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“Calves eat cornflakes too!”, SAC Tells Stirling Pupils

Primary school pupils taking part in a recent Food & Farming Day at Stirling’s Caledonian Marts area were amazed to learn from SAC Consulting that calves enjoy tucking into cornflakes too!

The day was organised for 180 local P6 pupils by the Royal Highland Education Trust (RHET) in co-operation with members of the local agricultural community and food supply chain businesses. Its aim was to give the youngsters a “hands-on” way to learn about the different enterprises found on local farms and show them how their favourite foods make their way to the supermarket shelves.

Stirling-based SAC consultants Gavin Dick and Robin Mair displayed some locally-grown crops along with a selection of the wide range of food products that these crops provide for both humans and animals.

Gavin said: “We showed the children that corn flakes, or flaked maize, is also one of the ingredients in calf mix and they taste just as good whether they come from a Kellogg’s packet or a Harbro bag of calf mix – they really enjoyed seeing me taste samples of the maize from the bag!”

The day got off to an exciting start with a live auction where the children ‘bid’ enthusiastically for a range of livestock including lambs and dairy cows. Smaller groups then took part in six different activities geared towards demonstrating the link between different farm outputs, such as dairy, cereals, vegetables, soft fruit and meat, and the food products associated with them. This includes a live butchery demonstration as well as Gavin and Robin’s crop demo.

Gavin said: “Both Ally Logan, the auctioneer, and the volunteer farmers present wished they had such enthusiastic buyers at each sale with bids and prices well above normal levels – at one point there were over 180 hands in the air – including teachers – bidding for one of Graham’s Dairies Jersey cows!

“Overall, the pupils and their teachers had a highly enjoyable day and left realising that their food does not originate in a supermarket.”

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