Ag Safety Day on the Farm

 Garden County FFA and 4-H Hosts Ag Safety Day on the Farm

By Sarah Paisley

On the 5th annual Ag Safety Day, Garden County 3rd Graders were the first group to attend Ag Safety Day on the farm! This event is hosted by the Garden County Extension Office and the Garden County FFA Chapter. FFA members were in charge of creating and presenting sessions throughout the morning, and this year took on the responsibility of prepping and cooking the meal.

    To start the day off, Extension Educator, Sarah Paisley, gave a short presentation on sun safety. The elementary youth then rotated through the following station topics: Animal Safety, with the help of a goat, chicken, horse, dog, and feedlot calves; environmental safety, learning about wildlife and how to be prepared in the outdoors; and personal protective equipment where youth talked about chemical safety while tie-dying their own Ag Safety Day t-shirt.

    Before lunch, Mrs. Roberson and the FFA members did an activity to learn more about agricultural products. To keep learning about where our food comes from, lunch was full of Garden County ag products. Beef donated from local families was used for hamburgers. Sarah brought home-canned pickles from the elementary garden. Potato chips from Walther Farms. The youth also had apples and carrots to participate in the Great Crunch OFF Competition. All food was prepped by the FFA members and the delicious burgers were cooked by Wade Dodge.

    After lunch, the group headed off on a very cold farm tour. Rich and Dorene Paisley graciously allowed the event to happen on the Paisley Farm so many things could be seen. The youth saw a sickle mower, UTV and ATV, baler, swather, auger, grain bins, skid-steer, and a tractor and feed wagon. FFA members took time to talk through safety precautions, and youth had time to crawl in and out of the farm equipment.

    To finish off the afternoon, we had two final sessions on drug and personal safety. Deputy Kyle Fornander and K-9 Deputy Lara spent time talking about drugs and found some hidden drugs on the bus! A fake scene was created on what to do when we call 911. Dispatchers helped us to understand the importance of giving good directions when calling in an emergency.

    FFA members presenting included Jena Spady, Zeke Christiansen, Wyland Lobner, Taylor Fornander, Kyle Rote, Gunner Roberson, Madi Rauch, Emily Levick, and Oakley Larsen. They all did an amazing job of preparing and presenting. It is always great to see their leadership skills at work!

Wildlife Scat – Wyland Lobner shows AJ Nunes and Landry McCarthy raccoon scat in order to identify animals in your surroundings.

Dog and Goat – Brooklyn Ardissono works with Gunner Roberson to be safe around dogs. Aubree Ashmore, Landon McColloch, and Ryker Dehning learn about goats from Madi Rauch and Oakley Larsen.

Kyle and Lara – Deputy Fornander and Deputy Lara show youth how a drug dog sniffs out drugs.

ATV – Wade Dodge talks to youth about UTV and ATV safety.

PTO Shaft – Zeke Christiansen talks to youth about the PTO shaft. PTO’s power lots of farm machinery and is one of the number one hazards on the farm.

Shirts – Third graders show off their new tie-dye shirt. Back row: Aida Mendoza, Aubree Ashmore, Brooklyn Ardissono, Mathis Brooks, June Seibel, Kaylen Sanders, Landon McColloch, Koleson Sissel. Middle Row: Tansy Assmann, Paige Waltman, Sophia Williams, Anthony Nunes, David Harding, Olivia Krajewski, Jeremiah Kupper, Ryker Dehning. Front Row: Carson Cooper, Jackson Wesch, Landry McCarthy, and Xander Hillis.