Lansing resident Lindsey Anderson, 8, pets Scarlet, a 7-month-old calf, Wednesday afternoon at the MSU Pavilion for Agriculture and Livestock Education. Anderson and her brother Devon (not pictured) attended the 13th annual Great Dairy Adventure, where attendees could milk cows, pet calves and feel inside the stomach of a live cow.
Taking her three children to the 13th annual Great Dairy Adventure on Wednesday at the MSU Pavilion for Agriculture and Livestock Education, Marcy Uyl said the day was about giving them a chance to see a piece of her unique past.
“I was raised on a farm and always had dairy cows around me,” said Uyl, a DeWitt, Mich., resident. “My kids have not and I thought it would be fun for them to experience a little bit of my childhood.”
Uyl and her children jaunted through each station at the expo, which provided participants free educational activities, such as milking a cow, sticking their hands inside a cow’s stomach and drinking free milk.
“We have lost touch of what farmers do,” Uyl said. “Every day kids don’t get to experience farm life like it was a generation ago. (Today) they get to see what it’s like to be on a farm.”
Carla McLachlan, events coordinator for the MSU Department of Animal Science, said Wednesday’s expo offered a way of better understanding Michigan’s largest agricultural industry.
“The event today is a consumer education event we do to help educate consumers about the importance of including dairy in a nutritious diet,” McLachlan said. “It also helps us to educate people who live far from farms and keep them in touch with the farm lifestyle.”
The consumer education dairy event is organized by MSU and the United Dairy Industry of Michigan, or UDIM, and is part of the Michigan Dairy Expo — the largest dairy event in the state — which squeezes in activities throughout four days.
Mitch Smith, a spokesman for UDIM, said the Great Dairy Adventure is aimed at kids.
“MSU has a week-long dairy expo, but they wanted to do something to talk to the kids that are removed from the farm,” Smith said. “We reached out to the community to bring them in so they can understand what we do so they can understand how modern agriculture works.”
McLachlan said watching children interact with cows and experiencing farm life was her favorite part of the day.
“I enjoy watching young people get up close and personal with the cows,” she said. “For a lot of these kids they have never had an opportunity to see cows up close and here, at the Great Dairy Adventure, they have a chance to milk a cow if they want to.”
With more than 3,500 attendees, the event drew its largest crowd ever, and the organizers still are searching for ways to expand each year, McLachlan said.
“We try and update everything from year-to-year, but our message remains the same,” she said. “We want consumers to understand where the products come from, that they are safe and nutritious and that farmers are out there doing their best for them.”
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