Editor’s note: The Farm Progress Show is Aug. 27-29 in Boone, Iowa. Visit FarmProgressShow.com.

When you’re visiting field demonstrations, you will hear safety tips repeated continuously. It’s the key to successful demos every day — every second.

Practicing safety around your own farm is just as important. Does your farm comply with this 17-tip tractor safety checklist? Look and see. They’re proven tips, and you will discover the source, once you work through the checklist.

17 tractor safety tips

Follow these tips to stay safe at all times:

1. Drive at speeds low enough to ensure your safety.

2. Slow down your speed before turning or applying individual brakes. Drive slowly over rough ground. Keep in gear when going downhill.

3. Use extra care when working on a hillside. The tractor may tip if the downside wheel drops into a hole or ditch.

4. The clutch should always be engaged gently, especially when going up a steep hill, in ditches or when hitched to a heavy load.

5. Never hitch your tractor to a stump or similar load, nor take up the slack of a chain with a jerk.

6. Do not get on or off a moving tractor.

7. Do not leave the engine running unattended, even though the clutch is disengaged, while anyone is adjusting or repairing the machine to which the tractor is belted.

8. Inspect the clutch and pulley mechanism frequently. See to it that they are in good condition.

9. Do not “run” a belt off a moving pulley.

10. Never engage the clutch unless you are in a position to disengage it if necessary.

11. Always put the gear-shift lever in neutral when starting the engine or when leaving the tractor with the engine running.

12. Keep a firm grip on the steering wheel at all times when speed is increased.
13. Adjust speed to the condition of the roadbed. Slow down over rough ground to reduce bounce.

14. Avoid sudden stops.

15. Make no adjustments, oiling or repairing while a machine is in motion.

16. Before making repairs on a tractor engine, disconnect spark plug wires

17. In hitching a drawn implement to the tractor, back the tractor past the clevis. Then, inch it forward, so that in making the connection, the tractor will be moving away from you

Epilogue

OK, so do you follow all 17 rules all the time? Nos. 7, 9 and 17 might have given it away. This wasn’t written recently. In fact, it was taken from “Timely Tips for John Deere Tractor Owners.” A copy was mailed to Harold Bill of Buda, Ill., in March 1940. And it cost John Deere a whole 1.5 cents to mail it!

So, yes, it is old advice. But 90% of it still could prevent an accident today — 100% if you operate antique machinery for fun or otherwise. And the final reminder from the pamphlet’s safety section is worth repeating: “An accident never ‘just’ happens. It is always caused by someone’s carelessness, neglect or oversight.”

Enjoy the show, and stay safe!