Year 6 visit an Arla dairy farm
As part of our work with Arla, Year 6 were invited to visit one of their dairy farms in Warrington. There they met a farmer who told them all about the three miracles of milk production!
Arla are a co-operative just like our sponsors the Co-op, that means that their farmers get a fair price for their milk and their cows have a better quality of life.
The first one is the Sun, the second is the Earth and the third is soil. But even though all these things are amazing, we can’t eat any of them.
Now we know cows don’t eat soil, but they do eat the grass that grows in it. Eating grass means they can make milk, which is something that most humans drink everyday.
The farmer told Year 6 about how cows use their four stomachs to digest the grass, chewing it several times when they eat it.
Then Year 6 went to the milking sheds to see where the cows get milked and where they sleep when it gets very cold outside.
The farmer turned on the milking machine and let the children put their fingers inside the tubes to feel what they were doing. The tubes are put on the cows udders and gently squeeze and massage them to let as much milk out as possible.
The farmer said they always put the radio on at milking time because the cows love to listen to music!
Finally Year 6 saw the big tanker where all the milk collected goes before it gets taken to the factory, where it is cleaned and bottled.
That’s where Year 6 will be visiting next week to see the last step of milk’s journey before it gets to our fridges at home.