ROANOKE, Va. – Bringing lessons from the farm directly to students is the goal of a mobile dairy classroom for schools all across Virginia. It highlights the value of dairy and nutrition, with the help of a friend named Honey.
The mobile dairy classroom stopped at Roanoke Catholic School Monday (10/24) to teach elementary and high school students about farming.
“We like to talk about all the hard work that goes into taking care of these cows. A lot of people don’t realize all the different things that have to be considered and thought about. You know how much feed they need and everything like that,” said Morgan Cole, the mobile dairy classroom instructor.
During the presentations, students line up in the parking lot in front of Honey, a traveling dairy cow who helps bring the process of dairy farming to life.
The Jersey Cow is the second most popular cow to milk. She helps demonstrate how farmers milk their cows and how that milk goes from the grocery store to your table.
“I think my favorite part was when they actually show us how they clean and milk the cows,” said Ansley Tompkins, a 6th grader.
“I think it was cool. It was very interesting, and I want to see it again,” said Madison Galazka, a 2nd grader.
A typical week for each instructor is traveling with their cow to schools and events across the state to teach the importance of dairy farming. Just this week, Cole and Honey traveled to the Amherst County Fair, Roanoke Catholic and Northern Virginia. Cole will teach classes all the way until the end of December.
The program is free for schools, fairs, festivals, libraries, camps and just about everywhere. During 2019, the Mobile Dairy Classrooms made presentations to more than 675,000 people.