Hilltop Dairy, located in Mount Pleasant Iowa, has been running and operating since 1939, producing milk that gets shipped off to a local creamery where it then becomes cottage cheese.

Hilltop Dairy started a program in 2019 called “Adopt a Calf” where it gives teachers around the state of Iowa the opportunity to bring their class to Hilltop Dairy Farm and learn about basic agriculture and farming that they wouldn’t normally learn in the classroom. Students learn all the basics in dairy farming like milking cows and handling young calves and they’re also given the opportunity to ask questions throughout the year as the young calf grows up.

This is the third year that Madison Skubal has participated in the program, and she has no plans to stop the program. Skubal, who is the granddaughter of the founder of Hilltop Dairy, has been working on the farm and in the dairy parlor since she was a little kid. She helps with milking and chores around the farm, but her main role is taking care of newborn calves and their mothers. She is also in charge of the Adopt a Calf program and set up the Facebook page where teachers and their students can connect with Skubal and Hilltop Dairy.

“Since it’s Facebook based, you get to adopt a calf and you basically get a farm life throughout the year. The kids can ask questions and we’ll answer their questions on the Facebook page, post pictures of the calf and pretty much let them watch as their very own calf grows up,” Skubal said.

Although things around the farm can get very hectic and busy at some points in the year, Skubal believes that the Adopt a Calf program is probably the most important part of what she does, and that is educating the youth about agriculture. Skubal explained that a lot of the kids have no idea where the food at the grocery store even comes from and that they just assume that the food just shows up at the grocery store.

“Nowadays the next generations are more than two generations removed from farming,” Skubal said. “As much as some farmers are busy, it all starts with us as the farmers to get agriculture in Iowa to how it used to be. That’s why I started this program, to really sit down these parents and students and show them what the behind the scenes is like and why it’s so important to our country.”

Skubal and the rest of the