Cotton farmers in Whitharral come together to help one of their own

WHITHARRAL, TX (KCBD) - When Whitharral cotton farmer Stan Sadler was injured in a tractor accident, local farmers came together to help the best way they know how.

"It was pretty obvious that he was going to need some help right away, so it was a pretty easy decision to make." said Monty Rodgers, a local cotton farmer and close friend of Stan. "We just started to do what we could to get ready to plan and kind of organize people to help get it all done. That was really easy to do, Stan has a lot of friends."

With the help of his neighbors, all of Stan's 500-plus acres were planted while he was still in the hospital in Lubbock.

"We planted about 20 acres of drip irrigation and probably about ten days later, we did the rest of it in just a few hours. We had ten planters working," Rodgers said.

But the farmers say it wasn't just them, it was a complete community effort.

"There was a lot of farmers that organized it and helped get some donations of seed and different things. We were really thankful that everybody that could do something went and tried to do what they could to help. The business people and the seed and chemical people have been really generous and they're going to continue to be generous throughout the year with some other chemicals and other help," Rodgers said.

Back in April, Stan was working on his tractor when it ended up running him over him, leaving him trapped for ten hours.

He lost his leg, but is thankful to be alive. He and his family say the support they have seen from their neighbors during these weeks is hard to put into words.

"I don't think there's words to express how much it means to you because it's your livelihood, everything depends on that. It's so much you can't really express it, the blessing that it is to your life. The generosity, it's overwhelming," said Stan's wife Carol.

It's still unknown when Stan will be able to get back to Whitharral and his farm, but his wife says he is ready to get back to what he knows best.

"He's like every typical farmer. He wants to get back and get to work," Carol said.

But even if it takes a little longer for him to fully recover, his neighbors have it all taken care of.

"We're prepared to do the whole crop. We'll harvest it whenever it comes time," Rodgers said.

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