By Dan Walsh
Primary school pupils from Wicklow, Dublin, and Gaelscoil Moshíológ, Gorey, visited a working dairy farm in Wicklow as part of a hands-on educational initiative led by the National Dairy Council (NDC) through the EU School Milk Scheme. It is part of a wider national programme bringing up to 1,500 pupils to dairy farms across Ireland during the month of May.
On the farm of local dairy farmer Tom Short, pupils took part in milking demonstrations, calf feeding, and a series of interactive learning stations focused on animal welfare, nutrition, grass growth, and how milk is produced and supplied through their school milk co-operative, Tirlán.
Emma Walls, CEO of the National Dairy Council (NDC), said the programme helps children make meaningful connections between food, farming, and nutrition. “For many children, this is their first real experience of a farm and their first chance to see where milk comes from beyond the supermarket shelf.
Local dairy farmer Tom Short, who hosted the visit, said it was valuable to welcome children onto his farm and show them how food is produced.
Siobhán Smith, a teacher from Gaelscoil Moshíológ in Gorey, said the visit gave students a clear understanding of where milk comes from. “They saw it from the cows in the fields to the milking parlour and how it actually ends up on their table. The students were very engaged throughout the visit and full of questions,” she said.
“It’s really important for the children to know where their food comes from and to understand their responsibility in looking after the environment. It also gives them an awareness of how their food is produced from farm to table.”
The EU School Milk Scheme, co-funded by the European Union and Ireland’s Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, provides subsidised milk to schools alongside educational resources promoting nutrition and food awareness. It is delivered in Ireland by the NDC through its Moo Crew initiative.
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