JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Jan. 11th is National Milk Day, and some special visitors made a stop at one Duval County elementary school on Thursday.
Johan Heijkoop has spent most of his life working on a dairy farm.
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He is a farmer in Lafayette County, and on Thursday, he and his cows took a field trip to Chets Creek Elementary School.
“Just excited to be here and talk about our industry and what we do,” Heijkoop said.
Students got a chance to see Johan’s two dairy cows and learn how milk is made.
“Most kids have not been around a cow at all before and they may not even realize how milk is made,” said Susan Phillips, the principal at Chets Creek Elementary School.
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The Dairy Council of Florida gave students this learning opportunity.
In Florida, there are about 125,000 dairy cows that collectively produce about 300 million gallons of milk a year, according to the Florida Dairy Farmers.
“It’s important for us to maintain and connect with our consumers so that they have a connection of where their food comes from and what farmers do, day in and day out,” Heijkoop said.
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And animals are no strangers to the Chets Creek Elementary School.
“We have a goat, some pigs, some chickens, rabbits, we’ve had a number of animals over the year,” Phillips said.
Phillips said she wants to continue providing students with this type of interactive learning.
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