Fair Cape began the school tours programme to play an important role in education of primary school learners, not only in dairy farming activities, but also in environmental conservation matters and the ethical treatment of animals. The dairy has always had a transparency policy with its milking practices and the programme is a fun way for learners to learn firsthand where their daily milk comes from.
Established in 2005, more than 70 Cape schools have learnt about cows' living and eating habits and all the steps that dairy takes to ensure that its cows live in an environmentally friendly manner with animal well-being being paramount.
The Friesland cows are fed only natural products with no animal by-products or added hormones, ensuring that the milk is 100% natural. To ensure that the milk it produces is of the very best quality, the cows are kept in large enclosures, allowing free movement, thereby subscribing to the free range ethos. The range of dairy products consists of milk, yoghurts, desserts and a variety of fruit juices.
In keeping with it brand promise to ‘do the right thing', the dairy has also recently been carbon assessed by the Global Carbon Exchange to develop ways in which to neutralise its carbon footprint in the future.
“We consider our school tour programme as part of our overall brand strategy to ‘do the right thing'. As a socially responsible company, we feel it is important for us to play a part not only in consumer education, but also in the education of our youth. Our school tours programme is an intrinsic part of our value-added offering and we offer them free of charge, it's another way for us to give something back to the community,” says Louis Loubser, Fair Cape's marketing director.
