OTTAWA, Ont. — Cumberland farmer Justin Birch was getting his hay baler ready for use Sunday afternoon when a little bit of routine maintenance turned into a life-threatening crisis.
Birch, 30, a military veteran and volunteer firefighter, was standing on top of the baler, greasing a gear at the top of the machine when he lost his balance. The baler’s gears and bearings need regular greasing so that they don’t overheat in the field.
“I just turned too quick and my foot slipped,” Birch said in an interview Friday from his hospital bed. “I lost my footing when I turned around and I fell down and put my hand in the wrong place.”
His right hand landed inside the machine, which uses a series of rollers and belts to pull hay into a steel drum, where it’s turned over and over into tightly packed, round bales. Birch’s hand was caught by the rollers, which continued to be powered by his idling tractor through a power take-off (P.T.O.). The P.T.O. transfers mechanical power from the tractor to the baler.
Birch knew his situation was desperate. It was just after 3 p.m.
“When my hand went in,” he said, “I realized I’m gonna be shoulder deep in this thing unless I fight back with whatever strength I’ve got.”
Birch resisted the force of the baler’s rollers while reaching with his left hand into his pocket for his cell phone. He dialed his neighbors for help. The third one he tried, Jon Lowe, picked up.
“You gotta come over: there’s been an accident,” Birch told him. “You gotta shut off this tractor for me.”
Birch fought to keep his elbow out of the baler by hauling the joint back with his left hand. As Lowe arrived, he dialed 911.
Lowe turned off the tractor, but Birch’s arm was still pinned inside the baler. Birch told Lowe to call his brother-in-law, Eric Leduc, who knew how to fix everything: He could probably figure a way to get his arm out of the machine.
Paramedics and firefighters arrived, many of them fellow volunteers from Ottawa Fire Station 73 in Vars, along with Leduc and Lowe’s uncle, Hank Bakker. Together with volunteer firefighter Lyle Kinsella and his son, Jack, they figured out a way to cut the belts and take apart the rollers.
Paramedics put a tourniquet on Birch’s upper arm to forestall bleeding when his arm was released from its vice. They also gave him something to sit on while his friends worked in tight quarters to free him.
“My legs were getting pretty weak,” Birch said.
When the last roller was removed, Birch slumped back, but insisted on climbing down from the machine by himself. “I’m getting the fuck off this baler,” he announced.
Birch was rushed to the regional trauma centre at The Ottawa Hospital’s Civic campus, where his arm was amputated below the elbow. He remains in hospital while doctors decide whether more skin graft surgery will be necessary before he’s fitted for a prosthetic.
In the meantime, his friends have launched a Gofundme page to raise money to help him return to the farm. Birch has been running his father’s beef farm for the past seven years: Bir-Dun farm on Russell Road has been in the family for three generations.
Already, more than $84,000 has been raised to help Birch adjust to farming without his dominant right hand. Birch said he’s overwhelmed by the support. Friends and neighbours have also unloaded 3,000 bales of hay at his farm.
“Doing stuff on the farm, you always think you don’t have any help, but the community is there when you need them,” he said.
Birch is confident he can learn to farm with his left hand. In February, he had surgery to remove scar tissue from his left shoulder and learned to do chores with only his right arm. “Now, I guess, I just have to practice with my other arm,” he said. “I have to train myself to do everything with my left. At least I have a good shoulder now.”
Maybe not surprisingly, Birch’s friends describe him as level-headed and stubborn. “The Justin I grew up with is fearless, determined, and addresses every challenge with a matter-of-fact attitude,” said his friend, Alex Cumminger, of Ottawa.
Copyright Postmedia Network Inc., 2020
