Fonterra Tanker Visit

Learning about the dairy industry we have been lucky enough to visit a dairy farm and learnt how we get milk from cows. Now we have been lucky to have a Fonterra tanker visit us at school to find out what happens to the milk when the tankers pick it up from the farm and takes it back to the factory.
We all thought that the tankers would have to be refridgerated to keep the milk cool but did you know that the air flow in the barrel of the tanker keeps it at 7 degrees?
Our day was made tip top when we ALL got an ice cream for lunch.
YUM thanks Fonterra!
And a big thank you to Warren and Neil who spent time out of their day to came and share their knowledge with us.

How to win and lose like a champion

Following the Middle Syndicate relays we had a few people who were disappointed that they had not won. We had a discussion that we don't always win everything in life and we need to think of ways to help us cope when things don't go our way.
Lots of us had witnessed sore losers or winners in our soccer, basketball etc games that we play after school and we didn't like it when people were show offs about winning. Or when we thought it was a good game but the other team were sore losers.
Following our talk about what makes good winners and losers we made up our own skits and showed them to the class.
Faye also came up with a motto for us that "If we give it our best try, we are winners."

Athletics

On Wednesday we had a beautiful sunny day for athletics.
We all tried hard and some of us will probably be representing Vardon at Interschools.
Check out some of our photos.

Making Ice Cream

YUMMY!
One of the dairy products that comes from milk is ice cream.
We got to make our own ice cream using snap lock bags, ice, salt, cream and milk, vanilla essence and sugar.
First we had to put the cream, milk, vanilla essence and sugar into the small inside bag. Next we put the ice and salt in the bottom of the big bag and then we placed the smaller bag into the big bag. Then we shook and shook and shook some more until the contents of the small bag went hard and formed our delicious ice cream which we then put sprinkles on top!
This is the video we watched before making our own.

Check out our videos and photos of us making and eating our ice cream.

Grassheads

In Room 11 we have been looking at the dairy industry.
Did you know that cows eat  between 70 and 120kg of grass per day?
So we decided to grow our own grassheads and see who could get the best looking hair do.
This means we have to find a nice sunny spot for our heads and give them plenty of water.
Check out our collection of photos as we put them together.

Grassheads on PhotoPeach

Video's from the farm

We had a great day out at the farm and learnt so much!!
Thank you Matt and Miss Workman.
Here are a few videos capturing a few snapshots of great learning happening outside the classroom.

Questions we had for Matt-and the answers

How do you turn on the milking machine?    (There is a button you push in the milk room).

How does the milk get sucked out?     (Using the milking cups-we felt the suction).

Where do you get your cows from?     (We can buy herds from a saleyard or lease cows off other farmers).

Why do you have a poo (effluent) pond?    (You need that to run all the poo from the shed to go onto the paddocks so it is not in the water).

Do you have any other animals on your farm?     (Chickens and dogs).

How many cows do you have on your farm?   (281).

Is yours a small, medium or large farm?    (Medium to small).

How long does it take to milk a cow?     (On average 7 minutes per cow).

Do you have other farmers to help you milk your cows?   (At the calving and mating time my Dad helps me for about 3 months a year).

Visit to the farm

On Wednesday we were lucky enough to go to a real life dairy farm. We had a great day out there visiting the milking shed (some of us were lucky enough to go into the pit), the milk room, we checked out the effluent pond, sat in a paddock for gumboot throwing and we saw silage being bailed. We got to try our strength on the pressure hose, taste milk fresh from the cow, feel the suction from the milking cups and check out where the calves live and there calfateria's.

Dairy Farm Visit 2012 on PhotoPeach