monse - 3/28/2025 14:20

I recently hurt my shoulder and it is looking like I might need surgery. I have been trying some physical therapy but i am continuing to lose mobility. Today my arm is the worst it has been with maybe 25% movement. Physical therapist believes it is rotator cuff as well as a torn bicep. MRI will be the next step. Not exactly an ideal time right now as springs work is about to start within the next couple weeks.

I have done some reading on recovery times but would like some real life thoughts from other farmers on what returning to farm work looks like. How long before I could drive a tractor with my good arm and the bouncing around in the cab not affect my recovering arm? How long until I would be able to use my recovering arm to reach out and turn a nut onto a bolt and use the impact with my good arm to tighten it?

I guess I am wondering if I hired my crop seeded, would i be recovered enough by spray season to do my spraying if I had someone to help load the sprayer (my 18 year old daughter could pour jugs and hook up hose with me supervising, however i would probably need to clean a nozzle from time to time in the field myself or clean a plugged filter). Or would recovery to that point of mobility/use look more like late summer/early fall before I can be lightly using my arm? Just trying to decide if I could get back to farming by spray season and be fully recovered by harvest (mid August for wheat here) or will recovery take longer in which I consider renting the farm out for one year (which I believe is a possibility)? After labor is paid for seeding and spraying, I might be better off renting out my land for one year. Thanks for any advice.