Nov 17, 2011

Child safety farm rules under fire

Colorado family farmers are worried about a proposal by the U.S. Department of Labor to change child-labor laws, saying they could cripple family farms and hurt programs such as the Future Farmers of America and 4-H Club.

One rule would allow children younger than 15 to work only on their parents’ farm. Another would keep children younger than 16 from driving most power equipment.

Nonagriculture workers younger than 18 would be banned from grain elevators, silos, livestock exchanges and auctions. The new rules also would stop children younger than 15 from working near sexually mature livestock, including bulls and boars or nursing cows and sows.

Barbara Jefferies, president of the La Plata-Archuleta Cattlemen’s Association, said the proposed changes don’t give farm families credit for common sense. The Durango Herald

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