A 67-year-old man from the Palms area died last Friday after becoming pinned between components of a hay chopper while he was attempting to clean the equipment, according to the Sanilac County Sheriff's Office. The fatal incident happened at approximately 10:31 a.m. in the 6300 block of Range Line Road in Delaware Township, in Michigan's Thumb region.
Deputies responded after a 911 call reported that a man was pinned in a hay chopper, according to a news release from the sheriff's office. As reported by the Detroit Free Press, the man sustained fatal injuries as a result of the incident, and the Sanilac County Sheriff's Office did not immediately respond to a request for further comment. The Delaware Township Fire Department and Sanilac EMS were also dispatched to the scene.
Per Sanilac Broadcasting Company, the sheriff's office extended condolences to the victim's family and had not indicated whether further investigation into the incident would be required. The station also notes that Range Line Road sits in a rural stretch of northern Sanilac County near the unincorporated community of Palms, where emergency calls route through Sanilac County Central Dispatch to volunteer fire and EMS crews.
Why Late-Summer Harvest Work Turns Dangerous
The timing of the accident lines up with a well-documented seasonal danger. Michigan State University Extension warned in June 2025 that forage harvesters and balers pose severe safety risks during late-summer harvests, when farmers rush to cut crops ahead of incoming rain — pressure that can lead operators to skip critical safety steps around moving parts, according to MSU Extension. Equipment clogging and hurried cleaning are among the leading causes of harvest entanglements.
Penn State Extension's equipment guidelines specify that forage cutter heads and choppers contain high-speed rotating pinch and shear points, and operators are instructed to disengage the power take-off, shut off the engine, and remove the ignition key before attempting to clear a blockage or perform maintenance. Those cutter heads rotate rapidly enough that pinch points can trap a body part instantly, the guidelines note.
A Pattern Seen in State and National Data
Statewide health surveillance data published by Michigan State University's Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine recorded 1,003 non-fatal work-related farm injuries and 24 agricultural deaths across Michigan during 2022 and 2023 combined, underscoring how farming consistently ranks among the state's highest-hazard industries. A CDC-published surveillance study of Michigan agricultural injuries, tracking hospital and emergency department records across 134 facilities statewide, found that farm owner-operators account for 44% of all work-related farm injuries in Michigan, with machinery entanglements and pinch points representing major injury sources, according to CDC Stacks.
Age appears to compound the risk. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows that agricultural workers 55 and older account for more than 40% of all fatal workplace injuries nationwide within the sector, with workers 65 and older accounting for 29 fatalities nationwide in 2021.
Sanilac County's Deep Ties to Dairy and Forage Farming
Sanilac County ranks first in Michigan for enrolled Conservation Reserve Program agricultural land value, at $4.4 million, and remains one of the state's leading producers of dairy and forage crops, according to USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service census data — a reflection of how central row-crop and dairy operations are to the county's economy. Heavy machinery like hay choppers is a routine part of daily farm life there.
The county has seen fatal workplace accidents before. In November 2025, a 41-year-old worker was fatally struck by a payloader at Michigan Sugar Company's Croswell processing site in Sanilac County, an incident that drove local workplace safety scrutiny in the region, according to Michigan Farm News. Statewide, Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration program data reported 46 workplace fatalities across all covered industries in 2025, up from 36 in 2023, per the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity.
Whether MIOSHA or any other agency will open a formal investigation into Friday's fatal accident remains unclear, and the sheriff's office has not said whether a specific mechanical malfunction contributed to the man becoming trapped. Hoodline has previously reported on a Sanilac trench collapse death, another reminder of the hazards tied to the county's rural workplaces.
