4 days ago
Interaction with pupils ‘rewarding'
Hakataramea Valley farmer Jess Turnbull, with her working dogs (from left) Maisy, Pip and Ruby, has been part of the educational programme Farmer Time for Schools since 2022. PHOTO: TAYLA TURNBULL
"Do you think it's fair to shear a sheep without its permission?"
That was a question posed to Hakataramea Valley farmer Jess Turnbull in a programme connecting schools and farmers.
Mrs Turnbull and her husband Dougal have been part of Farmer Time for Schools since its inception in 2022.
An aim was to give pupils a glimpse of farm life through live video calls with farmers.
In her answer to the question about consent to shear a sheep, Mrs Turnbull likened the situation of a woolly sheep to a child wearing many woollen garments on a hot day and not being able to take them off or tell anyone they would like them removed.
A sheep needed its wool removed because farmers had a duty of care to do the best for the welfare of the animal, just like a caregiver had for a child.
"There is always a couple of good questions and sometimes you have to take a moment and think about how you are going to answer them. It is important they have someone to ask that question to, instead of coming up with their own idea on it not being fair or cruel," she said.
The programme also made children aware of where their food comes from and shed light on the work required to produce it so it was a great opportunity to give them the right information, she said.
The Turnbull family run about 3000 halfbred ewes, 130 Angus cows and their replacements and grow cereal crops on their 1200ha farm at Cattle Creek in the Hakataramea Valley, north of Kurow.
Mrs Turnbull spends up to 30 minutes on a video call to a class of pupils about once a fortnight.
The Turnbull family had been connecting with a different primary or intermediate school each year — Edendale Primary School in Auckland in 2022, West Rolleston Primary School, Canterbury in 2023, Apiti School, Palmerston North last year and Mosston School, Whanganui this year.
"Right from the very first call, I though 'this is quite special' because you have about 20 kids who are excited and interested to learn about whatever it is you're showing them. It is a very rewarding experience," she said.
Apiti School was an intermediate in a rural area near the Ruahine Range.
The pupils got as much out of the experience as their urban counterparts, she said.
"They were interested as it is a completely different way of farming and a different climate."
The pupils loved it when snow had settled on the farm and they could see it during a video call.
The interest levels from pupils to a topic signalled if it should be kept, extended or dropped the following year , she said.
"It is easy to see if a class is really engaged and I get to know if a topic is really good and maybe I could do two classes on it."
Livestock would be grazing winter crops soon, which was later than usual due to a kind autumn.
The topics of virtual classes in winter include the process of break-feeding and how the quality of a winter crop determines the energy available to livestock.
"There is always something to look at — we have never run short of a topic," she said.
Farmer Time for Schools national co-ordinator Marie Burke said more than 1250 pupils and nearly 60 farmers took part in the educational programme last year.
The programme was launched by Beef + Lamb New Zealand Ltd.
"We see students develop a real connection with the land and their food, while farmers gain a sense of pride in sharing their knowledge," she said.
