Falling hay bales kill Oregon farmer

MADRAS, Ore. (AP) — A Central Oregon famer has been killed by falling hay bales.

Jefferson County Sheriff Jim Adkins says the 76-year-old farmer was apparently 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 says he 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 about seven months.

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