VIDEO: First responders got a lesson in farm safety Saturday at the Dane County Farm Bureau's annual Farm Safety Day.
It included hands-on training by State Line Farm Rescue.
The goal was to teach first responders how to successfully respond to all kinds of emergencies that can take place on a farm, like retrieving someone who is entangled in equipment.
Mike Duerst, one of the organizers, said the training can mean the difference between life and death.
"It's not uncommon for farmers to work 18 hours a day," Duerst said. "And, they do this day after day after day when the crops are time to put in." During these long days, Duerst said mistakes can happen that not everyone may know how to respond to. "A lot of the reason we do this is: firefighters are trained in car accidents and structure fires. But, these are also the people that go out and do farm rescue," Duerst said.