Farm Chores for Kids to be banned by Federal Fiat

[VMI77]

http://dailycaller.com/2012/04/25/rural ... rm-chores/

Liberalism run amok. There is no aspect of life that these authoritarians don't want to dictate to us proles.

The Department of Labor is poised to put the finishing touches on a rule that would apply child-labor laws to children working on family farms, prohibiting them from performing a list of jobs on their own families’ land.

Under the rules, children under 18 could no longer work “in the storing, marketing and transporting of farm product raw materials.”

“It’s so far-reaching,” he exclaimed, “kids would be prohibited from working on anything ‘power take-off’ driven, and anything with a work-height over six feet — which would include the tractor I’m on now.”

The way the regulations are currently written, he added, would prohibit children under 16 from using battery powered screwdrivers, since their motors, like those of a tractor, are defined as “power take-off driven.”

[old farmer]

I learned to drive a tractor at the age of 13 ..

[i8godzilla]

I find it interesting that right after viewing the video in TAM's post I end up in this thread.

"Fundamentally Transforming the United States of America"
--BHO

[74novaman]

A great example of stupidity in regulation and govt, but I have to be honest....I think family farms will just ignore it.

Heck, I remember being 13 or so, working on the farm with my dad. If he needed to keep working but had to go pick up a part, guess who was driving the 20 miles to the parts store?

He always told me "If you get pulled over, just have the cop call me." Never did get pulled over. Sometimes in farming, getting stuff done outweighs following stupid laws.

[Purplehood]

The death-knell for the independent Farmer. Been coming for a long-time. Makes me wonder why we still have Daylight Savings Time.

[VMI77]

A great example of stupidity in regulation and govt, but I have to be honest....I think family farms will just ignore it.

Heck, I remember being 13 or so, working on the farm with my dad. If he needed to keep working but had to go pick up a part, guess who was driving the 20 miles to the parts store?

He always told me "If you get pulled over, just have the cop call me." Never did get pulled over. Sometimes in farming, getting stuff done outweighs following stupid laws.

They may, and most may even get away with it....however, another pernicious aspect of this rule by fiat is that "inspectors" will be "visiting" farms looking for violations --IOW, this "regulation" is effectively an end-run around the 4th Amendment.

[The Annoyed Man]

A great example of stupidity in regulation and govt, but I have to be honest....I think family farms will just ignore it.

Heck, I remember being 13 or so, working on the farm with my dad. If he needed to keep working but had to go pick up a part, guess who was driving the 20 miles to the parts store?

He always told me "If you get pulled over, just have the cop call me." Never did get pulled over. Sometimes in farming, getting stuff done outweighs following stupid laws.

I remember years ago in California knowing kids who had their CDL at like age 12 or 13 under some kind of state exemption to the age requirement for rural children who did not have any other means of getting to where they needed to be. I don't remember what they called that kind of license or what limitations were on it, but it was an actual driver's license, issued by the state, for kids who lived on farms way out in the country where there was no school bus service and who needed to drive to get to school. Doesn't Texas have some similar arrangement?

[4copas]

A great example of stupidity in regulation and govt, but I have to be honest....I think family farms will just ignore it.

Heck, I remember being 13 or so, working on the farm with my dad. If he needed to keep working but had to go pick up a part, guess who was driving the 20 miles to the parts store?

He always told me "If you get pulled over, just have the cop call me." Never did get pulled over. Sometimes in farming, getting stuff done outweighs following stupid laws.

I remember years ago in California knowing kids who had their CDL at like age 12 or 13 under some kind of state exemption to the age requirement for rural children who did not have any other means of getting to where they needed to be. I don't remember what they called that kind of license or what limitations were on it, but it was an actual driver's license, issued by the state, for kids who lived on farms way out in the country where there was no school bus service and who needed to drive to get to school. Doesn't Texas have some similar arrangement?

Yes, back in my early years it was a hardship licence.

[74novaman]

A great example of stupidity in regulation and govt, but I have to be honest....I think family farms will just ignore it.

Heck, I remember being 13 or so, working on the farm with my dad. If he needed to keep working but had to go pick up a part, guess who was driving the 20 miles to the parts store?

He always told me "If you get pulled over, just have the cop call me." Never did get pulled over. Sometimes in farming, getting stuff done outweighs following stupid laws.

I remember years ago in California knowing kids who had their CDL at like age 12 or 13 under some kind of state exemption to the age requirement for rural children who did not have any other means of getting to where they needed to be. I don't remember what they called that kind of license or what limitations were on it, but it was an actual driver's license, issued by the state, for kids who lived on farms way out in the country where there was no school bus service and who needed to drive to get to school. Doesn't Texas have some similar arrangement?

Yes, I think Texas refers to it as a hardship license. And I have a story about that as well. My dad, who lived out in the country and grew up working on a farm, applied for one when he was 14. So did a girl who lived in town who's dad owned a store, so her reason for needing one was he couldn't drive her to school because he was busy with the store.

Guess who got one and who didn't? That soured my dad on the whole idea I guess, because we never bothered with trying for my sister or I. We just drove from house to farm, farm to farm, farm to parts store....never got in trouble for it. We learned to drive on the farm, and my dad figured if I could be trusted to handle a tractor unsupervised, I could be trusted to drive. Never got pulled over/in a wreck, so it worked out I suppose.

Edit: I also only drove on farm related business. No driving around with my friends, joyriding, etc. Just when I had to drive to help out on the farm.

[4copas]

74novaman I can relate to that story. Back then the LEO around our area really weren't concerned about a licence or not. They new what needed to be done on the farm and who was responsible.

[Keith B]

I have a Brother-In-Law that is a commercial crop farmer. He farms about 4000 acres of mainly rice, soybeans and occasionally corn or wheat. His sons have worked the farm since they were little kids barely able to help load things or help Dad and Grandpa work on the machinery. The first word the oldest one said was 'bombine' (combine). He spent 4 years in college and came out with a Master's in Agriculture. His youngest brother is a senior in high school and heading off for his Ag degree also. They both straited driving the tractors and other equipment by themselves around 12 years old. They can tell you more about farming than any politician or half of the County Extension Agent's out there. They have been destined to be farmers their whole lives, and it is what they want to be. It's part of their life because it has always been a family thing, all the way back to their Great-Great Grandfather.

For Government to stick their nose into this is just asinine. Like always, they think they know whats best for everyone. Hey, government, what are you gonna do when the cost of all the commodities and futures goes out of sight and no on can afford food because it is too costly to buy from the farmer because he can't use his built in labor to help do meanial chores? What are you going to do when the farms can no longer run because their kids can't learn to take over the family business? Yeah, this is really gonna be great. Just another case of 'We're from the Government and we're here to help.'

[Heartland Patriot]

A great example of stupidity in regulation and govt, but I have to be honest....I think family farms will just ignore it.

Heck, I remember being 13 or so, working on the farm with my dad. If he needed to keep working but had to go pick up a part, guess who was driving the 20 miles to the parts store?

He always told me "If you get pulled over, just have the cop call me." Never did get pulled over. Sometimes in farming, getting stuff done outweighs following stupid laws.

I remember years ago in California knowing kids who had their CDL at like age 12 or 13 under some kind of state exemption to the age requirement for rural children who did not have any other means of getting to where they needed to be. I don't remember what they called that kind of license or what limitations were on it, but it was an actual driver's license, issued by the state, for kids who lived on farms way out in the country where there was no school bus service and who needed to drive to get to school. Doesn't Texas have some similar arrangement?

Yes, I think Texas refers to it as a hardship license. And I have a story about that as well. My dad, who lived out in the country and grew up working on a farm, applied for one when he was 14. So did a girl who lived in town who's dad owned a store, so her reason for needing one was he couldn't drive her to school because he was busy with the store.

Guess who got one and who didn't? That soured my dad on the whole idea I guess, because we never bothered with trying for my sister or I. We just drove from house to farm, farm to farm, farm to parts store....never got in trouble for it. We learned to drive on the farm, and my dad figured if I could be trusted to handle a tractor unsupervised, I could be trusted to drive. Never got pulled over/in a wreck, so it worked out I suppose.

Edit: I also only drove on farm related business. No driving around with my friends, joyriding, etc. Just when I had to drive to help out on the farm.

Similar in my area; I didn't get a license until after I went in the USAF...it was okay with the Sheriff if we drove on backroads down in our South Texas county...we just stayed off of the Interstate where the DPS patrolled.

[Heartland Patriot]

I have a Brother-In-Law that is a commercial crop farmer. He farms about 4000 acres of mainly rice, soybeans and occasionally corn or wheat. His sons have worked the farm since they were little kids barely able to help load things or help Dad and Grandpa work on the machinery. The first word the oldest one said was 'bombine' (combine). He spent 4 years in college and came out with a Master's in Agriculture. His youngest brother is a senior in high school and heading off for his Ag degree also. They both straited driving the tractors and other equipment by themselves around 12 years old. They can tell you more about farming than any politician or half of the County Extension Agent's out there. They have been destined to be farmers their whole lives, and it is what they want to be. It's part of their life because it has always been a family thing, all the way back to their Great-Great Grandfather.

For Government to stick their nose into this is just asinine. Like always, they think they know whats best for everyone. Hey, government, what are you gonna do when the cost of all the commodities and futures goes out of sight and no on can afford food because it is too costly to buy from the farmer because he can't use his built in labor to help do meanial chores? What are you going to do when the farms can no longer run because their kids can't learn to take over the family business? Yeah, this is really gonna be great. Just another case of 'We're from the Government and we're here to help.'

I don't think they give a rat's backside...they think they will engineer society to be the way they want it to be. Maybe its just wishful thinking, but I feel something is going to happen in my lifetime, something big. It will be a massive paradigm shift and these leftists will NOT be able to keep up.

[SlickTX]

Why can't we trust our government to tell us what's best for us?

After all they have been so good at ....


No, no, give me a minute. They've been so right about ....


Hang on, it will come to me. They've been so insightful about ....


On the tip of my tongue, bear with me. They've been so warm and caring aobut...



Nevermind. I'll have to get back to you.

[RoyGBiv]