Over 1,400 youngsters experienced farm life at agricultural open days in South Cumbria.
On Tuesday and Thursday last week, the Mason family welcomed the pupils to Heaves Farm in Levens.
The open days were organised by Westmorland County Agricultural Society and aimed to explore the links between farming and the food that reaches their plate while also discovering the importance of agriculture and sustainable farming.
With 30 different bases around the farm, children and teachers were able to get an insight into different aspects of farming and agriculture from sheep shearing, butchery, milking, poultry, dry stone walling, calving and more.
The society welcomed Yan Vets, LEAF education, the Dry-Stone Walling Association, Massey Feeds, Rural Crime Police Team, Farmgate Vets, MB Nutrition, Kendal College, the WI and Croft Gardens Honey Ltd to be a part of the event and pass on their knowledge to the pupils who attended.
The society said: “The Farm Open Days simply wouldn’t have been possible without the support of 269 demonstrators and volunteers who kindly gave up their time to support the event through set up/take down and showing school groups around the demonstration areas, answering any questions and providing students with a greater understanding of the farm to fork journey.”
Across the two days, the society welcomed its president, John Cooke, alongside Kendal mayor Helen Ladhams, Caz Graham Deputy Lord Lieutenant and Radio 4 presenter, High Sheriff of Cumbria Shirely Fawcett, Philip Adams, education operations and impacts lead at LEAF education and Emily Ashworth, of the Farmers Guardian.
The event was supported by Northwest Farmers Trust, Cumbria Community Foundation, Cumberland Building Society, Muller Milk and CGP Books.
Thanks to the support of Muller Milk, every student that arrived on farm was able to leave with a carton of fresh milk, which helped them understand the full cycle of dairy production from the farm to the supermarkets.
The British Free Range Egg Producers Association, NFU and AHDB donated literature for the teachers to take back to class for additional learning following on from the class visits to the farm.
