The elderly man had been working near a dam at his property at Carters Ridge, south of Gympie in the Sunshine Coast hinterland.

Paramedics were called on Tuesday after concerned neighbours found the farmer stuck in the mud alongside the tractor.

“The tractor was bogged quite severely next to a dam,” ambulance operations Supervisor Shaun Bright said.

“It appears that the gentleman has tried to step off the tractor and has had some sort of medical episode which has left him out in the weather for several days.”

The deeply distressed farmer drifted in and out of consciousness before being found and treated for hypothermia and dehydration.

He remains in the Sunshine Coast Hospital in a serious but stable condition.

Bright said it was incredible that the farmer survived the ordeal.

“It is absolutely incredible to see the condition he was in – obviously, he’s a very stoic gentleman.

“He works on the property by himself, as far as we’re aware and attends to the property most of the time without assistance, so it was quite good to see that he was doing relatively okay when we got there.”