Three generations of the Grant family, all living on the same Tongala farm. Second generation farmer Garry Grant (back), third generation Ryan (fluro orange) and Kristy. On the fence is the fourth generation: Charlotte (8), Phoebe (6) and Sophie (6).
Photo by
Daneka Hill
A recent survey of Australian primary school students revealed four in five children have no idea how milk is produced.
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CQUniversity found most primary and secondary students had ‘outdated’ ideas about where food came from and the majority still thought cows were milked by hand.
Dairy farmer Kristy Grant is using her 420-head milking herd in Tongala to educate Echuca kids about farm life and the importance of a balanced diet.
“I teach at Echuca East Primary three days a week and about six years ago we started bringing the year ones and twos out to the farm as part of the unit of work called ‘Paddock to Plate’,” Kristy said.
“It teaches the importance of students understanding where their food originates from and how it ends up in their homes.
“I’d organise educational products and goodies such as yoghurts for them to bring back to school and home. This allowed the students to start the conversations at home about the importance of consuming dairy foods.”
Kristy said despite the kids living in a regional town and being surrounded by dairy farmland, they still didn’t have a good idea about where milk comes from, and the importance of including it in their diet.
“I think a lot of education (about food systems) needs to start at a young age,” she said.
“So I was doing this and about eight months ago I contacted Dairy Australia to see if they wanted to help out and assist in providing some educational resources for the kids. They ended up signing me on as a farmer ambassador.”
Cows licking up grain in the bails — one tries to sneak under the rail to steal from her neighbour. Simple things like the fact cows willingly walk themselves up to the bails and voluntarily line up for milking aren’t understood by the public.
Photo by
Daneka Hill
While on the farm, students get to see the whole operation including the calves and learning about the rearing system and why it happens, touring the massive herringbone dairy, understanding how farmers sow and grow the pastures for the cows, visiting the cows in the paddocks and learning how the family farm runs each day.
“We talk about the tanker and how it comes to pick up the milk to take it to the factory,” Kristy said.
“Still, years later kids will come up to me and say ‘I remember when I came to your farm’.”
Kristy’s farm is on its third generation, and the fourth generation is already running around in gumboots.
“What I’m trying to do is support the education of people in how important the dairy industry is and what an amazing industry it is to work in.
“We love dairy because our whole family is a part of it. I love it because I get to work with my kids every single day.”
Being a Dairy Australia farmer ambassador means Kristy is an honorary representative of the entire dairy industry for at least a 12-month period.
“As an ambassador I have a voice in sharing information to the public and have input into sharing the understanding of on-farm operations with DA staff,” Kristy said.
“DA will choose different things they think an ambassador is suited to. We are used as a voice.
“You can be involved in many ways such as case studies, guest speakers at events or ads on television — there is a lot of different opportunities for different farmer ambassadors.”
One of these opportunities is talking to curious journalists.
Recently Kristy was invited to attend a gala dinner at Parliament House in Canberra for the 2022 Rural Women’s Award.
“Four Victorian farmer ambassadors were invited to Canberra. It was quite inspirational listening to the amazing women who are making a difference in rural Australia,” she said.
The farmer ambassador program was started after DA found more education about the dairy industry was desperately needed in Australia.
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