Having Your Back While You Farm
Being such a labour-intensive activity, farming can often put a strain on the body – especially on the spine. It’s important to save your back health as much as possible by using quality farming equipment designed to do most of the work for you.
Back Care Tips While Farming
These handy farming tips, especially for small scale farming, will help alleviate some of the negative bodily effects of bending, twisting, lifting and stretching while farming.
- Avoid heavy lifting by using fertiliser applicators that can be wheeled across the ground, rather than carried and manually spread.
- Use equipment that does the bending for you - a hand planter will eliminate the need for back-breaking bending to plant seeds. Many functions in farming can be done standing up if planned correctly, and if the right equipment is used. Bending too much can cause strain on the spine and, eventually, permanent damage.
- Take breaks often – farmers and farm workers spend a lot of time outside. It’s not just good to take a break from the hot sun, it’s just as important to get some rest after a few hours of labour-intensive activity. This will help all joints to stay protected during hours spent working on the farm.
- Let someone else do the work for you – animals have been drawing carts for many years and make a wonderful alternative to doing all the heavy work on your own. Animal drawn planters are a brilliant alternative to doing certain tasks on your own.
Smarter farming means using the right farming equipment in South Africa. Whether on large-scale farms, or by using small scale farming equipment, it’s simple to save your spine during farming.
Contact Backsaver Farming Equipment to find out more about safer farming. For other great products, our directory is full of suggestions.