NRHEG FFA leads elementary safety day

“It’s important to be safe around animals,” says Makenna Reeder, who first proposed the idea of an FFA “Ag Safety” event for NRHEG elementary students. “Children could get hurt, or accidentally spread disease if they don’t understand some important things.”

 

Among those, she suggests, are always asking the owner whether it’s okay to approach or pet an animal and being aware of potential dangers.

 

A group of about 25 FFA members set up an ag safety day at the football field in Ellendale with nine different stations featuring animals ranging in size from a rabbit and a chicken to two full-grown steers. Other stations featured horses, pigs, llamas, sheep, pygmy goats, and dogs. 

 

Reeder mentions that children were drawn to the animals; FFA advisor Dan Sorum points out the younger children also enjoy interacting with the high-schoolers.

 

“The question they asked most often,” commented FFA member Paige Johnson, “was whether they could pet the animals.”

 

The high-schoolers admitted it was fun for them to take a day away from classes and share their interests in animal husbandry with the younger children. “It was interesting to see the different ways they approached the animals,” commented one member.

 

Hadley Raeker, who brought two show pigs weighing around 200 pounds each, showed students pigs need help staying cool on hot days because they don’t sweat. “The kids really loved hearing that pigs like marshmallows,” she observed.

 

Elementary students at the Ellendale site range from kindergarten to grade five. Each grade was given about 50 minutes at the demonstration. After an overview offered by Sorum, children were divided into groups of four or five and rotated among the stations, spending about five minutes at each.

 

FFA members expressed their gratitude to members of the Ellendale Fire Department, who filled two large stock tanks, so the animals could have water throughout the day.

Temperatures were in the high 80s.

 

FFA members and their families took care of transporting animals and needed equipment to and from the event. Nearly all the animals brought for the day were either “show” animals accustomed to the activity at fairs and events, trained animals like the horses, or pets.