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 This year, Jennifer Hayes' fourth grade class at Emden Grade
School has adopted a cow. The cow, whose name is Snow Belle, was
born December 10, 2015.
Hayes said she decided to have her class do this project after being
contacted by both the Hoerbert Farm, Emden, and the Dairy Council,
about an 'Adopt a Cow' program. She said, "the premise is to help
students understand how local farmers get milk from the farm to your
house."
As the students learn about the cow, Hayes ties it into several
areas. She said, "We have learned about Jersey cows. Terry Hoerbert
comes to visit us once a month and we tie in farm related
information with math and science."
As they learn more about cows and dairy farms, Hayes says, "We
continue to tie in information for use on bar graphs, calculating
farm costs, and measuring of food given per day."
The students are also writing about the project, as they have
"researched dairy farms and Jersey cows and have written
informational papers about it." Hayes said the class has also done
art projects and written friendly letters about the cow.
 The program, sponsored by the St. Louis Dairy Council, "allows
classes to adopt a calf from one of our partner farmers, name it,
and receive monthly pictures and updates, all while learning about
dairy foods and dairy farming."
Hoerbert said the St. Louis Diary Council has given her handouts to
give to the kids and has information online about how to work with
students. Hoerbert has also sent the class photos of Snowbelle as
she grows, and plans to share some statistics on her milk
production.
Snowbelle, the cow
Mrs. Hayes
class adopted, moves to her pen. Hoerbert says a milk
tester is used to test how much milk a cow produces and she has been
able to share it with the students.
Hoerbert shared vocabulary with the students as they started out the
unit on cows. She also sent the class an informational video of
Snowbelle as she moved into her pen.
The students have also done a variety of math problems related to
how much the cows eat and how much milk they are producing.
In January, Hoerbert shared how Snowbelle was progressing and had
the students do a math problem on how much it costs to feed her.
Snowbelle gets three quarts feed in the morning and three quarts at
night, so students had to figure out how many gallons that added up.
Hoerbert said four out of six of her cows were also getting
frostbite during cold weather. The students had to figure out what
number of cows were affected by the frostbite
The Hoerberts do four days of milking each week and have forty cows
they milk. So for one math problem Hayes had the students figure out
how many pounds milk per day the Hoerberts get per cow.
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The students have also had to figure out how many pounds are in a
bag of feed and how many pounds Snowbelle is eating each day.
Next month, Hoerbert plans to get some milk samples and have the
students test each cow's milk. Since the milk is sold to Prairie
Farms, Hoerbert has to follow Prairie Farm standards testing the
cows for bacteria, then deciding how to treat them.
Hayes said, "This has been a great experience for my class. It is
wonderful to bring community business into our schools. It has
really tied real life jobs into why we need to learn math and
science in the classroom."
Hoerbert said teaching the kids what she does at the dairy farm is
far beyond what she ever expected. She said she was touched when the
children sent her thank you notes after her first visit.
Lorisa Riggs, one of Hayes fourth graders, says she has learned a
lot about cows. Riggs said she has enjoyed doing math problems to
figure out how much Snowbelle and the other cows eat. She also liked
writing paragraphs about cows and why they are mammals. Riggs said
she is excited about the chance to meet Snowbelle later this year.
As the project wraps up, the class will visit Hoerbert Farm sometime
in the spring and have a chance to meet Snowbelle.
From this project, the students now have a better understanding of
the 'farm to table' connection learning about Snowbelle and the work
that goes on at a dairy farm.
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