FORT WAYNE, Ind. – For Jennifer Wiseman, a first grade teacher in Fort Wayne, the chance to teach her students about farm life by adopting a dairy cow was an opportunity just too good to pass up.

With Discover Dairy’s Adopt A Cow program, cows aren’t actually brought into the classrooms. The virtual program allows students to keep track of their calf and interact with the cow owners.

The program seeks to help students learn about the dairy industry and where their food comes from. The Adopt A Cow program started in 2011. Registration opens in May and closes in September. The program includes activity sheets for students, and a suggested lesson plan.

Wiseman’s classes at Lindley Elementary School learned in October 2024 that Lucy, a Holstein born in September, would be their cow for the year. Lucy is owned by LoehmerDairy in Monterey, Ind. While the students will never personally meet Lucy, they’ve followed her progress virtually from shortly after her birth through videos and messages shared online by Discover Dairy staff.

This is the third year Wiseman’s classes have participated in the program.

“The program keeps improving each year, offering so many lessons and activities throughout the month,” she explained. “The program runs from September through May and we get updates every two months, including information and many photos of Lucy. The kids love getting the updates.

“They even included a QR code so many families follow Lucy on their phones. At some point, we get a video from the farmer at the farm taking care of our calf. The kids love looking through the photos and searching for Lucy with her ear tag number.”

Wiseman said her lessons involving Lucy have pretty much focused on how food gets from farm to table and on all the different dairy foods consumers get from cows.

“They know I have a horse farm so I also really teach a lot about how much work it is to raise animals – 365 days a year morning and night, and how their feed and care changes as they grow. At Lindley, I teach reading and writing so we do lots of writing about Lucy as we get updates on her.”

The program is free, but teachers have the option to purchase a Cow Kit ($35), which includes a stuffed cow, a classroom journal and a packet of classroom ideas. Last year, Wiseman purchased a stuffed cow from the program.

“This year, I decided to buy my own two stuffed cows (she has two classes), journals and cow-print bags, and we pick a calf keeper each week in each class to bring the stuffed Lucy home and write in the journal, and then share it with the class.”

Loehmer Dairy has participated in the program for four years, said Ashley Risner, the farm’s general manager. The farm adopts out two to three calves each year. Risner found out about the program through her American Dairy Association of Indiana representative.

“I was a high school teacher for six years before coming full time to the family dairy farm,” she said. “I love teaching and I also love agriculture. This program fuses these two passions of mine together beautifully.”

Risner said the farm receives lots of greeting cards throughout the year from students who have adopted their calves. At the school her children attend, she said it’s always fun to have a student ask her how their calf is doing.

“I hope that students understand that farmers take good care of their cows and they live a very happy and healthy life. I also hope that through the program, students understand a bit more about where their food comes from and the hard work that goes into it.”

Discover Dairy does the bulk of the work in putting together updates and classroom activities, Risner said. Farmers take photos of their calves and supply information for Discover Dairy’s updates, she added.

For more information on the Adopt A Cow program, visit www.discoverdairy.com/adopt-a-cow.