As part of Seaview Elementary School’s new Sustainability Program, little Charlie Tucker and his classmates were going on a field trip to the local organic farm. Mrs. Tucker had volunteered as the parent helper for this particular trip.
Prior to leaving for the organic farm, Mrs. Baker explained to the class that they would take part in an interactive farm tour.
“As this is an organic dairy farm mainly, you will be seeing dairy cows,” Mrs. Baker said in a cheery voice.
“When at this farm, we will be learning about how the milk is taken from the dairy cows and we will even be learning about how this farm uses sustainable practices. All right everyone, let’s get our gumboots on, and our coats,” she said, motioning for everyone to rise.
After a small bus ride, the Grade One class arrived at the dairy farm, and laughter and excitement floated in the air. Once off the bus, the students were greeted by a kind man, who owned the farm and was going to give them the interactive tour.
“Hello, everyone. Thank you all for coming today. You all, I am sure, are excited to see the dairy cows, so let’s get started,” Mr. Eco said to the lively youngsters. “Oh, one more thing, please do not touch the cows when they are in their stalls; you will be able to brush Maple, our pet cow, after we are done the tour,” he said in reassurance.
Then all of the Grade One students, including little Charlie, tiny Benny, Emilia, and George followed this strong man into a big barn.
“For all of you here, who are learning about composting, here is another form of waste removal—in fancy terms, it’s called the anaerobic digester, but I call it the tank. What the tank does, is it takes the cow manure and feed spills and stabilizes the material, in the absence of air, into a substance that can be applied to our fields like manure, without the smelly side effect that manure would have,” * he said watching the youngsters’ faces.
“Yuck, manure. That’s pretty neat that the tank can break material down without using air,” little Charlie spoke up.
“Yeah, it is pretty cool, as long as the tank keeps a specific temperature range, then the microorganisms can survive and break the material down,” Mr. Eco replied.
“Oh wow, what is that?” Emilia blurted out, while pointing at a machine that was coming out into the stall.
“Those are the robotic milkers! * These robotic milkers will sterilize the udders and teats while massaging them to allow the milk to come down and be taken,” Mr. Eco responded.
“Look, here come the dairy cows, wow, look, look,” George said excitedly.
“It’s almost as if they know to come and get milked,” tiny Benny chimed in.
“That’s a very good observation, and in some sense they do. These old girls know that it is grain time, that’s for sure, and boy do they love to eat,” Mr. Eco said, now watching the cows come into the comfort cow systems, and the robotic milk machines going to work.
“Gee, these cows sure look happy, and look their waste is being flushed away. Does that go into the tank, Mr. Eco?” Charlie questioned.
“Yep, it sure does, and that’s one of the reasons why we can say our farm is a sustainable dairy farm, ” he replied.
“Can we go brush Maple?” Emilia asked eagerly.
“Yes, you all can, but before we go away, I have one question,” Mr. Eco responded.
He continued, “How many of you knew this is how most of you get your milk?”
All of the hands went up, and he was very surprised.
Emilia explained, “Charlie has a pet goat that he brought in for show and tell, and now we all know where milk comes from.”
© 2011 Crystal Buchan
*Information about the anaerobic digester and robotic milkers were sourced from Wikipedia, also click here, this is the other wikipedia site.
