New online education area launched as NSA Scottish Region ‘talks sheep’ to 500 school children at Royal Highland Show
18th June 2015
The National Sheep Association (NSA) has dedicated a new area of its website to providing educational information for children and members of the public who want to know more about the hard work sheep farmers do. The new educational area was launched today (Thursday 18th June) to coincide with the start of the Royal Highland Show, where representatives from NSA Scottish Region will be interacting with large numbers of school children and the general public.
George Milne, NSA Scottish Region Development Officer, explains: “As the NSA website has grown increasingly popular, it has become apparent that a lot of people visiting it are not farmers. In fact, the latest stats show that of the people who arrived at the NSA website in the month of May via a key word internet search, just over 40% were looking for general information on sheep and sheep breeds rather than technical farming content. NSA set up the website several years ago for its members, so this increasing interest from people who are not linked to the industry has come as a real surprise to us. What we have to do now is make the most of this opportunity to engage with these people and teach them about the wider role sheep have in the countryside, as well as encourage them to eat lamb.”
The new area of the website – hosted at www.nationalsheep.org.uk/know-your-sheep – has six parts: a comprehensive guide to the 80 breed societies who are affiliated to NSA; a glossary of sheep farming terms; some amazing sheep facts; an insight into why the stratified system makes UK sheep farming different to anywhere else in the world; a guide to what happens on a sheep farm during the year; and links to recipes for lamb and mutton dishes and more information on wool.
Mr Milne continues: “NSA Scottish Region was invited by the Royal Highland Education Trust (RHET) to engage with 500 school children over the first two days of the show. We have not done anything like this before, but are delighted that Jennifer Craig, a young sheep farmer from Biggar, Lanarkshire, who was an NSA Next Generation Ambassador in 2014, is joining the team of people teaching children about Scottish agriculture. Jen will provide each child with a fun postcard encouraging them to go the new www.nationalsheep.org.uk/know-your-sheep website with their parents to find out more about sheep.
“NSA was working on the educational area anyway, but moved the timetable forward, when we got the invitation from RHET, to ensure that some content was up in time for the show. The area will be added to in the coming weeks, taking into consideration comments from users and adding lots more photographs for people to enjoy. A longer-term project is updating how the sheep breeds information is presented, to ensure it is public and farmer-friendly, and we also need to link the education area with our online information about sheep worrying and responsible use of the countryside.”
In addition to the 500 school children invited to the show by RHET, various other school parties and families will go through the NSA sheep marquee during the four-day show. They will all have the opportunity to see the sheep on display there and take home a postcard with the website details on.
Phil Stocker, NSA Chief Executive, will be attending the show on Friday. He says: “The Royal Highland Show this year will mark the beginning of a new way of interacting with the public. We have always engaged with the general public wherever we can, and traditionally had paper education packs to hand out. But to now have this information online is a very exciting development as we can keep updating it and encourage people to come back time and again. The intention of the website is to have something for everyone, so children can pick out short and snappy facts about sheep, and adults can read more in-depth detail too. Interest in the sheep sector is not limited to children, and we must have information there to explain the work sheep farmers do to care for their flocks, produce delicious meat, work in harmony with the environment and support rural communities.
“We now have these new postcards to hand out at events, so people can go home knowing a little more than they did before, and learn much more when they go online. We have printed several thousand of the postcards and will be looking at what is the best use of resources to supply them to events where there is a non-farming audience.”
Notes to editors:-
- If you are attending the Royal Highland Show (Thursday 18th to Sunday 21st June) you are very welcome to visit the NSA Sheep Centre (the large marquee on the bank above the sheep lines) and speak with the NSA Scottish Region team. Alternatively, contact Joanne Briggs, NSA Communications Manager, on 07807 237982 or joanne@nationalsheep.org.uk for more information.
- The National Sheep Association is an organisation that represents the views and interests of sheep producers throughout the UK. It is funded by its membership of sheep farmers and its activities involve it in every aspect of the sheep industry. More at www.nationalsheep.org.uk and www.nsanextgeneration.org.uk.