More than 400 students attend Progressive Farm Safety Day

Bartelso sixth-grader Ellis Dierkes throws a jar with an egg up in the air during Progressive Farm Safety Day.    More than 400 local sixth-graders attended Progressive Farm Safety Day at the Clinton County Fairgrounds on Thursday, Sept. 24.
    Progressive Farm Safety Day is sponsored by the Clinton County Farm Bureau Agriculture in the Classroom program. It is for sixth-grade students in Clinton County.
    All of the schools in Clinton County were invited to attend the program. A combined 425 sixth-graders from 10 schools were at the fairgrounds.
    "They come here for a day-long program and they learn about how to be safe on and off of the farm," said Susan Kleiboeker, agriculture literacy coordinator for Clinton County.
    Progressive Farm Safety Day was in coordination with Farm Safety Week, which was Sept. 21-25.
    Progressive Farm Safety Day started in 2010 and this year was the 16th annual event. They skipped 2020.
Germantown sixth-grader Sailor Musenbrock digs through straw during Progressive Farm Safety Day.    Among the organizations teaching the students about farm safety were Body By Boyd; Farm Bureau; Clinton County Extension Office; Clinton County Soil and Water Conservation District; Maschhoffs; Litteken Electric; Clinton County Electric; Julie, Inc.; and the US Army Corps of Engineers.
   All five of Clinton County high school FFA programs helped during the day.
    Kleiboeker said all of the students were having a good time. There were physical activities, games and hands-on activities for the students.
    Kleiboeker said by sixth grade many of the children who live on farms are already working on a farm.
    "Just because grandpa or dad always did it a certain way, that does not mean that is necessarily the way it is supposed to be," Kleiboeker said.
    Russell Holloman came in the morning as the keynote speaker. He did a presentation about how in 2009 he had his foot cut off in an accident.
Julie, Inc., damage prevention manager Brian MacKenzie shows sixth-graders different colored flags during Progressive Farm Safety Day.    "It was something that he had done every fall," Kleiboeker said. "Whenever the corn would get stuck in the combine, he would just kick it out without stopping the machine. And that one time, his pant leg got pulled in and it chopped off his foot."
   Along with coordinating Progressive Farm Safety Day, Kleiboeker also teaches Ag In the Classroom in local schools.
    Kleiboeker said Progressive Farm Safety Day would never happen without their supporters and presenters.
    "If we can save the life of one person, it is totally worth it," Kleiboeker said. "I put in about 200 hours within the last month of just focusing on safety day."
SIxth-graders learn about different chemicals during Progressive Farm Safety Day.