So, Why A Raw Milk Dairy?
Posted by Heritage Farms on
At one time, milk was produced locally either from a family milk cow and shared with neighbors or on small dairies with maybe a dozen cows. Over time, farms grew larger and larger. Dairies have become so large some are milking tens of thousands of cows. Milk transformed from a food into an industrial commodity trucked long distances, cheaply produced and far removed from those who buy it in the store. The milk that flows through this system, by its very nature,
is intended to be and has to be pasteurized.
Small dairies have all but disappeared from the countryside. Most dairy cows no longer spend their days grazing the hills and coming into the barn only for milking (despite what’s painted on the side of milk delivery trucks). Instead, they spend their lives on concrete eating a chopped and premixed feed. No longer do farmers see and talk to the people who drink the milk they sell. The large processors have created a wall to separate the two. No longer can a person go to the dairy and see how their milk was produced. The public is not welcome on these dairies.
Heritage Farms was created to fill the space left from the disappearance of these small, local dairies. Our farm is modeled after these small, old-time dairies but with appropriate modern technology.
We started by building a new milking parlor designed from the ground up to produce clean raw milk for direct human consumption. Our milk travels about five steps from where we milk the cows to where it is cooled and bottled. We purchased a cooling tank from Europe specially made to quickly cool small batches of milk. We only milk ten to fifteen cows which allows us to
pay special attention to each and every cow, each and every milking. We put the cows out on pasture. They only come to the barn to milk or during bad weather. We only milk the cows once a day which produces less milk but gives a more nutrient dense milk and it is less demanding on cow and farmer alike. The cows are only fed a few scoops of grain at milking and the grain we feed is an organic non-gmo feed. We invite customers to see the farm. See where the cows are milked, where the cows graze, meet the people who produce your milk. Come see how the lowly Jersey cow can turn grass into a nutritious and delicious glass of milk.
is intended to be and has to be pasteurized.
Small dairies have all but disappeared from the countryside. Most dairy cows no longer spend their days grazing the hills and coming into the barn only for milking (despite what’s painted on the side of milk delivery trucks). Instead, they spend their lives on concrete eating a chopped and premixed feed. No longer do farmers see and talk to the people who drink the milk they sell. The large processors have created a wall to separate the two. No longer can a person go to the dairy and see how their milk was produced. The public is not welcome on these dairies.
Heritage Farms was created to fill the space left from the disappearance of these small, local dairies. Our farm is modeled after these small, old-time dairies but with appropriate modern technology.
We started by building a new milking parlor designed from the ground up to produce clean raw milk for direct human consumption. Our milk travels about five steps from where we milk the cows to where it is cooled and bottled. We purchased a cooling tank from Europe specially made to quickly cool small batches of milk. We only milk ten to fifteen cows which allows us to
pay special attention to each and every cow, each and every milking. We put the cows out on pasture. They only come to the barn to milk or during bad weather. We only milk the cows once a day which produces less milk but gives a more nutrient dense milk and it is less demanding on cow and farmer alike. The cows are only fed a few scoops of grain at milking and the grain we feed is an organic non-gmo feed. We invite customers to see the farm. See where the cows are milked, where the cows graze, meet the people who produce your milk. Come see how the lowly Jersey cow can turn grass into a nutritious and delicious glass of milk.