Welsh farmers gear up to take food and farming into schools
The Cows on Tour roadshow will kick off with a visit to one school each day around Wales with the help of nearby farmers offering the loan of machinery, livestock and teaching.
Lauren Dean
A team of Welsh farmers are gearing up to take ‘the farmyard to the schoolyard’ to help educate youngsters on where their food comes from.
Welsh dairy farmer Abi Reader, who has been part of the Cows on Tour movement since it started five years ago, said it was about a group of local farmers going into schools and teaching about food and farming ‘in as fun a way as possible’.
The roadshow (May 13 to 19) will kick off with a visit to one school each day around Wales with the help of nearby farmers offering the loan of machinery, livestock and teaching.
In the evenings the team will be raising money for RABI and the DPJ Foundation with activities such as football and rugby matches, tug of war, and a sack race – as well as food and refreshments from local farmers.
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“To be a strong community we have to support each other,” Ms Reader said. “It also gives us more opportunity to take those messages to adults, as well as the kids.”
Leading up to the week, Cows on Tour will be doing a number of publicity stunts with a life-size fibreglass cow at its core – including being dressed up as a dinosaur, flying down the UK’s longest zip wire and being carried to the top of Snowdon.
Charity
Ms Reader said: “The first is on March 1 at Dan yr Ogof at the National Showcaves Centre for Wales, so we will have a dinosaur theme and the hashtag #jurassicfarm.
“On April 1 we have teamed up with Zip World where we are going to send the cow down one of four zip wires and have three people going down the other three at the same time.
“Then on May 4 we are of course going to be using the hashtag #maythefarmbewithyou and will be asking local farmers to help carry the cow up to the top of Snowdon for a big group photo at the top.”
Walkers will be asked for a £25 donation towards charity, rather than compiling sponsorship money, she added.
And for schools who cannot be involved during the roadshow or for any who would like to take part in food and farming after the event, educational kits will be left with local farmers.
Each will include a model milking cow, a grain mill, butter making kits, wool kits, posters and lesson plans.
Funding is required however and businesses will be asked to buy model milking cows for school students to paint, which will also come with a free adult ticket to the Smallholders Festival, Builth Wells, at the end of the week.
Local people will also be asked to knit small cow teddies for young pupils to take out and about as a school mascot.
For anyone interested in sponsoring the tour or getting involved, contact cowsontourfarmers@gmail.com.
The roadshow line-up:
- May 13 – Fishguard
- May 14 – Maesteg
- May 15 – Aberystwyth
- May 16 – Wrexham
- May 17 – Newtown
- May 18 and 19 – Smallholder Festival, Builth Wells
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