Mobile classroom aims to share importance of dairy
Kari Hamilton shares in a one-of-kind teaching presentation on the importance of dairy and dairy farming. She teaches in a mobile dairy classroom for Southwest Dairy Farmers based out of Texas. Staff photo by Rick Bussler
Kari Hamilton travels the countryside with a trailer and a cow hoping to make an impact by getting people to understand the importance of dairy and dairy farming.
“It’s amazing to be with the best co-partner ever,” Hamilton said. “My colleague is a cow.”
Specifically, Hamilton utilizes Tempe, a live brown Guernsey cow as a prop during her teaching presentations. Last week they brought the traveling show to the Steele County Fair.
“Milk is an all-natural product with no additives or preservatives,” said Hamilton, who is based in Kansas and travels mostly across the southern states. “Once a cow is milked, the milk is shipped to the store within two days.”
Hamilton encourages people to have three or four servings of dairy every day. She highlighted milk’s nine essential vitamins and nutrients: Vitamin A, Calcium, Vitamin D, Vitamin B12, Niacin, Potassium, Phosphorous, Riboflavin and Protein.
“I want kids to know how good milk is,” Hamilton said. “It’s all natural. A lot of adults don’t realize that there are 13 nutrients in one glass of milk.”
The 32-foot classroom features a fully operational milking parlor. Presentations leave audience members with basic knowledge of dairy farm practices, milk production and processing and the value of dairy products in a healthy, well-balanced diet.
Hamilton shows the audience how to use a milk pump. She noted that a cow’s udder filled with milk weighs 30 to 35 pounds more in the morning and evening.
After milking, the milk is stored in stainless steel tanks and is never touched by humans, she said.
As she travels around the country, Hamilton has found that many children have no idea where their milk comes from. “They think it just comes from a store,” she said.
She finds that it’s such a “big eye opener” for most people that they need to drink milk. “It’s an easy way to keep your family healthy,” Hamilton said.
Over the past few years since COVID-19 hit, Hamilton has noticed that milk products have grown in popularity. “People are going back to natural products,” she said.
Cows eat 40 to 60 pounds of hay and 40 to 60 gallons of water each day, according to Hamilton.
“A happy, healthy cow makes the best milk,” she said.
Hamilton plans to be back again next year at the fair.