Still in the tractor seat
Three years after Muller’s accident, he continues farming career
Mavis Fodness | Freelance reporter
Three years after a life-changing farm accident, 33-year-old Travis Muller is thankful he is able to continue working at a career he began in childhood on his grandparents’ farm north of Windom.
Today, Muller is a bilateral amputee, having lost portions of both his legs in the farm accident. Muller is one of thousands of farmers who are injured or killed in farm accidents across the U.S. each year.
Despite the life-changing event, Muller returned to operate Muller Farms, much like he did prior to the Sept. 23, 2023 accident.
Now, however, Muller works with a little extra caution since “things can happen fast.”
“Everybody is always in a hurry and I understand that. So am I. But that can be a big problem,” he said. “Just remember there’s always tomorrow for more work — take time to take safety seriously or you might not have tomorrow at all.”
Ag among most dangerous jobs
According to 2024 data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting have the highest fatality rates among all industries in Minnesota with a rate of 16.4 fatalities per 100,000 full time workers.
“There are many factors that make farming dangerous,” said Emily Krekelberg, a farm safety and health Extension educator at the University of Minnesota. “Some of the major considerations are the physical nature of the job, the proximity to and use of large equipment and the unpredictable timing of some farm tasks such as field work.”
Grain bins are especially dangerous with 21 reported entrapments in the U.S., with six of those incidents resulting in a fatality. Five of those incidents were in Minnesota.
However, Krekelberg acknowledged many farm accidents go unreported, as farming does not fall under OSHA reporting requirements as most farms have less than 10 employees.
“A lot of data that is gathered comes from finding new reports about incidents or farmers voluntarily reporting via survey or research interview,” she said.
Like Muller, Krekelberg also recommends slowing down and thinking twice while working around the farm.
“Before taking any action of the farm, it’s important to have a level head and consider the action being taken,” she said. “Farming is a stressful job with often tight deadlines that can lead to frantic, poor decision making.”
9-23-23 was a ‘normal’ Sunday
A morning church service followed by bike rides on the mild, mid 70s sunny day had Travis Muller, his wife, Jasmine, and then 2-year-old daughter, Shaylie, home for an afternoon of chores.
On the top of the chores list was clearing the rest of the corn out of the 100,000 bushel grain bin in preparation for the soon-to-start 2023 harvest.
“I shouldn’t have been in a hurry, but we were going to start a little house project and I just wanted to get this done and get on to other stuff with my family,” Muller recalled. “It’s not like we were pressed against the clock or anything.”
Inside the grain bin was a power grain sweep, which moves along the bottom of the bin sweeping the grain into an auger and depositing the grain into the bin’s center, where another auger takes the grain out of the bin. The sweep saves time and hours of manual scooping with shovels and brooms.
Muller agreed to be inside the bin along with his uncle. His brother watched from the doorway.
“I was in front of the sweep — shouldn’t have been — but I was scooping corn away from the wall so that way when the sweep came around it would catch the grain and bring it to the middle,” he said.
Muller doesn’t remember the seconds leading up to the sweep’s metal auger catching his pant legs but remembers the quick thinking of his brother, Jordan, to stop the sweep and his uncle, Wayne, using his belt as a tourniquet. His dad, Scott, who was working outside the bin called 911.
The pain in his legs almost overwhelmed him.
“It was about 45 minutes until I got on the chopper that I was conscious for,” Muller said. “Once I got on the chopper, they gave me whatever they gave me and then it was like ‘thank you.’”
Both local and state media outlets reported on Muller’s accident and recovery at North Memorial Hospital in Robbinsdale. The most attention occurred in the weeks after the Sept. 23, 2023 accident. A Caring Tree account created by Jasmine kept friends and family informed on Travis’ condition and recovery progress.
She thanked the quick thinking of family members and emergency personnel for Travis’ positive outcome.
“As life changing as this will be and heartbreaking to lose his legs, the doctor said just a few more seconds and he would no longer be with us,” Jasmine wrote.
After 25 days in the hospital and seven surgeries, Muller went home.
Life different, much the same
Travis Muller is used to sharing images from years of competing in snocross events on social media. He used the same channels to document his recovery and the journey he underwent to return to operating the family’s grain farm.
“I have always hoped that my story would open a few eyes to farmers and workers alike to hopefully remind them of the dangers that are always lurking and prevent injury or loss (of life),” he said. “I’ve heard of too many grain bin accidents since mine.”
Even with farm equipment improvements, problems far too often force farmers into grain bins.
“Unfortunately we are not one easy invention away from curing that problem,” Muller said. “We just need to really use our heads, be safe and not be in a hurry.”
As a result of the accident, the Mullers have placed extra safety measures around the 10 bins that make up the grain storage site. Stop buttons for the power sweeps have been moved closer to the bin opening, which it can easily be reached from inside the bin. Tourniquets and first-aid kits are located in key areas.
A new, more safe power grain sweep was installed in one of the bins thanks to New Vision. The regional agribusiness donated a power grain sweep that uses rubber paddles instead of a metal auger to remove grain from bins.
In his recovery, Muller’s social media posts showed the progress he made working around the farm. He spent weeks in a motorized wheelchair after the accident and, six months after the accident, he was fitted with carbon fiber prosthetics through Limb Lab out of Mankato.
Early on in his recovery, Muller set a goal to do everything he did before the accident, if not better.
A year after the accident, Muller was back in the tractor doing fall fieldwork and, more importantly, he was playing daily with his daughter and helping his wife around the house.
“Life is much different and much the same,” Muller said. “Every morning when I put on both legs, that’s different. I for sure cannot do as many things as I would like to in a day, or as fast, but I can do a lot of things.”
Attitude is everything
Positivity has been paramount in Travis Muller’s recovery and return to farming.
Months after the accident, Muller tried to keep an open mind on what he wanted to do with his new chance at life. His thoughts always turned toward being able to keep on living on his late grandparents’ farm (which Richard and Dolores Muller established in 1950), a place Travis moved his family into prior to the accident. Travis wanted the farm operation to stay in the family.
“I only have one brother so really it’s me or nobody,” he said. “I definitely don’t want to give up the opportunity. I really do love where we live and the peacefulness of living on a farm and away from the city.”
Muller now has more respect for the inherent dangers involved on the family farm. He previously thought the chance of serious injury was greater in the frequent snocross events he raced than the chances he would be seriously hurt in a farm accident at home.
He credits a higher power in his change in perspective and ultimate recovery.
“No matter what you’re going through, there are most likely so many positives to be grateful for,” he said. “There’s a huge part of my story of what’s possible with God. I believe He allowed that to happen to teach me, grow me, but allow me to live and continue this life here on Earth and enjoy it with my family.”
Mavis Fodness | Freelance reporter
Three years after a life-changing farm accident, 33-year-old Travis Muller is thankful he is able to continue working at a career he began in childhood on his grandparents’ farm north of Windom.
Today, Muller is a bilateral amputee, having lost portions of both his legs in the farm accident. Muller is one of thousands of farmers who are injured or killed in farm accidents across the U.S. each year.
Despite the life-changing event, Muller returned to operate Muller Farms, much like he did prior to the Sept. 23, 2023 accident.
Now, however, Muller works with a little extra caution since “things can happen fast.”
“Everybody is always in a hurry and I understand that. So am I. But that can be a big problem,” he said. “Just remember there’s always tomorrow for more work — take time to take safety seriously or you might not have tomorrow at all.”
Ag among most dangerous jobs
According to 2024 data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting have the highest fatality rates among all industries in Minnesota with a rate of 16.4 fatalities per 100,000 full time workers.
“There are many factors that make farming dangerous,” said Emily Krekelberg, a farm safety and health Extension educator at the University of Minnesota. “Some of the major considerations are the physical nature of the job, the proximity to and use of large equipment and the unpredictable timing of some farm tasks such as field work.”
Grain bins are especially dangerous with 21 reported entrapments in the U.S., with six of those incidents resulting in a fatality. Five of those incidents were in Minnesota.
However, Krekelberg acknowledged many farm accidents go unreported, as farming does not fall under OSHA reporting requirements as most farms have less than 10 employees.
“A lot of data that is gathered comes from finding new reports about incidents or farmers voluntarily reporting via survey or research interview,” she said.
Like Muller, Krekelberg also recommends slowing down and thinking twice while working around the farm.
“Before taking any action of the farm, it’s important to have a level head and consider the action being taken,” she said. “Farming is a stressful job with often tight deadlines that can lead to frantic, poor decision making.”
9-23-23 was a ‘normal’ Sunday
A morning church service followed by bike rides on the mild, mid 70s sunny day had Travis Muller, his wife, Jasmine, and then 2-year-old daughter, Shaylie, home for an afternoon of chores.
On the top of the chores list was clearing the rest of the corn out of the 100,000 bushel grain bin in preparation for the soon-to-start 2023 harvest.
“I shouldn’t have been in a hurry, but we were going to start a little house project and I just wanted to get this done and get on to other stuff with my family,” Muller recalled. “It’s not like we were pressed against the clock or anything.”
Inside the grain bin was a power grain sweep, which moves along the bottom of the bin sweeping the grain into an auger and depositing the grain into the bin’s center, where another auger takes the grain out of the bin. The sweep saves time and hours of manual scooping with shovels and brooms.
Muller agreed to be inside the bin along with his uncle. His brother watched from the doorway.
“I was in front of the sweep — shouldn’t have been — but I was scooping corn away from the wall so that way when the sweep came around it would catch the grain and bring it to the middle,” he said.
Muller doesn’t remember the seconds leading up to the sweep’s metal auger catching his pant legs but remembers the quick thinking of his brother, Jordan, to stop the sweep and his uncle, Wayne, using his belt as a tourniquet. His dad, Scott, who was working outside the bin called 911.
The pain in his legs almost overwhelmed him.
“It was about 45 minutes until I got on the chopper that I was conscious for,” Muller said. “Once I got on the chopper, they gave me whatever they gave me and then it was like ‘thank you.’”
Both local and state media outlets reported on Muller’s accident and recovery at North Memorial Hospital in Robbinsdale. The most attention occurred in the weeks after the Sept. 23, 2023 accident. A Caring Tree account created by Jasmine kept friends and family informed on Travis’ condition and recovery progress.
She thanked the quick thinking of family members and emergency personnel for Travis’ positive outcome.
“As life changing as this will be and heartbreaking to lose his legs, the doctor said just a few more seconds and he would no longer be with us,” Jasmine wrote.
After 25 days in the hospital and seven surgeries, Muller went home.
Life different, much the same
Travis Muller is used to sharing images from years of competing in snocross events on social media. He used the same channels to document his recovery and the journey he underwent to return to operating the family’s grain farm.
“I have always hoped that my story would open a few eyes to farmers and workers alike to hopefully remind them of the dangers that are always lurking and prevent injury or loss (of life),” he said. “I’ve heard of too many grain bin accidents since mine.”
Even with farm equipment improvements, problems far too often force farmers into grain bins.
“Unfortunately we are not one easy invention away from curing that problem,” Muller said. “We just need to really use our heads, be safe and not be in a hurry.”
As a result of the accident, the Mullers have placed extra safety measures around the 10 bins that make up the grain storage site. Stop buttons for the power sweeps have been moved closer to the bin opening, which it can easily be reached from inside the bin. Tourniquets and first-aid kits are located in key areas.
A new, more safe power grain sweep was installed in one of the bins thanks to New Vision. The regional agribusiness donated a power grain sweep that uses rubber paddles instead of a metal auger to remove grain from bins.
In his recovery, Muller’s social media posts showed the progress he made working around the farm. He spent weeks in a motorized wheelchair after the accident and, six months after the accident, he was fitted with carbon fiber prosthetics through Limb Lab out of Mankato.
Early on in his recovery, Muller set a goal to do everything he did before the accident, if not better.
A year after the accident, Muller was back in the tractor doing fall fieldwork and, more importantly, he was playing daily with his daughter and helping his wife around the house.
“Life is much different and much the same,” Muller said. “Every morning when I put on both legs, that’s different. I for sure cannot do as many things as I would like to in a day, or as fast, but I can do a lot of things.”
Attitude is everything
Positivity has been paramount in Travis Muller’s recovery and return to farming.
Months after the accident, Muller tried to keep an open mind on what he wanted to do with his new chance at life. His thoughts always turned toward being able to keep on living on his late grandparents’ farm (which Richard and Dolores Muller established in 1950), a place Travis moved his family into prior to the accident. Travis wanted the farm operation to stay in the family.
“I only have one brother so really it’s me or nobody,” he said. “I definitely don’t want to give up the opportunity. I really do love where we live and the peacefulness of living on a farm and away from the city.”
Muller now has more respect for the inherent dangers involved on the family farm. He previously thought the chance of serious injury was greater in the frequent snocross events he raced than the chances he would be seriously hurt in a farm accident at home.
He credits a higher power in his change in perspective and ultimate recovery.
“No matter what you’re going through, there are most likely so many positives to be grateful for,” he said. “There’s a huge part of my story of what’s possible with God. I believe He allowed that to happen to teach me, grow me, but allow me to live and continue this life here on Earth and enjoy it with my family.”
