Taste of the country for Dorchester school (From Dorset Echo)

Taste of the country for Dorchester school

10:03am Monday 2nd February 2009

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SCHOOL milk used to come from little bottles but for these Dorchester children it came straight from the cow.

As part of the Dorset Farmers Market Food Roadshow at Prince of Wales Primary School, classes lined up in the playground to get a chance to see first hand where milk came from.

The excited children got involved with a milking display from farmers Dave Paull and Rosie Sage from the Hurdlebrook Farm in Babcury.

Before the milking the children were asked if they knew that milk actually originated from a cow like Lilly instead of coming all bottled up from the supermarket or shop.

The children then learned that Lilly the retired Guernsey show cow used to be milked by hand but is now milked using machines.

After they watched the cow being milked the children got a chance to taste the milk and pat the cow before going back to class.

Class four teacher Ann Johnson said: “As part of our Flagship school status we encourage children to know where there food comes from and take responsibility for eating healthily.

“Things like today are great because they get the children learning but in a fun way.”

Dairy farmer Dave said: “It’s rewarding to see the children’s faces all excited – it is a fantastic idea and it would be good if this was done more.”

Hannah Wakewell, eight, said: “It was a really fun day – I like seeing the cow being milked and stroking it.”

Harry Gardiner, seven, who was one of the first in the queue to touch Lilly added: “Seeing the cow so close was really good – I liked it best smelling the milk and then some others tasted the milk too.”

Rhiannon Bennett, eight, said that seeing where the milk actually came from was the most interesting thing.

Organiser Nick Ralph from the Dorset Farmers Market said: “It was just great to see the kids so keen and this is the first time a cow has gone into a Dorset school to do a show like this. It makes it all worthwhile if the children come back from this with a new understanding .”

The school show was all part of a week of activities and displays by the Dorset Farmers Market which culminated in the children cooking a meal made entirely of locally grown products.

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