MCBAIN, Mich — JP Koop of Lucky 7 Dairy recognizes he is a lucky man to be living past the first day of corn silage harvest this year. The day started normally enough. But when his chopper spout touched a low-hanging power line, the day went south as both he and the chopper became electrified.
Koop, his wife, Suzanne, and one of his seven children, Gavin, milk 1,800 cows in a double-25 parlor and freestall barn and farm around 3,400 acres near McBain. Koop is a newcomer to the dairy industry. He purchased his first dairy farm six years ago.
Ironically, Lucky 7 Dairy kicked off the corn silage harvest Sept. 12 with a meeting to go over safety concerns and pray for a safe harvest.
They began by opening some of the fields.
“The guy I was loading said, ‘Hey you are getting close to that line. Move over to the right a little bit,’” Koop said. “Before he got the words out of his mouth, the spout on my chopper had touched the powerline. As soon as it touched … it had pretty much welded itself to my spout.”
Koop said he tried to move it away but it blew out the hydraulic cylinder that controlled the spout.
“I quickly turned around because I knew I was in trouble,” Koop said.
“I looked at my head (on the chopper) and there were sparks flying out of that big time. So, I quickly stood up, opened the door and walked out onto the platform outside the door.”
At that moment, the chopper’s back tires were already blown and on fire and the front tires were smoking.
Koop said he was standing there wondering whether the power line was going to blow a fuse or breaker which would shut off the power.
“It was a mainline so I suspected there wasn’t any sort of breaker,” Koop said. “I debated, ‘Alright is the fire department going to get here in time?’ I (didn’t) have that kind of time because the rims were going to touch the ground.”
Koop realized time was ticking because the rubber from the tires would soon no longer provide some insulation from the electrical current when the steel rims touched the ground.
“I still don’t know how I did this, but I stood up on the handrail on the side of the chopper,” he said. “Clearly, I had good balance for a little bit. I got as low as I could and stood up and jumped as hard as I could.”
Before he jumped, he looked at the ground and it was smoking due to the stray voltage hitting the ground.
“I thought, ‘Well I’m dead on the chopper for sure and I’m probably dead when I hit the ground,’” Koop said. “I’ll get electrocuted, but at least there’s a chance (to survive).”
He jumped roughly 10 feet from the handrail to the ground.
“Of course, I’m not a gymnast where I could stick the landing,” Koop said.
When he fell, he received electric shocks through his hands, knees, feet and stomach. He was unable to stand up but managed to crawl his way out of the ripple effect of the power, which radiated roughly 10-12 feet from the source. He was then able to stand up and run away. He was later told there were roughly 180,000 watts of electricity surging from the line.
He ran towards the road to get away but was getting weaker and fell. Some of Koop’s workers grabbed him and helped him across the road.
“You don’t have much time at all to think,” Koop said. “A whole bunch of stuff happened right. I surely feel blessed to be here today and it sinks in a little more every day.”
Koop said firefighters and power company workers came to talk to him because they were surprised that he was alive and responsive.
The firefighters told Koop he was fortunate the ground was dry and not wet, otherwise it would have conducted electricity better.
When Koop jumped off the chopper, he bruised his heel on the landing. The doctor also told him his muscles were going to be sore from the electricity. He said they were.
Koop said his CLAAS dealer, Burnips Equipment, had a loaner chopper sitting in his parking lot before he had even gotten home from the hospital. The dealership heard about the accident and knew he would need another one, so they sent one before anyone from the farm called them.
“That’s pretty good customer service,” Koop said.
Suzanne made a post on Facebook about the accident. Koop said most of the comments say, “Thank God you are OK.”
“I have had so many people say, ‘Hey we are praying for you,’ or ‘We are so glad you are here,’” Koop said.
A power company from Kansas reached out to Koop and asked if they could use the pictures to teach about power and electricity and what to do in case of an accident.
“There (are) a lot of people with honest and true heartfelt concern and praising God that I am alive,” Koop said. “I am new to the farming community and just seeing the support from across the world, I am so pleased to be a part of the farming community.”
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