Limestone County Schools’ FFA student association hosted its first countywide Farm Machinery Safety Day at the Limestone Sheriff’s Rodeo Arena over a two-day period this week.

Planned and led by FFA students from all six high schools in the county, the event included eight stations designed to teach third-graders how to stay safe in all sorts of scenarios ranging from farm machine to food safety.

Safety stations

One group of Tanner Elementary students started their tour by learning about food safety. Students sat crossed-legged on the ground as Tanner High School student Asia Bayrd held up two mason jars containing amber fluid — one filled with apple juice, the other with Pine-Sol. Bayrd then asked the students to identify which was which. Containers with nearly identical red M&Ms and Tylenol tablets, “Mentos” candy and antacid tablets and water and ammonia also made the rounds.

“Hopefully, this will make them think,” said Chloe Wilson, 4-H Foundation Regional Extension agent. “You don’t realize how close edible and inedible things can be until you do a comparison activity like this. It’s a little scary.”

The same group of third-graders moved to the next station where they climbed onto various Polaris all-terrain vehicles, or ATVs. Sponsored by Elkmont High School, a group of FFA volunteers quizzed the Tanner students about ATV safety asking questions like, “What personal protective gear should you always wear when riding an ATV.”

Allie Smith rattled off a list of items including helmet, long-sleeve shirt and pants, goggles and gloves. Smith’s right answer was rewarded with a model-size Polaris ATV.

Across the grounds, Jessica Kent’s third-grade class crawled into a bunch of grounded kayaks where they learned how to paddle, how not to fall out and what to do if they did.

At the forage safety station, West Limestone FFA members explained to students about the many chemicals a farmer may use and how they are handled responsibly.

Members of the East Limestone Volunteer Fire Department where on hand with their Smoke House and Athens Utilities brought a cherry picker to teach kids to stay away from downed power poles and lines.

The students of Sydney Barnett and MaKarlee Martin ended their tour at the farm machine safety station, where enormous tractors, combines and quad tracks were on display. Seated on hay bales, students watched as Brock Carter, a senior from East Limestone High School, demonstrated what happens when you get too close to a Bush Hog by tossing Keith, a stuffed dummy, into the rotating power take-off shaft. It did not end well for Keith, who had to be removed piece by piece from the shaft.

Carter said they show kids situations like this because they want them to be aware of how dangerous farm equipment can be.

“A lot of these kids are familiar with these big machines,” he said. “That’s why it is so important for them to understand the risks when they get around them.”

FFA more than farming

Carter, who has been volunteering for Farm Machinery Safety Day since he was in sixth grade, also hopes students who spend the day at the arena will one day want to get involved in FFA themselves.

In fact, Limestone County Career Technical Center Director Dr. John Wilson said he uses events like this to recruit the next generation of kids for the county’s middle and high school FFA programs.

Currently, there are approximately 70 students in FFA, which Wilson said reaches far beyond the farm.

“Most jobs in agriculture are no longer on the farm,” Wilson said. “FFA helps them build career-readiness skills for fields like ag-business, ag-marketing, engineering and politics.”

Matt Martin and Hunter Newby, both seniors at East Limestone High School, said they got the skills and experience they needed to open their own business through FFA and the LCCTC. The student partners own GreenMan Lawn and Irrigation Specialist LLC, a company that employs upwards of 11 student employees at a time. GreenMan Lawn also paid for the transportation cost to bring Limestone County students to the farm machine safety event.

Wilson said the event has become so popular, the Limestone County FFA will hold Farm Machinery Safety Day at a central location like the sheriff’s arena from now on. In year’s past, the event was more localized at individual schools.