Today half of Tautoru went on an exciting journey to visit Stacey and Andrew Faith on their dairy farm in Te Horo. (Tomorrow the other half are off for a visit).
First of all we had a looooong trip on the bus (according to the children), and had to use some perseverance and patience because it took a while to get beyond "Are we there yet?" Once we arrived we were straight into the milking shed. What an experience!
Stacey asked us to choose some children who sat nicely on the bus, and some of them got chosen to go down into the pit and put the cups on the teats of the cows. It was a very messy job! Lots of cow poo descended on those in the pit. As Jackie said, "If this is what the good kids get, what is in store for the others?" (Actually they had all sat and travelled nicely, but many were relieved they hadn't been chosen!)😊😊😊
The smell was a bit different to school! It was tricky to find some appreciation of beauty and excellence in that.
We used a growth mindset when we were attaching the cups, and zest was on the cards if there was any signs of droppings from above!
We watched the milk go into the container attached to the cups, and then it went through pipes into a big cylinder and then onto the vat to be stored until the milk tanker came. There was lots of new learning today.
After the cows were milked the cups had to be washed so they would be ready for next time.
See the big vat for storing the milk. Then we were off to the calf and chicken sheds.
It was a bit of a walk on a hot day, but there was no stopping us in our gumboots.
Stacey feeds all the calves. Sometimes she has as many as 250 calves to feed.
She uses the calfateria to help (called the "milk bar"). Plenty of calves can all be fed at the same time using this machine.
We got a chance to see the chicken and pat one.
Then we were in a rush to get back to the milking shed because the milk tanker driver needed to get on his way, so Andrew and Stacey gave us a ride......
Well that was another experience for the day!
The milk tanker driver attached the hose to collect the milk from the vat. It all gets calculated by a computer in the truck to check the quality and quantity. They get paid for the quality of the milk they produce.
Over 6,000 litres got collected today from Stacey and Andrew's farm today.
The milk goes off to the factory so that it can be pasteurised and bottled.
Then it was back onto the bus for us.
And off to Te Horo school, where we were able to wash our hands (phew!), eat our lunch and have a play in their playground.
They had a gorgeous shady tree to sit under to eat our lunch and a great playground!
We even met some children with connections to Worser Bay School.
Oh what a day!! There were a few sleeping children on the way back to school.
We had so much to be grateful for:
Stacey and Andrew inviting us to their farm.
The wonderful bus driver who drove us so calmly so none of us got sick.
The weather- it was a stunner!
Te Horo school principal, staff and children who made us feel so welcome.
Adventurous and fun parents who came on our trip and entered into the spirit of the day
(see them in the truck and behind the tractor)!
And well behaved, curious, adventurous and appreciative students.
What a wonderful experience!
Thank you everyone who made it possible.
