It is National Farm Safety and Health Week. Every third week of September since 1944, farm safety experts have come together to provide information on making the farm a safer place.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 100 agricultural workers suffer a lost work-time injury every single day. In 2016, 417 farmers and workers died from a work-related injury, with tractor overturns being the leading cause of death. In 2014 an estimated 12,000 people under the age of 20 were injured on farms, with 4,000 of those due to farm work.

When I look back on my early childhood, I realize how incredibly lucky my family was on the farm. Even my extended family has remained safe through the decades. My brothers and I did numerous things that could have easily killed or seriously injured us. I call these “stupid stuff we did because it looked fun at the time.”

For example, my brother Andy and I would climb to the top of the farrowing barn roof and slide down and land in straw or on the cement, depending on how safety-conscious we might be that day. It was a drop of at least 4 feet. The roof was metal so it made sliding fast, especially after it rained. I lost many a pair of shorts or pants to the nails sticking up from the roofing.

Like many farm children, we spent time in the haymow both working and playing. I would throw hay down for my horses; our haymow was accessed by a set of wooden rungs nailed to one barn wall. One day, as I was about to climb down, I saw an owl sitting in the rafters directly above the hole that led to the ladder.

To this day I cannot tell you why this owl terrified me. I love owls and other birds of prey. But I remember clearly being afraid the bird was going to attack me if I got near the ladder. The barn was located too far away from the house for anyone to hear me screaming for help, and this was decades before cell phones.

So, for reasons still unknown to me, I decided to climb out on a side roof and jump to the ground. I was up at least one story; maybe two stories in height. It ranks as one of the most dangerous and stupidest things I ever did in my life so far. I was not injured and never told my parents.

Another poor decision on my part was jumping on to the back of a bush hog that was operating at the time. My dad was mowing at another farmer’s house and I was playing when a rooster started chasing me. I have never really been a fan of chickens, and I was convinced this rooster was going to kill me.

My dad seriously almost had a heart attack. He immediately stopped the tractor and told me in no uncertain terms that I was never to do that again, and then he picked up a rock and threw it at the rooster to show that I could make it go away.

(The rock accidently broke the rooster’s leg and the family said the rooster was mean anyway, so he became Sunday dinner.)

I was holding piglets once while Dad was giving them shots and I accidently hurt one and it squealed, and the only thing that saved us from an angry sow was a really strong piece of wood, as we were standing in a farrowing pen.

A ram with extreme anger management issues butted me hard enough once that I actually left the ground and landed hard, with my head hitting concrete (the sheep only lasted one summer; Dad decided they were just too much trouble).

Andy and I decided once to see what would happen if we poked a sow with a stick. What happened was we were lucky and got over the fence before she killed us. Dad came out and asked what we had done to the sow and of course we replied “nothing.” But Dad wasn’t born yesterday, and we got in serious trouble for our actions.

Then there was the time Dad was teaching Mom to drive the tractor, with Mom saying, “Richard, how do I stop it?” That seems like a conversation they should have had before starting the tractor. Dad was running beside the tractor giving her instructions.

Our closest call was probably Andy falling into a gravity wagon that was dumping corn. I don’t remember this, but it was a story often told and I know it put most of my dad’s gray in his hair (which he had by his mid-twenties). Andy got sucked into the corn and was under it before anyone could help him. Luckily he was small and was pushed out of the wagon quickly enough that Dad was able to uncover him before he suffocated.

My worst injury occurred when a pony I was riding fell on a black-top road and I lost skin down to my ankle bone on one foot – both knees still bear the scars of that accident.

Any young readers: Please take this column to heart and do not repeat my mistakes. I was incredibly lucky. Everyone take a moment and reflect on what can happen in the blink of an eye, and always keep safety in mind.