On Tuesday this week the upper class were lucky to be given the opportunity  to visit a local farm along with P5-7 pupils from Leswalt and Portpatrick. We did this as part of our Health and Wellbeing topic this term which involves investigating where our food comes from and where better to find out this information than learning about local produce!

We started off the trip by making sure we  were dressed appropriately, so many layers were applied and welly boots at the ready to brave the elements. Thankfully we have a beautifully clear and dry day for our visit. We boarded the bus at Kirkcolm and then went onto to pick up our Leswalt neighbours before meeting Portpatrick at Balgracie.

We met up with the RHET leader – Isobel Milroy and Mr Drennan – the owner of the farm, and were given our gloves and an introduction into just what the farms purpose was and what Mr Drennan produced.

Balgracie has a range of produce from milk to beef to some crops. We focused on the production of milk and all the hard work involved and found out his milk does a very essential job in helping o make the chocolate for Kit Kats at the Nestle factory!

We learned about a range of different things; from how all cows have their own paper passport and how the calves are kept warm and safe. Learning about how they milk the cows, how long it can take to finish the milking and the steps the farmers takes to make sure the cows are kept safe from infection. Looking at where the cows sleep in the winter and how its kept clean and comfortable for them. Then onto the silage pit to see how they are fed and efforts it takes to make the silage.

We went on to look at the different types of feed for the animals and the different ingredients that go into them and saw where the milk was stored and how it was carefully cooled to keep it fresh. We went inside to see the crush and thankfully Mr Drennan was careful not to stuck while demonstrating (maybe we’ll catch him out the next time?!) and we saw how the cows were weighed and received medical treatment.

Finally we finished off the day with a seat on the tractor and quad bikes for those of us who have never had the chance!

Overall, we had such a great day out and learned so much about how farms work and were amazed at the hard work which goes into keeping things running and keeping the animals well looked after, happy and healthy. We can see first hand how resourceful farms can be in using their muck to slurry the fields and how many different people are needed to keep things working from the lorry drivers to the vets (one of which had quite the morning ahead scanning over 70 cows!)

We are so thankful for the RHET team and Mr Drennan for letting us have this experience and the day was even topped off with a bonus Kit Kat at the end!