word of warning opening hay bales in the dark

Firehorse

Firehorse

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it was my turn to put out the hay tonight and had to open a new bale. the strings are very helpfully hay coloured and hard to find. i found one and cut it, then put my penknife down to poke around to find the next one. found it and went to pick up my knife and picked it up the wrong way round. resulting in a cut on the lower half of my finger. as there was no blood i carried on thinking it was just a graze. i rummaged around for the next string and then did the same bloody thing again. this time the knife sliced right through my finger tip and down the side of my nail. this time there was blood and plenty of it. but me being me, carried on doing the hay,until the pain struck. so i went up to the tap to wash it and almost passed out whn i saw how deep the cuts are. bunged on a pair of gloves to soak up the blood so i could get the horses fed, then walked home. at least it had stopped bleeding by the time i got in, but again when i washed it i almost hit the kitchen floor with the pain and the squeamishness of it.

i feel so angry for being so stupid, just a lack of concentration for a split second,plus not realising how sharp the dammed knife is. lucky i'm not working tomorrow,bathing dogs all day.

please everyone, dont do the same as me, be careful if you cant see what you're doing properly.
 
Ouch! If you get a spare bit of baling twine, slip it under the loop that needs to be cut, take hold of both ends and "saw" firmly with it, the loop of the twine on the bale will quickly snap. That would keep your fingers safe in future! I'm always losing my penknife by leaving it in a jacket I'm not wearing, so use this method a lot.
 
You need to invest in one of the yard knife thingys....only about £1.50! Absolute god send for opening hay up in the field and you can stick it in your pocket without worrying about hurting yourself!

Hope your ok though :-)
 
Tinypony said:
Ouch! If you get a spare bit of baling twine, slip it under the loop that needs to be cut, take hold of both ends and "saw" firmly with it, the loop of the twine on the bale will quickly snap. That would keep your fingers safe in future! I'm always losing my penknife by leaving it in a jacket I'm not wearing, so use this method a lot.
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Ditto this, much easier than trying to amputate your fingers!
 
ohhhhhhhh ouch and arghhhhhhh - one of those moments we all are proned to and lesson learnt :) - serious note hun if its deep please get it checked out and are you up on your tetnus jab ?????? xx
 
Ouch!
Made me feel squeemish just reading it.
Hope it heels up quickly for you, meanwhile chocolate usually helps with pain!
 
ow ow ow! One of those moments you look back on and think how much of a numpty youve been, like when you're doing your girth up and your hand slips and you punch yourself in the face and give yourself a black eye................or is that just me...????
 
Lilyhead said:
You need to invest in one of the yard knife thingys....only about £1.50! Absolute god send for opening hay up in the field and you can stick it in your pocket without worrying about hurting yourself!

Hope your ok though :-)
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Or you could invest in a torch!

Sorry - couldn't resist! Hope you're ok.x
 
cuppatea said:
ow ow ow! One of those moments you look back on and think how much of a numpty youve been, like when you're doing your girth up and your hand slips and you punch yourself in the face and give yourself a black eye................or is that just me...????
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Nope, not just you :-)
 
Kenzo said:
Ouch!
Made me feel squeemish just reading it.
Hope it heels up quickly for you, meanwhile chocolate usually helps with pain!
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Felt squeamish too - OUCHY!! Hope you're ok. Someone mentioned Tetanus, I really would check your jabs are up to date. Does it need a stitch?

cuppatea said:
ow ow ow! One of those moments you look back on and think how much of a numpty youve been, like when you're doing your girth up and your hand slips and you punch yourself in the face and give yourself a black eye................or is that just me...????
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Yep, definitely just you!!! **coughcoughNUTTERcoughcough**
 
mymare said:
Yep, definitely just you!!! **coughcoughNUTTERcoughcough**
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OI!!!!!!
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Sounds really painful. I always let YO's OH do the opening, not 'cos of getting cut because of anything that might be in the bale. YO found a frog once and I hate rats, so dread finding a harvested one!
FDC
 
ow! ditto whoever said stab in to bale........

.....you know the warnings on any kind of motorised/bladed equipment, that say " do not stop blades with hands " and you think what stupid moron would try that........last summer my father (runs his own business, very succesful intelligent 55 year old man) had a split second of stupidity and tried to clear grass out the mower blades whilst the engine was on....que him driving to A&E with one hand wrapped in a towel, having nearly amputated 3 fingers.

motto-dont try and save a second?!
 
thanks guys. some of your comments had me smiling. especially about the girth!!! it got so painful last night i had to take some painkillers to sleep. jst re-dressed it this mornng and cudnt look at it. feel all sick and faint just thinking about it. bf had a good look and its all clean, but bloody deep :( gotta hold my pony for clipping today, should be interesting. hay net and bridle should do it. not sure about chocolate for taking away the pain, i'm dieting after crimbo, bf had other suggestions this morn. typical!!
 
get a head torch, saves time and fingers ! at least you have free hands to do things and it shines where you are looking, very usefull. would be lost without mine!! mind you i did fall off the bales of haledge day before yesterday as i didnt have it on and it was pitch black - stupid to be climing on them but at least my knife has a restractable blade so didnt cut myself with it as well. hope the fingers heal soon !
 
lol! very sorry, but it was a very funny image in my head and could see that happening to me!! and now i've probably jinxed myself for it to happen next time i ride, so i'm gonna hve to be very careful on tuesday now!
 
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