Have you ever been on a virtual dairy farm tour?
I have watched a few and now I can tell you that
we have hosted one with the technical help from Midwest Dairy
to highlight dairy and celebrate the Arkansas Farm to School
program during October.
As stated on the Arkansas Grown website:
" Arkansas Farm to School activities improve public health,
strengthen the local economy and communities, improve food access
and food abundance for all, and protect the environment."
As Arkansas dairy farmers we were honored to share from down on the
dairy farm where nutritious milk and dairy products
are produced for our Arkansas students and their families.
Here's the link for the virtual tour:
It's been my experience through the years, the favorite
part of the dairy farm tour is visiting the baby calves in the hutches.
It was also true for the virtual tour!
On the day of the tour, this baby was two days old and drinking milk
twice a day from a bottle. The students actually named her
Zoom!
What a perfect name! We thought it would be fun to
share how she will grow and change over the next two months.
Just like all of our baby calves, Zoom received her mother's milk in
a bottle for the first three days. That first milk is so important because it
contains colostrum that provides antibodies to aid her immune system in
fighting illness. After those three days, we taught her to
drink milk from a bucket. She was a fast learner!
Zoom is now two weeks old.
She drinks milk twice a day followed with a small
handful of sweet grain.
If you look close, I think she's smiling at you!
The highlight of my virtual farm experience was
the gift of thank-you letters from Sheridan,AR
written by Ms. Caldwell's 1st grade class.
I'm so happy that Zoom went virtual!
