This freaks me out! (Farming The Alps #13)
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Kalberweidli is an organic (Bio), grass fed beef farm located in central Switzerland.
Join me as I explore what it's like to Farm The Alps.
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www.kalberweidli.ch/
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as an American coming to Switzerland and working on these Hills is pretty cool the views are amazing but it's also super scary everywhere I had lived in the U.S it wasn't flat there were mountains but as soon as a tractor goes over like 10 degrees I'm out it's the scariest thing ever I'm like get me out of this tractor I would much rather be on my two feet maybe I'm just a chicken but I don't think so when you combine steep terrain and heavy machinery there are so many things that can go wrong and I lack the experience to even know all of the things that could go wrong maybe this doesn't look that steep on video but I'm telling you it is super scary being in a machine going down this or up this it's not for me at all for Eric he doesn't seem to care at all uh I do Eric was telling me about different factors that go into deciding where he will drive and where he won't you have to really know the field where the ground is and isn't stable enough to to support the weight of a tractor and where all of the wet spots are when you're on a hill like this a lot of the weight of the tractor is on the downhill tires and if those tires sink into the mud then your Hill just got a lot steeper of course we all know that wet mud is slippery and if the ground is too wet it might be dangerous to drive on but it can also be dangerous when the ground is too dry when the ground is so dry that the tires can't dig in and get a really good grip then you can just slide down like it was mud hay is also really slippery and dangerous this is a shot from an upcoming video but I wanted to show it here because it's a great example Eric is following a road across this slope and then suddenly he stops and backs up I didn't think much about this but then later he said yeah if I drive across there I'm going to slide off the road watch this video again you see the front end of the tractor start to slide before he stops and backs up if he had just ignored the small slide and kept on driving he could have slid off the road and ended up in a really bad spot this is how fast things can go wrong and it's not just where you should and shouldn't drive it's also how you drive and how much knowledge you have of the machine's capabilities and this is probably what freaks me out the most there's nothing in a tractor warning you there's no like blinking light or like a warning pull up pull up or anything like that saying you're about to flip over you just have to kind of know the limits of the Machinery you're in and unfortunately accidents happen from 2010 to 2019 155 people died working with agricultural heavy machinery there are accidents from tractors flipping over being on something too steep but there's also other things like mechanical failures or even traffic accidents now in recent years these numbers have been steadily going down as education increases as well as better technology the tractors and machines we're driving today are much better and safer than they were even 10 20 years ago but we've only talked about the people killed working with heavy machinery there's another 189 people that died in that same period from all of the other dangers of farming that silage in those silos we talked about can produce gases that can kill you so can that slurry we talked about and there are lots and lots of other things farming is one of the most dangerous jobs in Switzerland and you have to have a lot of knowledge as a farmer to avoid these dangers while at the same time getting the job done coming from outside of the farming world this kind of surprised me a little bit to be a modern farmer you have to know a lot about a lot of different things you have to know a lot about animals you have to know a lot about the land you have to know a lot about Machinery you have to know a lot about all of these different dangers and so many other things this was kind of the inspiration behind these videos I was like there's a lot more to this than it appears from the outside and I like making videos so I should make videos about this because it's really interesting thank you so much for watching have a good one
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Thank you for this! I grew up in a small town surrounded by mountain farmers and I knew nothing about accidents. Now I am mountain farmer myself and I can't say I know anyone who hasn't at least witnessed an accident, but most of us participated in one or two. As you said, there are no lights warning you that things are about to go bad. You need to get experience and that doesn't really happen without and accident here and there. The real difference is where you get it (not all accidents cost a limb) and how careful you are about what you think you know. It is also sometimes a bit depressing having to explain why you can't do something to people who have not walked, let alone driven on a steep terrain. I am now years into doing it, still far from know-it-all, but at the start of each season I still get a know in my stomach, thinking about things that might go wrong.
Yes that is very true farming is very dangerous but it always was like that even when draft animals where used, or well animals in general I got attacked by a Dairy cow last year when I was checking if another cow had calved and this year had a close call too but thanks to a older cow that saw what was going on she stepped in (not all cows do that). Farming in my opinion is one of the greatest jobs on earth. Farming is the backbone of any country (der bauernstand ist das ruckgrad eines landes). Awesome videos keep on making em.
@AmericameetsSwitzerland
11 ай бұрын
Wow! I'm glad that you are okay👍
As an Australian visiting Switzerland right now, I look at the fields I see from my train journeys in a totally different way, thanks to you. I even know what that funky smell is. Silage! Love your videos. Keep up the great work. Cheers.
@AmericameetsSwitzerland
11 ай бұрын
Yeah, it is a funky smell.
Very brave man to drive on that 🥵 Over in Northern Ireland we think we have big hills but it's nothing compared to that 😳 Well done!
I grew up farming on steep hills, when I was 20 I had a job on a large arable farm. During the summer I was always asked to drive the combine on the steep slopes because the 45 year old foreman who drove the other combine wasn't confident enough to do any steep slopes
ah, the good old Rapid, I think there's one on every farm in Switzerland.
I'm in the Blue Ridge of VA. About 1/3 of my pastures I have a walk behind bush hog due to slop. Been to Switzerland a half a dozen times, those slopes are the real deal!
@AmericameetsSwitzerland
11 ай бұрын
Very cool. I lived in the blue ridge of north carolina for a while. What kind of machines do you use?
@ddennison001
11 ай бұрын
Billy Goat machine. I think they make them in Pennsylvania. Enjoying your videos!
@AmericameetsSwitzerland
11 ай бұрын
I've never heard of them. I'll look him up. Thank you for watching!
Fantastic content! keep up the good work!
Family farm in Ireland, in a pretty hilly area. We only have a few acres of what I would describe as flat so I’m fairly used to driving a tractor on a slope and it always freaks me out. It’s got NOTHING on what these guys do. That’s actually terrifying. I literally couldn’t do it.
That's why his dual wheels are reversed. So he can grip to go back. I wouldn't want to go on those slopes..
@AmericameetsSwitzerland
11 ай бұрын
Exactly, putting the tyres on backwards is much easier than turning them around every time you need to reverse.😉
Such a funny thing to watch as someone who grew up in the Austrian Alps. Love this perspective! thx.
@AmericameetsSwitzerland
11 ай бұрын
I appreciate you watching!
I agree, farming is not trivial. I like that you try to highlight the ins and outs of it. Perhaps the titles of the videos could include more of the technical topic, that would attract the farming-interested audience to it.
@AmericameetsSwitzerland
11 ай бұрын
Yeah, youtube titles are a tricky thing. I do think a good bit about the title before I post it and change them around as well. Thank you for the feedback!
Been on steep ground my whole life😊
For this kind of grass you may better take a cutting bar with a wider distance between the fingers. It would cut the grass smoother.
My oh my, how Einsiedeln has grown. I used to go skiing there as a kid after school in the 60's and 70's, sailing on the Sihlsee in the summer and cross country skiing on it in the winter, but besides what I assume would be called s'Dorfzäntrum today and s'Kloschter where my neighbor Ueli went to school, all these buildings and the skijumps weren't there yet. And now comes climate change and all the winter sports are pretty much moved another 1000m or so higher, ...
I think your so right but also experience counts for lots , you learn a lot from older people that have done it before , driving on a bank in a tractor is normally fine if you know what you are doing and going across a bank can sometimes be safer , now with FWD tractors its so much safer , we have some very steep banks here in the Cotswolds' UK but there is now many places i wont go with a tractor , yes i have had a few scares but mostly its fine .Farming is fantastic , and you need to know a lot about a lot of thing like being a mechanic to being a vet to being a Agronomist and if you get it wrong it will cost a lot of money
Do you’s shoot deer from these areas?
Someone said one time as long as he has a few pints in him he'll go up on any hill no matter how steep it is
echo hay lol
When I was visiting my folks in Fribourg I stopped at a roman ancient site (strangely many all over Europe) a farmer dumped his tracker over and as he was walking back to his farm I expected him to be upset but he almost was it was a common thing? Cheers man and BTW the foot says hi!
@AmericameetsSwitzerland
11 ай бұрын
I read your comment when you first posted it, and I didn't have an answer. A week later, and I still don't. I just can't bring myself to reply to the foot.
@edterryberry255
11 ай бұрын
@@AmericameetsSwitzerland I completely understand and as matter of fact my drunken Buddy who owns the foot is embarrassed of it and wants me to change it as well, I told him that I don't know how. BTW, it was more of an observation than a question anyway. Cheers!
Yeap, farming is the most (or is it 2nd?) dangerous job in Switzerland just before (after?) forestry. Most fatalities happen due to horn blows (cows) and vehicle/machine accidents. My mom's cousin (also a Mt farmer, married with two kids) died that way so yeah, this hits home. And please... Before mowing you should always call the hunting authority (or local "Rehkitzrettung" chapter) and let them know one or two days in advance. They'll use a thermal drone or search the fields manually for deer fawns. Deer lay their fawns in open fields. Sooner or later you'll mow into one and it won't be pretty. It's free and the ethical thing to do, and we'll have better populations for hunting in autumn 😂✌️
@AmericameetsSwitzerland
11 ай бұрын
I talked just a little bit about the thermal drone in episode 11, but it would be cool to go out there with them sometime and see how they check the fields. Thank you for watching!
I swear Farming Simulator just copied your farm 😅
@AmericameetsSwitzerland
24 күн бұрын
Haha true Most of the equipment here is in farming simulater.
@theamaranthineman574
24 күн бұрын
Which one is a good Alpine map?