough,\u201d said Allan, thinking about what might have been.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe funny thing is,\u201d Caleb said, \u201cthat\u2019s not even the steepest part of the farm. I\u2019d always thought if I had a rollover it would be somewhere else on the property, not where it happened.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ROPS came from Iron Bull Manufacturing in Indiana, a couple hours west of where the Orebaughs used to farm near Muncie, Ind. Caleb was 14 when Allan moved the family from the flat land of the Hoosier State to the Holmen area.\u00a0Caleb, a former mechanic, put the ROPS on himself. He rented workspace at the local John Deere implement dealer to do the job, a dealer where had worked for a dozen years. He now works at the nearby John Deere construction equipment dealer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Did the ROPS save his life?\u00a0\u201cI can\u2019t say for sure, but the roll bar definitely stopped it from rolling further.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Unknown to Caleb, a spectator watched as he dusted himself off from the rollover.\u00a0\u201cOne of the neighbors called her mom and said, \u2018I think they just rolled a tractor out here,\u2019\u201d said Allan, relaying a conversation the neighbor had shared with him. \u201c\u2018Is he OK? Yeah I guess so, he is walking away from it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A shaken Caleb made his way downhill to the farm house, where Allan lives, and called Allan at his place of employment.\u00a0\u201cI can\u2019t even remember what I was thinking,\u201d Allan said of the call from Caleb. \u201cYou\u2019re just trying to figure out what to do first.\u201d\u00a0Once he realized his son was OK, the men\u2019s thoughts turned to the functionality of their only tractor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe used the skid steer and a jack, and got a neighbor\u2019s tractor and dragged the haybine out of the way and called a tow truck to roll the tractor back upright.\u201d Caleb said.\u00a0One of the rear tires had gone flat so they dragged the tractor down to their workshop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI felt lucky that I wasn\u2019t under the tractor, and also lucky that I didn\u2019t completely destroy it,\u201d Caleb said. \u201cThere wasn\u2019t anything major wrong with it. Snapped the PTO shaft off the tractor, bent the outer PTO shaft on the haybine, had to straighten the exhaust, and put a new sun canopy on. We were able to do all the work ourselves, other than the rear tire.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A ROPS normally limits the degree of rollover, thereby reducing damage to the tractor, say engineers. Another reason to retrofit.\u00a0Caleb waited to tell his wife, Kara, after she got home from work. She took the news in stride, Caleb said, but thinking about his family, he said that he now buckles his seat belt if he is on the \u201csteeper stuff.\u201d The couple has two children, Emilea 6, and Ian, 2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rollovers can happen on flat ground, too.\u00a0<\/strong>Farms don\u2019t have to be hilly for rollovers to occur, say researchers. It is possible to tip any tractor on flat ground if the turn is short enough and the speed is high enough. Additionally, operators must be alert for ditches, embankments, holes and ramps. Banks of ditches can give way if the tractor is driven too close to the edge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Most overturns involve the tractor rolling on its side, however tractors also roll over backwards. This can occur when trying to pull out a tree stump, or a piece of equipment stuck in mud. Hitching too high can result in backward tips. For each tractor, consult the operator\u2019s manual for acceptable hitch points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n ROPS are engineered to mount on specific tractor models and designed to operate with the tractor\u2019s mounting brackets and frame. This provides a structure that is flexible, yet rigid enough to withstand the loads produced during a tractor overturn. Prototype ROPS must pass engineered, crush, static, and dynamic tests to assure adequate performance before they are produced for the public. These prototype ROPS must meet the standards set by the Society of Automotive Engineers and\u00a0the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If a tractor with a ROPS does overturn, the ROPS should be replaced because it is specifically designed to bend to absorb the energy generated by the tractor contacting the ground, engineers say. ROPS are designed and certified to withstand just a single overturn,\u00a0Orebaugh said he is considering replacing his ROPS with another ROPS from the rebate program.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Make the call, if you, your family or hired help operates a tractor without rollover protection, make the call today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To check on retrofit options for your particular tractor, go to the National ROPS Rebate Program website,\u00a0https:\/\/www.ropsr4u.org\/<\/a>. If you are a Wisconsin farmer, click on Wisconsin, or call 1-877-767-7748. Not all states have rebate funds available. When available, funds are applied toward the purchase, shipping and professional installation of the ROPS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe process went smoother than I thought,\u201d said Caleb Orebaugh.\u00a0Smoother than a ROPS-less overturn.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"