Officer Andrew Baron for Fish and Wildlife Enforcement Services shows Grade 5 students of Clive School pelts of animals that can be found in the surrounding Alberta areas on Thursday. (rdnewsNOW/Alessia Proietti)

By Alessia Proietti

Hands-on Approach

Over 200 Lacombe County students attend Farm Safety Day

Jun 16, 2022 | 3:24 PM

Roughly 233 Grade 5 students from across Lacombe County gathered at the Operations and Administration Building for Farm Safety Day on Thursday.

The event was held from 10 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. on June 16, with a barbeque lunch prepared for those in attendance.

Jalene Makus, Agriculture Coordinator for the county and organizer of the event, says one of the County’s top priorities is to promote farm safety for students as most live in agricultural communities.

While she says that most of the local youth living in rural areas have been made aware of safety hazards from their parents, some children from urban areas may not be as familiar.

“A lot of times, urban kids, they’ve never been exposed to farms before,” she said. “So they go to a friend’s house in the country and they don’t know these things. So it’s a good resource for farm kids to learn and get a reminder and well as for urban kids to learn.”

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Makus says the seven stations set up at the event represent some of the main hazards that can be faced:

• Fire Safety – Lacombe County Fire Chief Drayton Bussiere and Bentley Fire Chief Ian McLaren
• Wildlife Safety – Andrew Baron (Fish and Wildlife Enforcement Services)
• Grain Safety – Jim Davenport (Clive Seed Cleaning Plant)
• Chemical Safety and Look-a-likes – Michelle Brown (Co-op Agriscience)
• Heavy Equipment Blindspot Safety – T.J. McTrowe (Lacombe County)
• Post Pounder Safety – Mike Klingingberg (Lacombe County)
• Various Safety – Agriculture for Life

From the Wildlife Safety section, Officer Baron shared various pelts of predominant wild animals in the area that residents can come across while camping or on farmland. Some of the pelts included were from cougars, wolverines, coyotes, skunks, otters, beavers, and foxes.

He says his main message is to, “Make sure that kids, when they’re out either playing around or working on the farms and acreages, that they are aware of their surroundings and that they are going to be reporting to their parents or guardians when they’re seeing any dangerous wildlife.”

A Grade 5 teacher present with her class from Clive School says she has attended the event for the past five years and believes it is not only well organized but is beneficial for all students in the area.

“This just puts it in another perspective and kind of shows them a hands-on and real life situation that can happen,” she said.

The Lacombe County Farm Safety Day began in 2016.