Last week, Millbrook students took a look outside the windows of their classrooms and to their surprise saw a cow! For the agriculture class taught by Ms. Broadwell, a cow was on campus to teach students about the cow-milking process. The cow stays in what students said “look like a food truck,” which is technically not wrong.

    The cow’s name was Hilly, “named after a character in the movie The Help,” said Junior Ella Milak. When asked what they could take away from the experience, students had similar answers, responding with a description of the cow-milking process. Junior Ryder Stovall explained that he “learned the process from start to finish, from how the cow was milked to people buying a jug at the grocery store.” The company that partnered with Millbrook was Southwest-Southland Dairy Farms, and they brought their “mobile classroom” to the school bus lot. The mobile classrooms are available year-round in the southwest and southeast dairy region. 

    The cow was described by Sophomore Maddie Wild as being “the cutest cow” she had ever seen. Junior Ella Milak also describes Hilly as “hungry” and “always eating.” Hilly had a pile of hay set out for her to eat and would take advantage of that each chance she got. The mobile classroom was commonly mistaken for a food truck by students not involved in the agriculture class because of its bright colors and open window to display Hilly the cow. Junior Briar McLellan said that the experience taught him about “the machine that milked cows, so people didn’t have to do it by hand,” and Ryder Stovall referenced the same machine and described it as a “cow milking robot.”

   The students learned natural facts about cows, like the fact that only female cows produce milk and only produce it after being pregnant. The students also gained a further understanding of how things get from farm to table in the agriculture industry. The odd sight of a cow in the school parking lot may have shocked some, but for those in the agriculture class, it was a “fun surprise.”