On the road

[Ouachita]

Let's see: Driving an off road 4 wheeler on a highway, illegal. He probably didn't have a helmet. Illegal in most sates. Minor kid with no license driving a 4 wheeler illegally on a highway- illegal. Neither child with a helmet, child endangerment, illegal. That dude could be looking at jail time and possible DFCA intervention on behalf of the kids.

Most cities with sidewalks have a no-bicycle on sidewalk rule. Some don't. So the "city parents" may be in violation of an ordinance. Non -criminal citation.

Which kid is better off?!!! Gotta go with the "city kid" on this one.

The laws are different here in Arkansas. I'm not aware of an age limit or helmet law.
We can legally operate ATVs on state highways if we are within 3 miles from our residence, or farm/ranch interest.
There is an ordinance that prohibits operating a vehicle in city limits which makes sense to me, however it's not uncommon to see them.

Having said that, just a few years ago, Arkansas was number one in ATV deaths. Not picking on a state here, but most of those deaths were young adults from Texas and Louisiana enjoying our local ATV trails. They come here from relatively flat land and have issues negotiating the topography. Most of them were wearing helmets but the tree didn't care.

 

[Dave]

I have no idea what the law is here regarding helmets or riding on the road. I do know how it is enforced. If you are from here, own a ranch, and aren't murdering someone ...... carry on. My feed truck which rarely goes down the road but does on occasions has 2017 Washington state license. B's little Jeep Cherokee that is his calving rig has well expired out of state plates. Never leaves the area but is on the road daily during calving season. L's little old SUV calving rig has 2018 Washington plates. His wife was a 911 operator. A deputy described the rig to her and told her he had seen it around here. She told him that is our rig. Deputy said, oh OK. Nothing more was said.

 

[greybeard]

Both the 'city younguns' across the street from me are attending Sam Houston State for veterinary programs, specifically large animal. Neither spent a day on a farm anywhere, and probably never rode a 4 wheeler but they'll do ok regardless and probably make way more $$ than I ever did with cows...

 

[Ouachita]

It seems that city kids have more opportunities available to them, for obvious reasons. That is awesome.
Country kids have tremendous opportunity as well, and seem to mostly follow along with the family tradition. That's awesome too. We need lots of both.
I am of the latter batch.

 

[Ouachita]

That was hilarious. I didn't know the YouTube would post the Catholic smooch! Too funny.
Okay, calm down.

 

[Dave]

The one I see is country kids learn to work at an early age. City kids have very few if any chores to do. I know several 40 somethings year olds who work in physical jobs who say it is next to impossible to find a 20 year old who is willing to work hard.

 

[wbvs58]

My Grandson is from the city but he does like visiting his dear old Grandad on the farm. He is 20 now, he came up here on the weekend and while I was busy selling bulls he had the front wheel of my Isuzu truck and the brakes pulled apart ready for us to put in some new wheel cylinders and replace the inner grease seal. He is a yacht rigger and mad keen sailor but he still likes to come up here and work with me. Cattle are not his thing but anything else he likes doing and is very handy mechanically. He attributes all his mechanical skills to me. I have always pointed him in the right direction but then let him loose to do things himself. He appreciates the fact that I can still problem solve and get things done compared to his other grandfather who seems to have put the cue in the rack. His boss at work rates him highly because of his skills and his ability to problem solve all from helping out on the farm.

Ken

 

[Ouachita]

Some of us just bloom where we're planted. That's normal. Some have wonder lust. That's normal too. Sometimes we must juggle.

Seems appropriate.

 

[Davemk]

Rural farm and ranch life is such a good experience for children. If they are around their parents working from an early age and brought in on the work then they can learn many valuable skills, and also indirectly life lessons, work ethic and drive.
There are real dangers, but teaching them that and actually disciplining children instead of making excuses goes a long way in teaching responsibility.
The majority of children today are raised in town in front of a tv, phone or some kind of electronic gadget. They pretty much only learn from school and that's woefully lacking on so many levels.
I'd say 18-20 year olds today are less mature and responsible in some ways than 12 year olds 60 or so many years ago.

There are days my 3(13,15,17) hate life. It will be worth it in the end.

 

[Little Joe]

I'm a little discrimatory against city folks, but have discovered we need them so we can continue to be who we are. Right now my beef business is small but as I expand I will rely on those city folks to be my customers. I want them to romanticize the country farm life and admire what we do, but not enough that they want to do it themselves.

 

[Little Joe]

This song seems fitting

 

[Caustic Burno]

Yeah, but did you drag it home all by yourself with rifle on your shoulder or in your arms? That's what really makes a boy a man...you got to get your kill home.

Nope I went I got my dad.
I wasn't able to get one out of the woods by myself until I was 11, then I would go get my horse.

 

[Redgully]

This is how i got my first lessons, dad tied a rope around our waist and in we went, he'd drag us out if we got in trouble.

 

[Ky hills]

There are days my 3(13,15,17) hate life. It will be worth it in the end.

They will probably look back years from now and remember it In a good light.

 

[Nick Wagner]

My guess would be it wasn't her first time on the quad. And the first times would have been in low gear out in an open flat pasture. Same girl has been roping calves at brandings on a full size horse for 2 years now. Kids around here start doing that at 7 or so. At first everything stops and everyone is watching out for them. By the time they are 9 or 10 they are just part of the crew.

That's how I was raised too, got to drive dad's brand new John Deere working ground at five years old, but wasn't much chance of rolling it over at 4 MPH. Years later I rolled grandpa's 560 Farmall when I swerved to miss a car, had a doctor in the emergency room tell me it was a miracle I was alive, but I couldn't move my legs. Wasn't my first time on the road either. A difference of 20 MPH makes a tremendous difference in stability and safety, a fact I am reminded of every day. I recovered, but there are days my hip really talks to me. Stay safe everyone.

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

I have a family friend who lost their 11 year old child to a traumatic brain injury sustained from flopping an ATV over while moving some cows. He had been riding a fullsize ATV since around 6 so he wasn't un-familiar. A child doesn't have the strength to hold the bars back if one tire hits something (heck as a 225lb adult male I sometimes get the bars jerked from my hands).

To this day the father hasn't forgiven himself for not making the kid wear a helmet. He ended up selling his farm because he just didn't want to see the spot his son died daily. No parents wants to lift an ATV off their deceased child.

So while it may not be "manly" or "tough" to wear helmets myself and my 2 boys always wear them.

 

[CowboyRam]

I have a family friend who lost their 11 year old child to a traumatic brain injury sustained from flopping an ATV over while moving some cows. He had been riding a fullsize ATV since around 6 so he wasn't un-familiar. A child doesn't have the strength to hold the bars back if one tire hits something (heck as a 225lb adult male I sometimes get the bars jerked from my hands).

To this day the father hasn't forgiven himself for not making the kid wear a helmet. He ended up selling his farm because he just didn't want to see the spot his son died daily. No parents wants to lift an ATV off their deceased child.

So while it may not be "manly" or "tough" to wear helmets myself and my 2 boys always wear them.

I vouch for not taking much to flip them things; I flipped our this summer, and had a friend lose a front wheel on his, that almost killed him. He broke his collerbone and all his ribs on one side. Luckily he didn't have any internal injuries; he laid out for several hours before they flew him to Casper.

 

[Dave]

I have a family friend who lost their 11 year old child to a traumatic brain injury sustained from flopping an ATV over while moving some cows. He had been riding a fullsize ATV since around 6 so he wasn't un-familiar. A child doesn't have the strength to hold the bars back if one tire hits something (heck as a 225lb adult male I sometimes get the bars jerked from my hands).

To this day the father hasn't forgiven himself for not making the kid wear a helmet. He ended up selling his farm because he just didn't want to see the spot his son died daily. No parents wants to lift an ATV off their deceased child.

So while it may not be "manly" or "tough" to wear helmets myself and my 2 boys always wear them.

Moving cows on a quad with dogs is just like moving them horseback. How slow can you go. The dogs do the work. You just follow along. I don't care if you are on a quad, a horse, or on foot, I tell people John Wayne doesn't work here. If you are running a quad fast enough to roll it over you are going way too fast.

 

[moses388]

No horses or working dogs here. I walk when moving cattle. I do have a feed pail, but it's not enough to coax cattle into the chute.

 

[Peace]

I make no claims to being the youngest, first, whatever. But I was skinning my brother's muskrats at 13 when he got his shoulder dislocated and couldn't do them (he was 11 and had his first "trap line") . We lived in the rural suburbs.... I was babysitting for money at 12, I had experience from 2 younger brothers and a little sister... no fancy baby sitting course.. but there was always an adult a phone call away if there was a real disaster... started working on an egg farm (small only 5,000 layers) at 13, legal for farm work.... had been riding for several years by myself on whatever horse I could beg rides on and earned enough money to buy my own at 15...
Had my son learn to drive the truck at 10 when I moved to Va and was cutting hay with an old single bar sulky type mower... adapted to being pulled by the truck from horse drawn, used a dump rake to first gather the hay into "semi-windrows" and we forked the hay into the truck when dry and then forked it into the hay mow in the homemade leanto barn....
Wish life were that simple and satisfying even if it was alot of hard work... milked my 4 cows by hand and made butter and all that in my 30's after I moved to Va....

Not many young people realize how valuable animal fur was back in the day. In the mid 70's as a 10 year old it was nothing for our group of 6 to skin a couple hundred rats a night. We got a quarter a piece, threw the carcasses in 55 gallon drums and I'll never forget the name of the truck that picked them up. Nice and large in all caps on the side of the truck "THE FAT PEOPLE". The first time I saw it I about peed myself. In fact those were the first black people I ever spoke with, just as an aside. All we had to do was skin them, the dad would skim the fat off and stretch them. I moved away before I got old enough to run my own trap line, $7 each was a lot of money if you knew what you were doing and could trap 30 or so in a day. It was damn cold on that marsh checking those trap, but as a kid it was all kinds of awesome.

We then moved about 10 miles away where we started a dairy farm, I then got to work every day for room and board. It's all good, builds character, but they did give me gas money so they could get that extra half hour of work out of me if I rode the school bus.