Lesson Plan 9 - Cow 'Bout That! - Ag in the Classroom

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and other vitamins and minerals it provides us. Protein builds strongmuscles. Dairy products provide calcium needed to build strong muscles.Dairy products provide calcium needed to build strong bones and teeth.Distribute "How to Make a Muscle and Bone Building Burger." Have classwrite the directions for making a cheeseburger, making sure to use thewords from the word box. The main ingredients of this burger arehamburger meat (or ground beef) and cheese; the rest is up to the student.Remind them that they should write their directions for someone who hasnever made a burger. Emphasize that anyone should be able to follow gooddirections and get the desired results.2. Supply enough milk cartons for every student. Have an equal share of skim,2%, whole, and chocolate milk cartons, if possible. Refer students to theback of the carton where the nutritional information is located. Informstudents that the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) requires packagedfoods to display information about the product on the food label in order toprotect consumers. Define consumers. Be sure to acknowledge their role asconsumers. Tell students that all food labels must contain the commonname of the product, name and address of the product's manufacturer, netcontents in terms of weight, measure, or count, ingredient list, serving sizes,and nutrition facts. As a class, locate each required part of the label anddiscuss. Compare the information on the various milk cartons. Askstudents how the various kinds of milk differ from one another. Does onehave more calories in a serving than the others? Do they all contain thesame amount of calcium, protein, etc? Are the ingredients the same?Determine the most significant differences between the milk types.Nutritionally, which is the best for the consumer? Ask students which is theirfavorite kind of milk.3. Contact your county Farm Bureau for assistance in setting up a farm tour ata local beef and/or dairy cattle operation. Ideally, you would visit both -which might prove to be at the same location – so that your class couldmake comparisons between the two. If only able to visit one or the other,discuss the differences with the farmer at the tour site. Be sure to reviewwith students beforehand, so that they can be active participants in this onsitediscussion.Background InformationCattle, collectively, are male and female. Only female cattle, or cows,produce milk. They begin producing milk after giving birth to their first calf(baby cow). Cows that are able to produce large quantities of milk are raisedas dairy cows. Cattle that are more muscular are raised as beef cattle. Beefcows produce milk, but only enough to nurture their young. Male cows arealso used in beef production. Can they be used in dairy production? (No,because male cows do not produce milk).Beef and dairy cow production in North Carolina are two distinct industriesbecause of the trait differences mentioned above (milk production in large©2012, North Carolina Farm Bureau Federation, Inc Grade 1
quantities vs. more muscular). North Carolina beef production occurs in allareas of the state as either a full time or a supplemental enterprise. Thedairy industry, demonstrating the changing role of agriculture through itsdecreased farm numbers and increased milk production, is primarily locatedin the upper Piedmont and mountain foothills of North Carolina.The cow that produced 1,500 quarts of milk a year a hundred years agoproduces 7,812 quarts a year today. (One first grade student would have todrink 85 plus cartons of milk a day for an entire year to equal this amount!).The dairy cows are milked two to three times a day, depending on the farm,in a building called a milking parlor. Automatic milking machines are used.How was a cow milked a 100 years ago?Most beef cattle herds in North Carolina are small, consisting of 50 or fewercattle. The term "cattle ranch" is not accurate for North Carolina. Anaverage dairy farm in North Carolina has about 110 cows. In 1997, beefcattle products ranked 8 th while dairy products ranked 10 th in major NC farmcommodities (current rankings can be confirmed with the North CarolinaDepartment of Agriculture at http://www.agr.state.nc.us/stats).Both industries are highly regulated. Stages of regulation occur in the initialcare of the livestock on the farm, the processing of the product whether it isbeef or dairy, and the proper packaging and labeling of the product.Ultimately, the result is a consumer-safe product.Bovine Medicines – Bovine refers to cattle; bovine medicines are derivedfrom cattle. Some are: Cortisone (hormone from the liver); Estrogen(hormones from the ovaries; Hyperimmune Bovine Colostrum (compoundderived from the colostrums of post-natal cows); Cartilage (used in treatingosteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis); Bovine insulin (from the pancreas).The first vaccine for small pox (totally eradicated by 1980) came from a cowinfected with cowpox.©2012, North Carolina Farm Bureau Federation, Inc Grade 1
Page 2 and 3: (1) tape two pieces of chart paper
Page 6 and 7: Beef Cow©2012, North Carolina Farm
Page 8 and 9: Corral By-Product Facts - Beef Cows
Page 10 and 11: Where’s the Milk? Got Beef?1. Cir
Page 12: ©2012, North Carolina Farm Bureau

Lesson Plan 9 - Cow 'Bout That! - Ag in the Classroom

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