Adopt A Cow program! Farm education available at Cave Hill Dairy Farm
Cave Hill Dairy Farm’s Courtney Henderson is offering a unique educational opportunity as a member of the Dairy Alliance and the Adopt A Cow program.
To get more local information on her offerings contact Henderson at court14@vt.edu
Kim Martin in Fincastle at Catawba View Dairy Farm also is part of the program. She can be reached at Martin Farms via Facebook
From the Dairy Alliance:
“ADOPT A COW” PROGRAM BRINGS AGRICULTURE TO THE CLASSROOM, OPEN FOR ENROLLMENT UNTIL SEPTEMBER 15th
The Interactive Lesson Series Can Be Incorporated Into Both Virtual and In-Person Instruction
Discover Dairy is an educational series managed by the Center for Dairy Excellence Foundation of Pennsylvania in partnership with The Dairy Alliance, a nonprofit funded by dairy farm families of the Southeast. The Dairy Alliance had eight dairy farms participate in the program last year reaching over 24,000 classrooms with over 605,000 students across Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.
Each classroom that enrolls in the Adopt a Cow program is paired with a calf from a dairy farm in their state. Teachers and students receive photos, video updates, and activity sheets throughout the school year that allow them to watch their calf grow. Through immersive, hands-on learning activities and free curriculum provided by Discover Dairy, students gain a deeper understanding of the dairy industry and where their food comes from. Several of the lessons in the curriculum follow Common CORE standards in Math, Reading and Science.
The Adopt a Cow program also offers live virtual chats and farm tours. These chats allow students to talk directly with a dairy farmer, meet their calves, tour the farm, and ask questions about milk production.
“We participated in the Adopt a Cow program for the first-time last year. We believe it’s very important to share our farm experience with consumers,” said Kim Martin of Catawba View Dairy in Fincastle. “We want to make sure students know where their food comes from and explain why we do what we do. We like sharing the goodness of the highly nutritious product we produce and showing students what really happens on a farm.”
Last year, more than 71,000 elementary and middle school classrooms, home school families, scout troops, senior living facilities, library groups, and other organizations participated in the program. Classrooms from all 50 states participated in the program along with a total of 45 countries. Schools from both rural and urban areas can enroll, bringing dairy farming to life for students of all ages and demographics.
“This program helped us celebrate our rural location and learn more about our community. It was great to include my distance learners as well, and the calf photo and video updates that we received were very easy to share digitally. We thoroughly enjoyed this program, and we even had a page about it in our yearbook this year,” said Abby Hennington, a visual arts teacher at a middle school near Atlanta, Georgia.
After registering for the Adopt a Cow program, teachers will receive an introductory update in the fall with details about their calf and host farm. Classrooms will receive bi-monthly updates, including suggestions on components of the Discover Dairy curriculum that teachers can incorporate into their virtual or in-person lesson plans. Courtney Henderson of Cave Hill Dairy in Troutville will be the host farm interacting with classrooms across Virginia throughout the 2021-22 school year.
The sign-up period opens on August 1 and closes on September 15, 2021. To enroll in the Adopt a Cow program, visit www.discoverdairy.com/adopt or contact the Dairy Excellence Foundation at 717-346-0849 for more information.
Discover Dairy is an educational series managed by the Center for Dairy Excellence Foundation of Pennsylvania in partnership with American Dairy Association Northeast, Midwest Dairy, The Dairy Alliance, Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin, New England Dairy, Dairy Farmers of Washington, American Dairy Association Mideast, Dairy Council of Florida, United Dairy Industry of Michigan, and American Dairy Association Indiana.
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About The Dairy Alliance
On behalf of dairy farm families, The Dairy Alliance, a non-profit, works with schools, health professionals, retailers, dairy processors and the public to promote dairy foods. For more information, visit thedairyalliance.com.
Photos “Buddy” Cave Hill Dairy Farm by Courtney Henderson
Cathy Benson, editor
