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Game Wardens talk to students at the Farm Day. (Photos by JOYANNA LOVE | ADVERTISER)

FFA members wait with the alpaca for Clanton elementary and intermediate students to arrive.

Students enjoy petting a rabbit.

FFA members are ready to tell students about pigs.

A Mississippi State FFA member working with Serenity Animal Farm holds a turtle.

Students point to the farm implement that they are intersted in hearing about.

A Mississippi State FFA member working with Serenity Animal Farm demonstrates how a two man saw was used.

Chilton County High School FFA members enjoy hosting Farm Day.

A local beekeeper shows off some of his bees.

A student watches fish in the aquaponics display brought by Auburn University.

By JOYANNA LOVE | Managing Editor

Chilton County High School FFA teamed up with several local and regional organizations to host a Farm Day full of fun and educational presentations on April 29.

An alpaca, honey bees, chickens, rabbits and a pig are just some of the animals that FFA members were introducing to students from Clanton Elementary and Clanton Intermediate schools.

FFA instructor Marlon Harton said the Farm Day is an annual event for the program.

Preparation starts by contacting community members with animals that may be good to feature. Community groups that might be interested in participating are also contacted.

Some of the participating organizations include the Alabama Wildlife Federation, Alabama Forestry Commission, Kubota Tractor, Chilton County Sheriff’s Office, Clanton Police Department, Chilton County Beekeepers Association, Serenity Animal Farm (who had some Mississippi State FFA students joining them) and Auburn University.

“The main thing we want to do is to promote agriculture,” Harton said.

Safely handling animals and being safe around livestock is highlighted as well as.

With the variety of presentations and community groups represented, Harton said the event could also pique a student’s interest for a future career.

Each year, he enjoys “seeing the students interacting with our FFA members” and how the students respond to the animals.

“Just seeing the joy on their faces when they are out here,” Harton said.

The animals and other presentations were set up at different stations for the students to go to. FFA students worked several of the stations sharing information about the animals.

For FFA student Logan Green, it was his first time participating in the event.

He said he had enjoyed working with the animals.

“Hopefully, the kids will come out here and learn something, and they will join the group one day in a few years,” Green said.

Green was a part of the group sharing information about an alpaca named Coco that was brought in by a community member.

“A lot of people think her fur is made of wool, but it is made of fiber,” Green said. “This is a female alpaca and that is about as big as she is going to get right there.”

He said the event gave younger students a chance to see animals that they may have never seen before.

“I enjoy seeing the kids have fun with the animals and the plants because I remember always doing field day, and it was really fun,” Dallas Wolfe, who is in her third year as an FFA member, said.

Danna Melthor, who is in her second year as an FFA member, said she enjoyed preparing for having the younger students.

“It brings me a lot of joy because I remember I was once in their place,” Melthor said.

At the greenhouse, students planted sunflower seeds in cups of dirt to take home and see how long it takes the stem and leaves to grow.

Another station was a corn hole game where students received a lollipop if they got the beanbag in the target in two tries. FFA student Molly Myers said she and the other FFA members encouraged the students and encouraged them as they played the game.

Myers, who has been in FFA for two years, said it was working with plants in an agriculture class that got her interested in joining FFA.

Participating in the event gives the FFA students practice sharing publicly about agriculture topics as well as helping them develop leadership and teamwork skills.

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