Farms open their gates to share secrets

School children were excited to touch a fleece shorn from a sheep

Farms across Northern Ireland are opening their gates to the public as part of Open Farm Weekend.

The initiative is an effort by the Ulster Farmers' Union to educate people about what farmers do.

Eighteen farms across Northern Ireland have events planned for visitors with apple, sheep and dairy farms among those involved.

The event has been running since 2012 leading to more than 100,000 visitors.

Jake and Jessica loved their day at the farm

Friday was the day schools got a chance to see what goes on behind the farm gates.

P1 pupils from Ballycraigy Primary School in Antrim visited the College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise (CAFRE) at Greenmount.

Some of the pupils had never been to a farm before.

Jake, five, said his favourite part was when the man “shaved all the wool off the sheep".

"It was running everywhere.”

Jessica, five, said she liked all the animals, especially “the cows and sheep and pigs and ducks”.

She thinks the most important thing farmers do is “look after animals”.

Mary-Ann McErlean teaches P1 at Ballycraigy PS

Mary-Ann McErlean teaches P1 pupils at Ballycraigy Primary School and she said the children have been “really excited” for their farm visit.

“Some of them have never been to the farm before and we’ve been learning about the farm in school.

"We’ve been tasting different dairy products that come from cows - milk, cheese, things like that, but there's only so much that they can learn in the classroom. They need these first-hand experiences.

"So it's been brilliant to get them down here and they've been able to see the sheep getting sheared.

Ms McErlean said the P1 pupils have been engaged in learning about farms.

"It's really interesting for them actually, to see where food comes from.

"Sometimes, like with the meat, it might scare them a little bit, but it's something that we have to talk about and they have to be aware of.

"They do find it really interesting".

School children from Antrim watching the sheep

Open Farm Weekend was started by the UIster Farmers' Union (UFU) 12 years ago because farmers were worried people didn’t care enough about locally produced food.

William Irvine is the president of the UFU and said showing children where their food comes from is “hugely important”.

“Food doesn’t grow in shops or supermarkets food grows on farms”.

Mr Irvine said he wanted to see more being done to teach children about food production.

“The story of food has been forgotten over the years. So many people now have a disconnect from agriculture and the rural way of life.

And that's what this is all about, making that re-connection.

“There’s at least one farm in every county opening their gates to invite people in to tell their story.

"And they're immensely proud of what they do and the passion they have for doing it.”

Open Farm Weekend takes place on 15 and 16 June.