Wednesday 11 April 2012

Cotton grows on cows


I have returned to images of the Royal Easter Show, to discuss a story that ran here in the media in March. There was a survey of Year 6 children (roughly aged 12) to determine their understanding of where common products come from.

Three-quarters of those surveyed thought that cotton came from animals. To compound the problem, they thought yoghurt came from plants and just under half of the twelve year olds did not know that cheese, bananas and the ingredients for bread came from farms.

The survey was obviously funded by a primary producer group.


Belying its reputation for wide, open spaces, Australia is one of the more heavily urbanised countries in the world.

So where does wool come from?

14 comments:

Unknown said...

Love the b&w shot. Fantastic animal!

hamilton said...

Great shots!
It is a sad state that our farms are being sold off to developers and we are losing sight of where out food comes from. The city I live in also resists any kind of urban farming.

Thérèse said...

Pretty sad story beautifully illustrated! Life science is not part of the program any more?

Jim said...

Marvellous.

Stafford Ray said...

My mother told me that steel wool is clipped from iron bark trees.
When Dad sent me to town on my bike to get striped paint, that I not unreasonably imagined coming out of spouts from a compartmentalised can, I was laughed out of the shop. So when he sent me to get a bastard file, I just asked for a file. The shop bloke then asked; "triangular, rat tail or bastard?"
Another time, he sent me for a right handed brickie's trowel so I just asked for a trowel, and of course you guessed it, the shop bloke asked: "Right or left hand?"
Hope you are well, Julie.

Joe said...

Hopefully the twelve year olds will be more informed when they are 21.

Kate said...

I'm going to ask my grand-kids the same question to compare results; one is ten and the other is 17. One never knows about their knowledge and interests. The sheep being sheared looks pretty laid back. Must be a gentle handler.

Joan Elizabeth said...

I love that set of horns.

I remember my assistant at work (mid 30s) was off eating diary products for some reason and was really surprised to find that butter was a dairy product. I explained how it was made from cream ... she didn't have a clue.

Julie said...

I'm a bit over diary products, too. It's all the ink really ... *grin* ...

It was all so very reasonable growing up on a farm ... in the good ole days.

That set of horns had a decent flick and shove into the railing approach to making friends!

brattcat said...

silly julie, wool comes from caterpillars and money grows on trees.

Jo said...

I love that last photo, I have always had a soft spot for sheep....

Stefan Jansson said...

Live and learn hopefully!

Julie said...

I hope the up and coming generations do live and learn, Steffe. But we are moving further and further from an agrarian based economy, and I somehow doubt it. Bali is more attractive than Bathurst.

CaT said...

cute last pic..
in the netherlands you see a lot of farm animals wherever you go. just take the train and you will see endless meadows with cows. here in the us i wonder where all the animals are! and i get excited when i see a cow in "the wild". hahahaha