One spoke of music, another talked about facing anxiety, a third discussed 4-H impacts on a life, while a fourth provided helpful advice on farm safety.
The four young speakers were part of the feature presentations during the 51st annual Farmer Appreciation Day dinner held in Estevan on the evening of March 10 in the Days Inn Plaza.
Over 300 people packed the centre to view the presentation of the Farm Family of the Year Award to the Brent Dunnigan family of Alameda, to listen and view the photo and video offerings of tornado hunter Greg Johnson and to hear prize-winning speeches from the four 4-H members who were heading to district speak-off competitions shortly after honing their skills in front of their Estevan audience.
Lorne Mitchell of the Crossroads 4-H Club of Stoughton, was up first and he addressed the effects music has on our emotions, terming it as an emotion intensifier. “It is a drug that does no harm,” he said. “It can calm you and it can inspire you.”
He suggested music can even have a therapeutic factor within our lives and cited scientific examples including the influence of music on newborn babies who react to the music they hear shortly after entering the world.
Jamie-Lee Kerslake from the Browning 4-H Beef Club providing a personal experience of her journey in dealing with anxiety, noting that one in five people will suffer from panic attacks. “For me, high school was like going to war every day until I learned how to break down my panic attacks, realizing there was no room for reason.”
Jamie-Lee spoke of her first equine adventure and how her anxiety was relieved when she realized “how animals have an unspoken influence on us.”
She also learned that by attacking the anxiety items in her life, over and over again, she began to realize and identify, “the false alarms.” Doing something to face the panic attack and then doing it over and over again, eases the mind and relaxes the body.
“Anxiety, panic attack, it’s no joke,” she explained. “It can lead to depression, but right now, I know I can do it. Just by standing up here and speaking to you people, I am proving it,” she said with a smile.
Tess Brokenshire from the Outram-Madigan 4-H Club spoke of the 4-H movement and it’s influence on her over the years, beginning at the age of six when she first joined that club. “I don’t think I realized what an influence it had on me until I reached the intermediate level,” she said.
Dealing with the four Hs of 4-H – head, heart, hands and health, she said only the health prong is self-centred. The three others all dealt with doing things for others, sharing and looking out for their needs. That sometimes is a simple thing like “just stepping back from yourself to help a new 4-H member.”
The heart and head part of the equation were self-explanatory when it came to 4-H since members are constantly acting and thinking in those spheres of assistance.
“Yes, health, the better living choices, it’s the only one that requires you to think of yourself,” she said.
Lorie Tedford a senior member of the Benson 4-H Beef Club, spoke of safety on the farms and that wasn’t necessarily dealing with fires or lightning, but rather being aware of such things as farm machinery with their many “pinch points that can trap your clothing or a finger,” she said. She cited statistics noting how the majority of farm accidents happen to those under the age of 15.
“We need to know the hazards, whether it be machinery, ATVs or animals. We need to be educated and stay alert. A tractor can be the most deadly piece of equipment on a farm with their rollovers and runovers, so walk around it before getting in. Look for kids, animals and debris,” she said.
Animals such as horses will often react to unexpected sudden events with a flight or fight reaction while cattle are territorial and will kick or step on people. Tedford said it was important to remain calm and be deliberate around such animals and avoid their blind spots .
“And, always have an escape route,” she advised.
The speakers were thanked by the program’s emcee for the evening, Jason LeBlanc who added to the speaking package by relating a few farm adventures he has encountered along the way in his career as a rancher, farmer and auctioneer and being a driver of trucks that just seemed to want to go way too fast.
