Community & Business
6 November, 2021
Preppies loving learning on-farm
WHERE does food come from and how much do Australian children know about it? Some surprising results have come out of the many surveys commissioned in this area.
A national survey by the Australian Council for Educational research found that more than 25% of primary school children believed yoghurt grew on trees and only 45% of 11 year olds could identify that lunchbox ingredients such as bread, cheese and bananas came from farms.
The results from a 2014 Rabobank survey of 600 students aged 15 to 18 found that 17 per cent had never been on a farm and a study of 1000 children 5-12 years, conducted by Medibank and the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation found that 1 in 4 of them didn't know butter came from cow's milk.
In an attempt to redress this situation, well known dairy farmers, Bronwyn and Greg English of Eachamvale Illawarra Stud Malanda, provide annual farm excursions for Malanda primary school students, giving them an insight into life on the land, how milk is harvested and the daily life of a farmer.
Each year, the English family prepare their farm for visits from the Prep and Year 2 students, ensuring the farm is child-friendly, that there are plenty of animal attractions and that there is a huge smoko for hungry, young visitors.
This tradition all started around 16 years ago when Rachel English decided to take her pet calf into preschool to show her classmates.
It caused such an eruption of interest, that Mr and Mrs English, decided they should offer students the opportunity to experience a “hands on, life on the farm” experience.
“It fits in nicely with a unit the Year 2's do on water and water usage. We talk about how a cow drinks a bath tub full of water a day and about all the ways we use water on the farm,” Mrs English said.
“We always hold a few cows back from the morning milking on excursion day, so they can be milked in front of the children, then they see the tanker driver arrive to collect the milk out of the vat. We always include one of the show cows in the group, so she can be haltered and the children can get a chance to pat her. Touching a 'big cow' is usually the highlight of the day for the kids, many of whom have never been up close to a large animal before. Happily, we have never once over the 16 years, had a cow mess n the bales during the event" Mrs English said.
With 48 children coming, organisation was essential and Mrs English was pleased to have flavoured milks supplied by Bega Dairy to hand out at smoko time.
She said the milk tied in nicely with the idea of 'paddock to plate,' enabling students to consume the product they came to see produced.
“Bringing children to the farm lets them see how well farmers care for their animals and helps them to understand that dairy and beef cattle are two quite different animals, designed for different purposes. I explain that dairy cows, as milk producers, are the 'sprinters/athletes' of the cow world and aren't meant to be fattened,” Mrs Daley said.
