A 3-year-old girl rides in her father’s tractor cab as he mows his field. The tractor hits a bump, the locked door pops open, and the toddler tumbles out. She is crushed by a tractor wheel before her father has time to react.

The boy, 6, was doing his chores, cleaning out horse stalls alone in the family barn. But when a horse is spooked, he is kicked and severely hurt.

This 12-year-old had helped his father unload grain many times. But this time he was caught in a spinning sweep auger inside the bin; he will never be able to offer the same kind of help again.

The importance of safety is illustrated by these tragic but true stories of Iowa farm youth. Farm injuries that involve children may seem unpredictable, stealing young lives at random, in situations that could not have been avoided. However, most farm injuries can be prevented. In these cases, the child acted in a way that was consistent with his or her developmental ability, and was hurt or killed because of it.