Farm community rallies around injured friend

Dec 06, 2019

Volunteers harvested a 225-acre corn field in six hours

By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com

A farmer from Goose Lake, Iowa is grateful for his community after fellow growers finished his grain harvest.

On Oct. 25, Perry Spain got his leg caught in an auger while cleaning a grain bin.

After seven operations in 14 days and eight surgeries in total at the University of Iowa Hospital, Spain had part of his leg amputated below the knee.

The operations left him unable to harvest his remaining 225 acres of corn.

That’s when other farmers in the community stepped up.

On Nov. 16, farmers and volunteers operated five combines with 12-row corn heads, 12 grain carts and 16 semis to complete Spain’s 2019 corn harvest in about six hours.

The outpouring of support from the other farmers is overwhelming, Spain said.

“It’s unbelievable and heartwarming and sometimes hard to find the words,” Spain told Farms.com. “I know they all had their own crops to finish harvesting, so for them to be so selfless and help me out was just a wonderful thing to see.”

Now on the road to recovery, Spain wants to spread a safety message to other farmers.

“Just because you do something a bunch of times doesn’t mean you should take it for granted,” he said. “It literally takes seconds (for an accident to happen) and your whole life can change.”

Though he missed out on finishing this year’s harvest, Spain already has his sights set on 2020.

The next step in the recovery process includes plastic surgery and eventually a prosthetic limb, which Spain hopes will be ready in time for planting season.

“That’s my main goal right now,” he said. “I’m not going to quit.”

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