Written by Dr. Pete Hansen, University of Florida
Through its Farm to School Program (https://farm2schoolalachua.com/), Alachua County School District gives school children in the district the opportunity to learn about where their food comes from and how it is produced. On Friday April 25, 2025, about 80 first graders from Littlewood Elementary School were welcomed to the University of Florida Dairy Unit in Hague Florida to experience for themselves where dairy cows live, what they eat, and how they are milked. Welcomed by manager Roney Zimpel and faculty supervisor Corwin Nelson, first graders were hosted by Izabella Toledo and other faculty, graduate students and undergraduate students from the Dairy Science Club.
Among the activities first-graders were exposed to were visiting one of the barns where cows are housed, watching cows being milked in the milking parlor, visiting a baby calf, exploring the feed ingredients cows are fed, and learning about all the products produced from milk. According to Dr. Corwin Nelson, the experiences students gain from visiting the UF Dairy are invaluable. “The students were thrilled to see dairy farming firsthand. A highlight for them was to see the milk truck arrive and haul the milk to the processor after they had a chance to see the cows milk and learn about what they eat. So they were able to make the connection. The kids asked great questions. They were well prepared from learning about farming all week.” said Nelson.
The UF Dairy has a long tradition of welcoming visitors to the dairy. Many Alachua County students have visited the dairy over the years. Each spring, conditions permitting, the UF Dairy has an open house open to everyone called Family Day at the Dairy.
Kristin Zunker of Alachua County Schools, who coordinated the trip. thought the students learned a lot.
“This was the perfect field trip to wrap up our unit on farming. I’m thankful the UF Dairy provided an opportunity for our kids to see exactly where their milk comes from. The kids loved seeing the cows, especially seeing them being milked!” said Zunker.
Staff at the UF Dairy milk over 400 cows each day. The dairy is part of Southeast Milk Cooperative and milk produced there enters the food chain as fluid milk. The dairy also supports research programs of ~ 15 faculty at the University of Florida. The dairy research program at Florida is one of the largest in the country.
Find more information about the UF/IFAS Department of Animal Sciences on our website. Stay in touch with us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Read more on UF/IFAS ANS here: http://blogs.ifas.ufl.edu/animalsciencesdept/.
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