Kids Tour Smith Dairy Farm

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[For the last three years, Nancy Timpner has brought agriculture into the classroom and, on occasion, taken the classroom to agriculture.That happened again on Tuesday as Nancy hosted a field trip for Du. Quoin elementary students at the John and Terry Smith Dairy Farm three miles west of Pinckneyville. The farm is part of the large Prairie Farms Dairy cooperative.

The farm, operated by the Smiths and their wives Karen and Sue, goes back 60 years. Children Collin ad Kelsey help with both the dairy farm and the 200 acre grain farm used to raise feed for the Holstein dairy cows. The farm produces about two million pounds of milk a year (about 160,000) gallons. Each dairy cow conservatively produces about eight and a half gallons of milk a day. The day starts at 4:30 a.m. and doesn't end until 8 p.m.

Kids were impressed that a dairy cow eats about "a wheelbarrow and two bucks" feed a day.

Purchasing your milk from the Carbondale-based Prairie Farms, Inc. co-op helps their families and the local economy.

It was a great day and a great program.