‘Adopt a Cow’ a moooving experience for students

RENO, Nev. (KOLO) - Cows in a corral, cows in a milking parlor, baby cows, and then there’s the milk.

Welcome to Tim Sorenson’s world. Manger of the Cottonwood Dairy in Fallon, it’s been his world his whole life, as well as his father’s life, and grandfather’s life. And he’s more than willing to share that life experience.

Which is why he jumped at the chance to be part of the “Adopt a Cow” program.

“What better way than to get kids who just love everything have a love for life and expose them to hey here are some dairy cows,” says Sorenson. “These are Holstein cows. This is how we raise them,” he says.

Last year he took three calves, named them, and sent pictures of their life on the farm throughout the school year.

Kids in return asked a lot of questions. He relays them to us “What is your oldest cow? The fun one, “which cows make chocolate milk? They ask what do they eat? Do I like farming,” The answer to that last question would be yes.

It’s tough work he says, but worthwhile and one he hopes an upcoming generation might want to consider.

The “Adopt A Cow” program started in Pennsylvania years ago. Nevada Dairy Farmers and The Dairy Council of Nevada adopted the program last year and offered it up to schools at no charge.

“We had about 400 classrooms at 30 kids a head. Do the math,” says Libby Lovig from the Dairy Council of Nevada. “This year we’ve already got 200 classrooms signed-up. So, we have about 6000 kids and we still have a month to go for signups,” she says.

Not only do the kids watch a calf grow up, but they also get to see where their cheese, ice cream, and yoghurt come from.

Not from the dairy section in a grocery store...rather in a milking parlor where cows are milked twice, some three times a day. So routine they line up, and know exactly where they stand to get hooked up to milking machines for a ten minute stretch.

They then...mooove along and make room for the next group.

https://nevadamilk.com/blog/join-the-moo-vement-adopt-a-cow/

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