During the summer holiday, kids are more likely to be active on your farm – whether it’s helping out with the daily running and seasonal maintenance or just having fun exploring. The tragic spate of drownings this summer serves as a sad reminder to all of us to be especially vigilant around water – even water you know.  

 Are you aware of all the water hazards around your farm? Have you kept an eye on the fences and gates, ensuring they keep in what they need to keep in and just as importantly keep out littlies heading for what looks like an oversized paddling pool. Make a map of all the hazards: rivers, creeks, drinking troughs, oxidation ponds, sheep dips and tanks – hopefully you will  never need to use it but should you need to think about it, having a concise location at hand can help save precious time.

Young children can drown in only two minutes so need to be supervised around water. Older children need to develop water safety skills and learn to swim – but don’t expect a ten year old to look after a three year old at the river.  Make sure there is always an adult to supervise young children near water.  

Just because we don’t need to worry about alligators lurking, it doesn’t mean we can be blasé about our rivers.

Teach children to never dive into murky water that can hide rocks, branches and other dangerous things. Slippery muddy banks can also be a problem – keep children off them.

Don’t forget water also poses the risk of burns, especially in the dairy shed, where hot water is used at scalding temperatures. Young children especially need to stay away from these areas.

Nobody wants to stop children enjoying their rural life – nor should they grow up fearing the landscape around them – and while it may be impossible to think of every possible eventuality (or avoid every possible danger) a few minutes of thinking ahead can mean the difference between an album of fun filled photographs of summer and a tragedy.