This story is part of a series of “meet & greets” with individuals who use our Adopt a Cow program to inspire you with the endless ways you can incorporate the program in the classroom and beyond!

Naomi Niemann may have grown up on a dairy farm, but not all of her students are familiar with what farmers actually do and where their food comes. Naomi decided to sign up for Discover Dairy’s Adopt a Cow program and introduce some of these concepts to her fifth-grade special education students in Mansfield, Connecticut.

“I grew up on a dairy farm when I was a child, so I naturally just love cows. I saw the program and I thought, what a fun way to bring some engagement material to students and have a cow they can follow along with,” she shared. “I work with students of lower socioeconomic status given my position. They don’t have a lot of exposure to where their food comes from, and I think that’s essential as we grow. Where do our things come from and how do we get these things? That’s a big focus of what I instructed on [with the Adopt a Cow program].”

After being paired with Oakridge Dairy, a dairy farm about 30 minutes away from most of her students, Naomi was able to spark community connections with her classroom.

“The kids were really excited when they realized that because our farm was fairly close, they have actually seen the products from the farm in the stores around us,” she added.

The Adopt a Cow program not only provides regular updates about their adopted calf and host farm throughout the year, but it has several lessons, videos and activities that bring careers in agriculture to life for students.

“Some of the materials that were given were really helpful in looking at different jobs around the farm. We do a lot of career exploration, so we could do investigatory research on those agriculture career paths and what kind of education people need,” Naomi shared.

When it came to specific subject areas, the Adopt a Cow program helped Naomi strengthen some of the math lessons she was teaching. For example, as her students learned about the different breeds of dairy cows, they were able to practice comparing and contrasting skills. When they chatted directly with dairy farmers, she says they were able to learn more about data prediction.

“I took some of the items from the program and aligned them with the content and targeted skills we were working on. When we asked our farmers questions, we used their answers to help us make more accurate, data-driven predictions,” she explained. “When our calf was three months old, our media specialist made a life-size cow for us along with a pasture for her on one of our movable bulletin boards. The kids could get the tape measure out and mark her growth on the growth chart [that the program provided]. One student was working on linear graphs and prediction, while others tried to make the measurements. The key was, the cow helped promote students’ engagement with those subject areas.”

Overall, the anticipation for their adopted calf’s updates and how fast she was growing kept Naomi’s students engaged and excited all year long.

“The kids really loved getting the calf updates. If I delayed [sharing] the cow update for a day or two, they would get really disappointed with me. So it definitely promoted their engagement,” she added.

The Adopt a Cow Program is now open for enrollment for the 2025 school year! Click here to learn more and adopt a cow for your classroom today. The program, which impacted more than 1.7 million students last school year, is free thanks to support from Discover Dairy partners and donors.

Discover Dairy is an educational series managed by the Center for Dairy Excellence Foundation of Pennsylvania in partnership with American Dairy Association Northeast, American Dairy Association Indiana, Midwest Dairy, The Dairy Alliance, Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin, Dairy Management West, Dairy West, New England Dairy, Dairy Farmers of Washington, American Dairy Association Mideast, Dairy Council of Florida, United Dairy Industry of Michigan, Maine Dairy and Nutrition Council, and Oregon Dairy Council.