Practicing farm safety daily

BEAR CREEK, Wis. — If 15-year-old Caden Karow could have his choice of chores on the farm, he would pick fieldwork, hands down. Karow used his natural aptitude for navigating farm equipment to earn top honors in the Wisconsin State FFA Tractor Operator’s Contest held at the Wisconsin Farm Technology Days in Bear Creek.

The contest, open to FFA members across the state, is designed to challenge both technical knowledge of tractor systems and the ability to operate tractors safely and efficiently.

Karow, a sophomore at Augusta High School, is actively involved in his family’s Karow Farms, working alongside his parents, Mark and Terri, and younger brother, Brayden. The Karows milk 70 cows on their Eau Claire County dairy farm near Augusta.

At the age of 12, Karow completed the safe tractor operator course held in Thorp. He said that although he grew up on a farm, attending the course was beneficial.

“Farming is a dangerous industry,” Karow said. “Having the knowledge of, and practicing what is safe and what isn’t, is important on the dairy.”

The contest consisted of several layers, Karow said, including a 50-question written test and a practical test where contestants are presented with a tractor having 10 safety hazards they must identify.

“It was mostly pretty basic,” Karow said. “We had to check that the lights were working. We had to look for oil and coolant leaks, low tires, (power take off) guards, slow-moving vehicle signs, things like that.”

In addition to the knowledge tests, each contestant must navigate a tractor hitched to a 2-wheel and a 4-wheel trailer through an obstacle course, Karow said.

“The course had a bunch of tight maneuvers, where you had just a couple of inches of clearance on each side of the wagon,” Karow said.

In addition to making his way through the obstacle course, Karow had to back both wagons in between posts, set to simulate a shed door.

“The 4-wheel wagon was harder,” Karow said. “You had to pull it out from the posts, then you had to move over to the next set of posts, like you’re going into another stall in a shed. The posts all have golf balls on top of them, and if you knock off a golf ball, it’s 1-point. If you knock over a whole post, it’s either 5- or 10-points.”

To add to the pressure of the contest, the event is timed, Karow said.

“Every second is a point, hitting stuff is a point, going too fast is a point,” Karow said. “Mistakes on the written test and the safety inspection are all points that add to your score, too.”

Scoring for the contest was like scoring for golf, Karow said, where the lower the score, the better.

His daily work on the farm provided the experience he needed for the contest, Karow said.

“Everyday life is your practice,” Karow said. “I do it enough on a regular basis that I am pretty comfortable with it all.”

Although he felt confident in his performance in the contest, Karow said he did not expect his name to be read off as the winner.

“I was surprised when they said I actually won by a pretty substantial amount,” Karow said. “They read off third place, then second, then first. When they hadn’t said my name as second or third place, I thought I hadn’t done very well. I was shocked when they called off my name in first; I wasn’t expecting it.”

Competing in the contest was a natural extension of Karow’s activity within his school’s FFA chapter. Active in his chapter since he was in eighth grade, Karow is serving his second term as the chapter’s treasurer. He has also been one of the chapter’s top three salesmen for several years in their annual fruit sale fundraiser, as well as attending both the state and national FFA conventions.

He also is working on a dairy entrepreneurship Supervised Agricultural Experience, which he started with a Brown Swiss heifer. He has participated with his chapter’s dairy products judging team in the FFA Career and Leadership Development Events contest.

“I like being involved in FFA,” Karow said. “We do a lot of activities. I like doing things with other kids who enjoy the same kinds of things I do.”

Karow’s favorite activity his chapter does is their tractor tour, the second of which was held in September.

“We get a bunch of tractors together, and a couple of hundred people went on it,” Karow said. “Ideally, it’s a 2-hour tractor ride driving around the scenic area south of Fall Creek. Then we have door prizes and a big raffle and things like that. We do it as a fundraiser. People pay an admission fee, but everyone who pays gets their name put into a drawing so they can win door prizes and stuff.”

While he is working on a dairy-based SAE, Karow said his favorite job on the farm is doing fieldwork.

“I help my dad with cutting and raking hay, tillage, combining, pretty much everything,” Karow said. “I like cutting hay the most.”

Karow was prompted to enter the contest by his FFA advisor, and because his dad had participated as a 4-H member, too.

Karow said he encourages other kids his age to get involved in their FFA chapter and take advantage of everything the organization has to offer, including competing in the tractor contest.

“It’s taking something a lot of farm kids do on the dairy and turning it into a fun competition,” Karow said. “It is really important to never forget the safety stuff, because accidents can happen easily and they can really change your life forever.”