Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin Lesson Plan

Registered Holstein 

Lesson plan: Where Do Dairy Products Come From?

National Dairy Month occurs in June and was started by the National Dairy Council to educate the general public about the importance of consuming dairy products and where their dairy products come from. Surprisingly, many children believe that milk (and other dairy products) comes from the supermarket. National Dairy Month is the perfect time to educate children about where milk comes from, how it is produced, and how it travels from the dairy farm to their home or school.

My cow Pepsi and I in the Futurity Show

Grade Level: Kindergarten – 2

Content: Science/Health

Duration: 45 minutes for the activity, a half a school day to dedicate to the field trip

Lesson Overview:

In this lesson, students learn about the nutritional value of milk, how a cow produces it, how the cow is milked, and how the milk is subsequently transported to a dairy plant, processed, made into other dairy products, and transported to stores for consumption.

Goals:

1. Students will learn the science involved in the production, collection, and processing of milk and other dairy products.

2. Students will learn what dairy products are produced from milk.

My Grandfather, with the support of my Grandmother, started the farm from one cow. Park View Dairy Farm now milks over 180 cows three times a day. Although he no longer runs the farm, he will always love showing his cattle.

My uncle, my grandfather's youngest son, chose to take over the farm. He works 365 days a year making sure all his cattle are cared for. With the support of his beautiful wife and children, the farm has expended and is being carried on as a family tradition. They recently had a registered Holstein cow score a remarkable 94, a Park View Dairy Farm first.

Objectives:

1. Students will be able to identify animals that produce milk

2. Students will be able to explain, in some detail, the process by which milk is produced, collected, and processed.

3. Students will be able to identify dairy products that are produced from milk.

Materials:

"The Milk Makers" book, by Gail Gibbons

Construction Paper

Magazines, grocery store weekly advertisements

Scissors

Glue sticks

Crayons or markers

School bus

Dairy farm

When my aunt become part of the family so did her love for Ayrshires. Park View Dairy Farm raises four out of the six breeds of cattle. My grandfather started with Holsteins, shortly after my uncle added Brown Swiss, and my aunt expanded the farm with her award winning Ayrshire and Milking Short Horn cows. 

Procedure:

Begin by asking students questions like, "Where does milk come from?" "How is milk made?" "How does milk get in the bottle?" "What are some other foods that come from milk?"

Share "The Milk Makers" with the students. Allow time for the children to ask questions following the book.

Distribute construction paper, magazines, grocery store advertisements, scissors, glue sticks and crayons or markers to the children. Ask the children to find and cut out pictures of milk and other dairy products in the magazines and grocery store advertisements. Glue the pictures to the construction paper and write a caption such as "Milk Is Good For Me" or "Milk Makes Healthy Food and a Healthy Me".

After the students have become familiar with the different types of dairy products, we will take a field trip to a local dairy farm

As a class we walk around the farm while the farmers explain how the milking system works and give students background knowledge about all the different components of running a successful dairy farm

We will walk into the milk house and watch the technology in action

·       The bulk tank

·       The milkers

·       The pasteurizing process

·       How artificial insemination works

·       How to measure the amount of milk each cow produces

Assessment: 
Observe students' participation during group discussions. Observe which foods children cut and paste on their papers. Observe how they participate during the field trip and look for understanding of all the technology that is used to run a dairy farm.

Pepsi and I won the Futurity Show at the Shawano County Fair. I am the owner of Pepsi and very proud to say that thanks to the detected people it takes to run Park View Dairy Farm she scored at her highest at the last classification, an excellent 93.