Formal Training?

[Frankenkubota]

I took 2 semesters of typing in HS.

Two reasons:
1- I was 1 of 2 males in the class.
2- Typing teacher had a white 67 Malibu and I was trying to get her to sell it to me.

End result - no girls and no car. But I did get a skill I have used for 43+ years so far. That's fair, I guess.

funny about typing.

it was 1965? and our school had a visit from a guy from bell labs, a big auditorium type of presentation. meaningless to me then but i do remember 2 things.

1. he turned off the lights and held up what turned out to be a bundle of fiber optic cables and it looked like he had a bunch of flowers, all bright and shiny on the ends. he said we would use the light to communicate...yea right.

2. he told everyone....learn to type, even you tough guys! In the future we will communicate using a keyboard...yea right!

years later i made a good part of my living because of the work of bell labs, thx.

i still can't type but....i can play the piano.....

i lost my thrill, on blueberry Hill!

 

[draku007]

30 years ago there was no youtube and sites such as this one. I defiantly think that kids should be thought farm basics and where their food comes from but if you only had a formal training 30 years ago in HS and you were to operate a machine today I can guarantee you that you will be all over the net looking for resources vs looking for your class notes

 

[Micman]

Went to the school of hard knocks and Life!

 

[RolandW]

Everybody knows that the state cares much more about children than their own parents do. So much more that they suffocate them in school and drive them to suicide.
So yes, put the government in charge of it. What could go wrong?

 

[sunandsand]

For the past couple of years I've been pretty deeply involved in vocational training as a part of business development in this area. Companies need employees who have at least the most basic skills - how to run a fork lift, how to type, how to back up a trailer, often how to drive stick shift. Fortunately our local community college has some very good vocational programs (HVAC, auto shop, auto body, CNC machining and a lot more) partly because of my incessant lobbying in behalf of the city and with the assistance of the local manufacturer's association.

Most of the high school level vocational courses disappeared because a) they couldn't find anyone to teach them, and b) insurance became prohibitive. Hi insurance company, I'd like you to cover a 14 year old kid learning to use an oxy-acetylene cutting torch . . . right. School board says can't get insurance, cancel the class.

When I got my Kubota, I looked around for courses on how to run it safely and skillfully. Basically nothing available here. I did find an online course about how not to get killed (probably) but it was rather skimpy and didn't address how to run the tractor WELL.

I'm learning . . . my best resource is this site, TBN. Asking a question gets useful answers from people who have been doing this a LOT longer than I have or ever will. There are some resources on YouTube but I don't like using that because it locks up my computer and tries to sell me stuff. And of course, I read the manuals.

One thing I've learned in 60+ years of fooling around with all kinds of machinery is this - the moment you say to yourself "Man, I've got this **** whipped!" right then is when it turns around and bites you.

What I'd REALLY like to see is a proper book covering both tractor safety and how to properly and safely use the various implements. It should be spiral bound so it will stay open to the page you are referring to. The print should be a decent, readable size. There should be no jargon, and a couple of pages of definitions. A few more pages (for newbies like me) should have pictures "This is a (whatever) and here is how you use it."

Maybe we should make this a collaborative effort? Collectively, we certainly have the knowledge, we just need to collect it and distill it.

Best Regards,

Mike/Florida

 

[alanb21]

I live in Southeastern Massachusetts where we actually have an agricultural technical high school complete with tractor mechanics shop. Not too bad for New England.
Alan

 

[Tractorbub]

YouTube has a few 'how to' videos on tractor operation

 

[gckshea]

Ditto /pine's comment. I'd liken the license as a cash grab by some agency in the State government, akin to the cash grab to have a boater's license, all obtainable online in Oregon. It's a joke. I'd question the actual training, since machine operation does differ in the equipment used, the terrain, the condition of the piece of equipment, weather, attachments/implements, ballast/no ballast, etc. A nice idea, but really a cash cow for a licensing bureau made up for just that....to be a bureau.

 

[Bentrim]

Somewhere in the late 50's dad set me on the seat of an 8N Ford an told me to just hold the steering wheel straight, while he picked up bales and put them on the wagon as someone else stacked them. Don't remember if I could reach the pedals or not but I doubt it. He would take over at the ends and turn the rig around. A few years later I was plowing, disking, mowing, and cultivating corn among other jobs on a JD 520, occasionally I got to run the 70D. Fast forward to abt 1967 and I worked at a dealer that the owner found out why combines weren't demonstrated, he had to buy it. So he put it to work cutting custom work. At 16 I was operating a MM 2890 combine. Yep moving down the road, cutting hills and all that it took to get the job done. Here in south eastern Pa some hills can get steep. Back then drivers had a lot more common sense than they do now as most would pull over to leave you by. I must admit that as a youngster I used to read the equipment operators manuals, really enjoyed the safety cartoons JD put in the manuals. Even as I was employed as a farm equipment mechanic I was always thinking about safety and how not to get hurt. Guess dad watched over me for a few years and taught safety. Now working with small engine I see some folks that should never operate equipment especially chain saws as they don't know how to use them and are very dangerous operating them. The best we can do is as the watch commander on Hill Street Blues used to say, "Be careful out there"

 

[keljan11]

When I was about 8, my dad bought an old D2 Caterpillar with a dozer blade. When I was able to start it with the crank start (he showed me how not to break an arm from a kick-back), I was considered old enough to start, and plow the snow on our steep driveway. It had the lever clutch steering. At 16, worked at a packing house, where the foreman said to jump on the oldest forklift, drive it around a bit, then start moving pallet stacks around. At 18, I learned how to operate a 12 ton mobile crane. Boss told me to hook onto a vessel out in the bone yard. After lifting the rear tires off the ground a few times, I figured out the boom would raise up. I was now a crane operator. At 64 yrs old, I've since learned that Pucker sense is a great teaching tool, but you got to be lucky enough to sense it before it's too late. There have been way too many deaths and injuries from doing it old school.
Be safe out there guys