Mixed farms are the most dangerous for farm fatalities in Ireland, according to figures from the Health and Safety Authority (HSA).
The figures show that between the years 1989 and 2015 there was 503 farm deaths with mixed farms accounting for 31.2% of total farm deaths.
The figures were presented at the recent National Conference on Farm Safety and Health, held in the Mullingar Park Hotel.
Mixed farms are closely followed by cattle (137 fatalities) and dairy (125 fatalities) enterprises in these statistics.
These figures serve as a stark reminder to the dangers faced on farm on a daily basis, either in the form of a machine, live animals or countless other hazards.
Source: HSA
65% of fatalities are farmers themselves
Looking further into the statistics it can be seen that 65% (321) of victims are farmers themselves.
Speaking at the conference was the Minister of State for Employment and Small Business, Pat Breen, who said that some of the factors contributing to this are stress and familiarity which can lead to complacency or cutting corners on the farm.
The figures for farmer fatalities by farm type follow the same pattern to that of overall deaths. Mixed enterprise farmers account for 32.7% of deaths while cattle and dairy are next on the list at 29.3% and 26.2% respectively.
Of the other 45%, farm employees and family workers accounted for 46 and 41 fatalities respectively. This means that 17.4% of deaths on farms in the 27-year period were suffered by people not partaking in agricultural work.
Age profiles
The numbers of deaths of people between the ages of 16-70 in this time period stands at 320. While this number is high, perhaps what is more shocking is that it only accounts for 63.6% of the total.
The statistics show that those most vulnerable on farm, account for well over three of every 10 farm deaths. A total of 81 children (15 or younger) were killed on farms in the 27-year period while 20.3% of those who died were over 70 years old.