Probably no the right place, but as we are the more mature posters, you may have a point to offer. Regarding all children getting free milk at school, there are a lot of health carers, not happy with this going ahead. The worry being obesity, for the children who do not need the extra milk getting there hands on other kids milk who do not want it themselves. Evidently it is only 1% of children, who go to school hungry. I have grandchildren, who will give the milk away. I can remember one of my Daughters getting very upset that 1 of her children wanted to go get free breakfasts at school. Just for the social aspect, not because of hunger. Will this go ahead! Will we all pay more, for milk !
kay141,
Dec 23, 10:00pm
I understood it was starting in selected schools only. In some schools. 90% of the children are hungry, hence the school breakfasts. And these are not available at every school which needs them.
pup2,
Dec 23, 10:15pm
Maybe the parents should stop gambling, drinking and smoking away their kids breakfasts. Not all of them do it i know, but i bet most of them do and then they keep having kids when they can't afford it. I know people will b.tch about what i just wrote. But thats my opinion. and this should be somewhere else too, not recipes
pickles7,
Dec 24, 1:25am
You are very opinionated then. How many pups, do you care for.pup2.it is very hard for parents these days.
jcsolgier,
Dec 24, 1:58am
Yes pup, but parents like this (not all parents, low income parents etc etc) are not going to stop. So should innocent children starve in the meantime!
griffo4,
Dec 24, 2:08am
they are rolling it out in Northland and the milk is low fat to cover the obesity and milk is a food Alot of the schools in Northland are decile 1 or close to that and alot of hungry children through no fault of their own l know this is going to get howls but l think as part of their benefit they should be given vouchers for groceries and they can't be used to buy alcohol, cigarettes and no junk food and they can't get any cash back from them so at least they can get food to feed their children
sunshine78,
Dec 24, 6:54am
This voucher system is in place already isn't it!Perhaps early 2012 if not, that was one of Nationals policies.And agree with Pups here, but those parents think totally differently from us and many just don't have the skills needed to raise children on a budget. probably shouldn't have had these kids in the first place but that's another post . In another forum.
vintagekitty,
Dec 24, 7:03am
I dont care about anything but kids getting fed and given the best start in life. So cant be bothered to play the blame game, but the cynical part of me thinks this is a big fat PR stunt on poxy fonterra's part which they will be claiming back in tax write offs or some form of tax break/kick back from the Govt. I am totally for gst to be removed from dairy, fruit and veges. I am for free market trade, but NOT price fixing food which is essential for child development.
vintagekitty,
Dec 24, 7:05am
Northland is the poorest part of NZ so it stands to reason starting there.
lythande1,
Dec 24, 7:29am
No-one ever got fat off milk. They should drink it for the calcium for one thing. They get fat cause they get driven to school and then don't playoutdoors anymore, and stuffed with things like coke, and lollies.
venna2,
Dec 24, 7:52am
I agree with lythande1!
Also, did anyone see the recent documentary on child poverty in NZ! I think Sweden had much to teach us. Free school 'dinners' (at lunchtime) are given to ALL children. I think it's a really good system to provide things like this to all children regardless of parental income, the decile of the school and so on. That way, no one can complain.
I suspect that obesity is also caused by the empty calories in processed food as well as inactivity and eating too much. And perhaps by xeno-estrogens in the environment, growth hormones/antiobiotics in some foods too.
pickles7,
Dec 24, 8:06am
I think you will eventually see something on T.V. on the subject. Diabetes was also mentioned.
horizons_,
Dec 24, 8:13pm
Vouchers are not the solution. They get traded for cash. I've seen a $100 voucher traded for $30. It's common at places like St Vinnies, they go in with a sob story, get given vouchers and then meet someone down the road and swap them for cash. All arranged before they ask at St Vinnies.
pickles7,
Dec 24, 9:09pm
My kids got there own breakfasts, they took a bought lunch everyday. My grandchildren are too lazy to get there own. When mum tells them to get breakfast they look blankly and walk out the door, not even cutting a lunch. I say to my daughter to make it for them, her answer is they are able, and need to learn. They eat when they get home.sandwiches, that they make. odd . Maybe a dry wheat biscuits dished out by the teacher would really catch the hungry ones. Offering the kids something better at school is not the way. All the kids would say they are starving. After all it is hard to fill some shoes.
griffo4,
Dec 25, 3:37am
vintagekitty it is every dairy farmer who supplies Fonterra who is paying for the milk not Fonterra itself and we didn't get asked if we wanted to do this project and it will come off our bottom line and we can't claim it And before anyone says we can afford it then walk a mile in my shoes and if you worked out the hours we put in our hourly rate would well below the minimum wage Not all farmers are big corporates, rant over, and off to milk cows
uli,
Dec 25, 4:33am
Ridiculous - why feed them low fat milk! Might as well leave it then. And most likely the milk will be homogenised and heat treated too - so hardly any nutrients left - except for the protein which survives.
Good on you griffo - for keeping up the good work and getting the NZ economy at least some money from overseas. How long do you want to be the government's slave for I wonder! Have you ever thought what is going to happen if the dairy farmers stop doing what they are doing!
And yes - the grocery vouchers are already in place - and it seems it is VERY embarrassing for the mothers to produce them at Pak'n'Save - as I have seen a couple of times.
I hope you have a very merry Xmas - regardless of the milking!
griffo4,
Dec 25, 5:31am
l got pooped on from a great height tonight but all good just off to have a shower to clean up lt is always nice to come home to get the cows in and milk after all the excesses of Christmas day
Had a fabulous day and going to chill tonight
We are giving up milking cows this year as it is getting to hard to do, we love the cows hate the politics, and all the rules we have now while the same councils are busy letting sewerage into the same rivers and streams l don't think anyone should be able to put anything into our rivers be it farmers, townies or businesses it should be a level playing field for all instead of putting town against country when this country should be pulling together and realise we are all in the same boat
Not sure what is the best way to feed these children but they also need the best chance in life We have lost our community caring for everyone and so children are falling through the cracks, very sad
Merry Christmas everyone
pickles7,
Dec 25, 6:22am
warm shower of poooooooz. I guess a hot shower has taken care of that.griffo4.hope you have a good boxing day as well.
vmax2,
Dec 25, 6:31am
griff04 have you considered getting a smaller block of land and supplying raw milk to people interested in the health benefits of raw milk.There is a growing demand for this.I think that there will be increasing health problems if milk is supplied to schools because it is rubbish milk - pasteurized, homogenised, low fat, will it be flavoured too ! - sugared as well.Pure milk straight from the cow is a very healing product.
uli,
Dec 25, 6:47am
Good luck griffo4 - I know where you come from. Hope all is going to go well for you - post Fonterra .
griffo4,
Dec 25, 7:38am
vmax we are a small farm but it is the tie 365 days a year as getting someone to come in and run the farm is just too hard, so it is time to kick back as we are both burnt out, 5am every day gets to you even with a nana nap <;-)) We drink raw milk but someone who stayed here years ago got camplobacter and the Dr said it would only be from the raw milk not from the chicken sandwich he ate after we came home from a day at the beach and l was going to throw it out because of the thought of bacteria in the sandwich, no one else got sick
Raw milk and also colostrum is so good for us and l agree it should be available to all who wants it but the hassles of it all because if someone got a tummy bug they would blame the milk A heart surgeon told me that raw milk is the best thing we could all drink for the health benefits and the fat in it was not as bad as it is made out to be l had an amazing chat to him about all sorts of farm related things, he was very interesting and we talked about the children being born with so many heart/health problems because of their parents poor diet choices while pregnant and they are not getting the necessary vitamins and minerals for baby Pickles the warm shower got cold very quickly but it is not too bad there are worse things that can happen and it was a cow who had just come back into the shed after calving so she was a bit worked up but she pumped out 30ltrs of lovely colostrum and the froth on top yum Big chuggy is a lovely cow but no Christmas day calves this year one yesterday and no doubt more tomorrow l love calving at this time of year Yes the hot shower was very nice and clothes are in the wash now after l gave them a shower to get the muck off so it was clean enough to put in the washing machine There are worse jobs around so not complaining
Uli we have the stock to put on here once the cows go so we are set up then we will see what happens from there, who knows what the future holds
vmax2,
Dec 25, 8:15am
I'm talking small as in maybe 10 cows.That's not too hard to get a worker in when you take a holiday for a smaller amount of cows.There are other possibilities too such as community farming - ask uli.What an interesting conversation you had with your dr.I was talking to someone recently whose dr told her to drink raw milk for arthritis and not to touch the shop stuff as it was just rubbish.So there are some drs out there talking sense.
griffo4,
Dec 25, 7:55pm
Yes and even some dieticians are saying the same thing about raw milk
uli,
Dec 25, 9:47pm
I am glad that my GP is getting some good company then . he is excellent and really interested in health and nutrition.
And yeah griffo4 - good luck to you, maybe you can scale down to a few animals or go into a community farm situation where everybody CAN take some time off and things keep running smoothly regardless.
Most likely much less money earned - but who cares if you have all your own food and no mortgage!
vmax2,
Dec 25, 10:40pm
Yeah, I think a community farm idea sounds perfect.Anyone want to park there bus on our property and help with milking!A lot of people today live in isolation away from family so don't have that back up to help.Community farming sounds great - someone to help when you need a hand with babysitting, weeding, milking, help with animals etc.Yup, the money doesn't matter, the lifestyle, happiness is more important.
Since the public registrations are closed, you must have an invite from a current member to be able to register and post in this thread.
Have an account? Login here.