Sheep and Cheese Down on the Farm

# Come join us down on the farm today

# Learn about nature along the way

# From seeds to crops and fields to barns

# So much to do down on the farm

# Summer, autumn, winter, spring

# Ploughing, planting, harvesting

# With JB and Storm to lead the way

# Come join us down on the farm today. #

Hello, I'm JB and welcome to Down On The Farm.

In winter, there are still vegetables to be harvested

and foods to be made.

Now, let's see what Storm is up to.

Today, I've come to this factory

where lots of milk arrives every day.

The milk is pumped into the factory through this blue hose.

And I'm here to find out how they turn the milk into cheese!

Inside these huge vats, the milk is set

and it's separated into milky jelly curds and liquid whey.

When it's ready, this mixture pours out into the stirring tray.

These large stirrers keep the curds loose and separate from the whey.

Eventually, the liquid whey drains away through sieves.

We shovel to make sure none of the curds are stuck to the bottom.

But it's hard work.

Then the cheese is salted.

This bar pushes the curds to the end of this tray,

ready to go into the next machine, called an auger.

Then they're sucked up these tubes into a machine which squashes them

and turn them into big blocks of cheese.

Each block of cheese is wrapped in plastic

and sealed tightly to keep the air out.

The blocks are put into boxes,

and then surrounded by wooden slats.

The cheese is stored in really high stacks until it's ready to eat.

I'm going to meet Kim, who works in the cheese factory,

and her helper, Alicia.

-Hi, Kim. Hi, Alicia.

-Hi!

I've had a great day already seeing how cheese is made,

but how do you know when it's ready to eat?

The cheese is left in storage between six and 16 months.

You can tell then if it's mild, medium or mature.

-So the longer it's left, the stronger it tastes?

-Yes.

-Do you think we can try some?

-Yes.

Just pass me one of the blocks behind you, please?

Ooh, it's heavy! There we go.

This is a cheese iron.

You put it in the block of cheese to get a sample.

-Would you like to try?

-I'll give it a go.

-There we go.

-Just twist it.

-Ooh!

Oh, that's good, Storm!

Do you want to try some?

Mm, it's delicious!

-What does it taste like, Alicia?

-It tastes strong.

I think you're right, it is nice and strong.

While we continue trying some cheese,

why don't you find out what else happens in winter?

Not all of the trees we see around us have bare branches in winter.

Evergreen trees are different from other trees

because they have leaves all year round.

Yew trees and Scots pines are two types of evergreens.

Both have special leaves called needles.

Scots pine needles are an important winter food for birds

called capercaillies when little else is growing.

The cones which grow on evergreen trees can also provide

a good meal when food is hard to find.

Crossbills use their special beaks to prise open pine cones

and eat the seeds inside.

Wildlife big and small also use evergreen trees to help them

shelter from winter weather or hide from predators.

A goldcrest is searching these yew branches for insects to eat.

But this tiny green orb spider is well hidden among the needles.

Evergreen trees like these can provide welcome food

and protection in the winter months.

MOUSE SQUEAKS

Hi, boys and girls.

Welcome to the beautiful Union Canal in Falkirk.

Today, we are here to do a litter pick.

But before we go on our walk along the canal,

we'll learn a little bit about what litter is.

When I pick something up,

you can tell me if you think it's litter

or if you think it's not litter.

First of all, I've got a drinks can. What do you think this'll be?

-CHILDREN:

-Litter.

-Litter, yeah, well done.

How about these leaves?

-Not litter.

-Not litter.

-We've got a crisp packet.

-Litter.

Litter, definitely. We might see some of those today.

Now we're off to find rubbish and tidy up.

There's a couple of tiny bits of litter down here.

Found a bottle.

Is this banana skin litter?

It is a natural thing, isn't it?

But we don't usually find bananas on the tow path.

Do you have any idea how long

it will take this to rot down if we leave it here?

-A week or three weeks?

-It's actually longer than that.

It could take about two years for this banana skin to go away,

so we will pick this up and put it in our bags.

If we litter, animals might eat it and they might get unwell

and that's why we have to keep nature clean.

Nature is an important thing.

A tree is important because without them,

you won't be able to breathe.

It's important you keep the place clean.

If there's litter, no-one would like to come here.

I got it!

Litter takes a really long time to break down.

It's bad for the environment

because loads of animals nibble on it

and it makes their stomach very poorly.

People shouldn't litter

because it's just as easy to throw it in the bin

as put it on the ground.

OK. Well done, everyone.

We collected lots and lots of litter today.

Can anyone tell me the different types of litter that you found?

-I got lots of wrappers.

-I found a glass bottle.

-Dog poo.

-Oh, dog poo.

Oh, yeah, we found some of that.

-Did you guys had a good time today?

-CHILDREN:

-Yes!

Best day ever!

Put your hat on.

"Why?" I said.

Because it's cold, protect your head.

Tie your scarf.

But it's too itchy.

It makes my neck feel hot and twitchy.

What happened to your other mitten?

I took it off to pat the kitten.

-Did you put it in your pocket?

-Maybe.

No, I think I dropped it.

So many woollies left behind, forgotten, lost in winter time.

It's such a shame, it's just plain silly.

Let's love our woollies when it's chilly.

SHEEP BLEAT

Today my helpers and I have come to this farm on a very important day.

-Hello, everybody.

-Hello!

What's happening today, Sam?

Some of our sheep are pregnant,

they're carrying lambs which will be born in the spring.

We'll find out which ones are pregnant

and how many lambs they're carrying.

-How do you do that?

-We use a machine called a scanner.

We'll bring them into the barn to be scanned.

-Can you help?

-Yeah!

Now let's head to the barn.

This is Robert.

His job is to scan the sheep to see if they're pregnant

and how many lambs they have.

Hi, Robert. How do you count the lambs?

This machine looks inside the body.

There's a picture on the screen and

the small white shapes are the lambs.

And what can we do to help?

We'll spray a dot on each sheep to tell me how many lambs they have.

One spot on the shoulder for one lamb,

a spot on the bottom for three lambs,

and if there's two lambs,

we won't put any marks on the sheep at all.

What if there are no lambs?

We put a spray mark all the way down the sheep.

-Well, I hope you guys can remember all of that.

-Yes.

-Yep.

-How many do we think are in this one?

-Two.

-Two.

-Two.

-Two.

-Two it is.

-Yay!

-Three in this one.

-Oh, three!

Rosie, you're up. Well done.

-This is going to be three.

-You think this is three again?

-Yes.

-Three little babies.

-Yay, there we go. You're up.

Here comes the last one.

-One.

-One.

-One.

-I say two.

-One.

-Ooh.

-Yay!

OK, your turn, then. Well done.

How many lambs do you think there are?

30.

-30.

-100.

I think...47.

There's actually 43.

Ooh, so close!

Now let's take them back to the field.

Now here are some tips for spotting animals in winter.

SHEEP BLEAT

Can you spot any signs that animals are nearby

when you're outside in winter?

You might find...

..paw prints in the mud,

old birds' nests,

or maybe some rabbit holes.

Have a look next time you're out.

Beans are one of the most popular canned foods in the UK.

But how do they get into the tins and to our cupboards?

We've come to this bean-canning factory to find out.

This is Ian.

He's checking the beans before they go into the factory.

They use a type of bean called a haricot bean.

The beans are dried before they arrive here.

We put them through a machine called a rehydrater

to make them moist before canning.

We make sure only the best beans go into our cans.

We sort them by colour, keeping only the white beans, and take out

any stones or anything else that may have come in from the fields.

After they're checked, the beans are ready to be put in the cans.

The empty cans come in one by one

and exactly the right amount of beans is dropped into each one.

No can of beans is complete without the special tomato sauce.

We take thick tomato paste

and other ingredients like sugar and spices.

Mix with water.

Once the sauce tastes right,

it goes to the liquid filler machine.

The cans of beans pass under the liquid filler.

It pumps the right amount of tomato sauce into each can.

The full cans are sealed with lids in the seamer machine.

In here, the beans are heated up and cooled down in the cans.

This makes them safe to eat for a long time.

Once cool, the cans are labelled and packaged

until they're ready to go to the shops.

Thanks to this careful process, the beans can last for up to two years!

We've had an excellent time on the farm today. I hope you did, too.

If you want to have fun with your own farm,

go to the CBeebies website to play the Down On The Farm game.

See you next time, bye!

# Come join us down on the farm today

# Learn about nature along the way

# From seeds to crops and field to barns

# So much to do down on the farm

# Summer, autumn, winter, spring

# Ploughing, planting, harvesting

# With JB and Storm to lead the way

# Come join us down on the farm today. #