BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- The Mobile Dairy Classroom is moooving through elementary schools across California with the goal of teaching kids about agriculture and where milk comes from, Bakersfield television news station KERO reported.

Kids get a hands-on experience as the mobile classroom houses a live Holstein cow and calf.

Dairy Classroom Moooves Across California

According to the Dairy Council of California, the free Mobile Dairy Classroom began in the 1930s as a joint venture between Venice, Calif., dairyman Clarence Michel of Egdemar Farms and the Dairy Council of California. Michel would travel weekly to Los Angeles-area schools in a truck built to accommodate a live cow, and he would teach children how milk and dairy foods were produced.

After World War II, the Dairy Council teamed with Los Angeles City Schools and hired a professional teacher to increase the program’s educational impact. Ultimately, the program expanded into a statewide teaching curriculum.

Today, five Mobile Dairy Classroom units visit schools throughout California, reaching more than 300,000 elementary school students each year. Numerous California dairies support the program by providing cows for the school visits.

For more information regarding the Mobile Dairy Classroom, visit www.dairycouncilofca.org.