Mobile Dairy Classroom visits North Jackson Elementary to explain milking process

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (WBKO) - Got milk?

Well, students at North Jackson Elementary in Barren County got to learn all about the milking process with a special visit from a cow named Olivia in honor of World School Milk Day.

“I love learning about how they milk them and like, how they can do it with robotics and learning about how like the nutritional value of it all that,” says Brooklyn Wright a student at North Jackson Elementary.

Students were able to experience the Mobile Dairy Classroom.

“We are in Barren County, so I’m sure a lot of kids have seen cows before, but they don’t necessarily know about the milking process or anything like that,” says Kristy Smith who works at the elementary school.

“So Southwest Southland Dairy Farmers is actually a group of dairy farmers who allow us to travel on their behalf, educating the public, both young and older, a little bit about what our dairy farmers do day in and day out,” added Haley Fisher who is a mobile dairy classroom instructor.

Fisher also adds, “allowing students to see that firsthand understanding where their food originates from, and all the care and hard work that goes into producing it makes them appreciate it a little bit more.”

The mobile dairy classroom travels to all parts of the Bluegrass, teaching others about the dairy industry, “we talk a little bit about the production side of milking and dairy farming. So showing you, cows nutrition and proper cow care to ensure that they’re working for our farmers, and working for us, and then a little bit about processing so people understand the farm-to-table aspect of dairy foods,” says Fisher.

Smith adds that a lot of kids do not know about the milking process, “the whole process of where it comes from and how you have to pasteurize it before it comes into every place.”

The mobile dairy classroom also teaches that farmers and those that raise cattle do not have a typical job.

“It’s not just you know, we get up in the morning we go milk, we go home, we come back and milk again, it is a 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, regardless of whatever weather conditions or things that are going on in our day to day lives. These girls still have to be milked every day,” says Fisher.

If you’re interested in bringing the mobile dairy classroom, “please visit our website at southlanddairyfarmers.com and there’s a way to request us, we come and visit schools, community events, fairs, completely free of charge on behalf of our dairy farmers across the state,” says Haley Fisher.

Click here to book a visit from the mobile dairy classroom.

Currently, Barren County is in the top counties in the state in milk production.

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