Hallie the Jersey Cow
Trout Primary students got to meet “Hallie” the Jersey Cow at the Mobile Dairy Classroom, a division of the Southwest Dairy Museum, Inc., a non-profit, educational program funded by dairymen across the Southwest and Southeast. Hallie’s trailer was parked in the front circle at Trout Primary for all the children to see. The classroom is a traveling milking parlor, featuring a live cow and an oral presentation.
Students got to see how to milk a cow, learn about dairy farmers, and the nutritional value of milk. Most of the students have never seen a cow this close except for maybe Kindergartner Braylie who said her Pappaw has a cow, dog, horse, goat and sheep.
When Hallie made her appearance in the Southland Dairy trailer the students were pointing and saying, “She’s bigger than us. She’s looking at us.” They all giggled when the cow would lick clear up into her nose with her long black tongue.
Mobile Dairy Classroom Instructor, Aaron Sanders, had several messages for the students with the number one being that milk is good for you. He also made sure the kids knew that chocolate milk doesn’t come from brown cows. Although Kindergartner Jennifer said that chocolate milk is her favorite. When asked what she learned today she said she learned all about squeezing milk.
Mr. Sanders hooked up Hallie to the milking machine and milk flowed into a huge container. Hallie can produce five gallons of milk a day.
Mobile Dairy Classroom Instructor, Aaron Sanders, demonstrates how cows are milked.
Braylie did say she thought the cow would have dirty feet like frogs and that she learned that (baby) cows drink milk. She learned how milk came out and that it is poured into a box like what she drinks at school.
“This is an innovative program that brings the dairy experience directly to children. At schools, students and teachers share an experience that includes math, science, health (nutrition), and agriculture, all presented in an outdoor classroom format,” according to the Southland Dairy Farmers website.