Falling hay bales kill Oregon farmer; sheriff says 76-year-old man likely suffocated

An Oregon farmer has been killed by falling hay bales.

Jefferson County Sheriff Jim Adkins says the 76-year-old farmer apparently was moving the hay when several bales fell and pinned him against his tractor, likely suffocating him.

Adkins says the bales of alfalfa hay weighed 80 to 90 pounds.

KTVZ-TV reports (http://bit.ly/13TxAgT) the man was Harvey Ludwig Stickler, who farmed south of Madras. Adkins says Stickler's wife told deputies he was missing for about an hour when she went to look for him.

It was central Oregon's second hay-related farming fatality in less than a year.

In June, the Crook County sheriff's office reported a 77-year-old Prineville man was killed when three bales of hay fell from the truck he was loading.

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Information from: KTVZ-TV, http://www.ktvz.com/