Welcome to the Golden Cow

Set in Tongala, one of the most progressive Dairy Centres in Australia, is the 'Golden Cow'. Set on 5 acres it was established in September 1994 to inform and educate tourists, students, farmers, and industry personnel the dairy industry and associated environmental issues.

From humble beginnings the 'Golden Cow' is now known as the Tongala Education Centre Inc . It offers Adult education, Childrens holiday programs, caters for Function hire, is a functional mini farm, conducts School tours, is a Tourist attraction, and a well know eatery for its cafe.


Features of the Golden Cow


WORKING DAIRY
• Students see the milking process first hand. They are given the opportunity to place their thumbs inside the milking cups and feel the pumping mechanism
• Discussion of the processes of pasteurisation and homogenisation 3-dimensional map of Australia where students explore milk production (by state) across the country

NESTLE DISPLAY AREA
• Display of milk and milk products and where ethyl fit in the healthy food pyramid
• Exploration of Nestle' products (Nestle' is across the road from "The Golden Cow") including shipment of Nestle' milk powder to South-East Asia (discussion of why milk is shipped in this form and socio-economic reasons for its destination)
• Explanation of how much milk a cow produces each day and the type and amount of pasture is consumes
• Students meet "Daisy" our dairy cow who was featured on the "STEPS" program. Students can remove the coloured covering from each of Daisy's' stomachs and leam how cows turn grass into milk

FEED CALVES & ANIMALS
• Students are given the opportunity to feed the calves, give them a cuddle and let them chew their fingers
• They are also given the opportunity to feed the baby lamb, goat, piglets, rabbits and guinea pigs (depending on season)

GOLDIE, THE GOLDEN COW
• Students have the opportunity to meet Goldie, our mechanical cow and a former TV celebrity now retired to the Golden Cow. She was featured on Peter Russell-Clarke advertisements, which promoted butter
• Goldie is made up of a number of recycled parts, including a 44-gallon drum, small rubbish bin for face, spades for ears and bicycle handlebars for homos, and fuel piping for a tail. She even moos!

MUSEUM
• Demonstration and discussion of early implements used in food production eg separator, butter chum, butter pat, beaters and ice-cream maker
• Mural painted by local artists which explores early settlement with 4 cows and 2 bulls being brought over on the first fleet in 1788 through to the highly modernised and computerised industry we have today.

IRRIGATION MODEL
• 3-dimensional model which shows flood irrigation. Students can lift the bay outlets and watch the water flood down the bays. Water allocation, lasering and check banks are also explored.

WATERTABLE WATCH TEST WELL
• Students see the level of the watertable at "The Golden Cow."" Safe," "Caution" and "Dangerous" watertable levels are explored. This area is linked to the salinity pit.

SALINITY PIT
• 3-dimensional interactive model showing two farms: one is affected by salinity and the other property has a healthy watertable level. The model has a cutaway view of the soil profile, which shows the level of the watertable on each farm.

GOLDEN COW FARM ANIMALS
• A chance to meet the farm animals

TIN COW MILKING
• Students get the opportunity to milk our tin cows. The cows are well behaved and students don't have to worry about being kicked! They are also toilet trained!

HISTORICAL POLICE LOCK-UP
• A day in the life of a dairy farmer, which is a short 8 min video to show the students how a dairy farmer lives.

VIDEO
• A day in the life of a dairy farmer, which is a short 8 min video to show the students how a dairy farmer lives.