• What makes your milk the highest quality?
• How do you care for your cows?
• Do you keep your cows in barns or pastures?
• What do you feed your cows?
• Do you use antibiotics on your cows and is it in their milk?

What makes your milk the highest quality?

High quality standards that have always been an important part of our heritage begin with the milk.  Healthy animals, kept in clean and open dairy barns, wide open pastures and fed high quality feed, produce superb quality milk.  The use of modern milking and cooling equipment, as well as all the other activities which maintain high quality standards and sanitation practices provide for the production of our high quality milk.  A mixture of dairy cow breeds of Holstein-Friesian, complemented by Jersey, Brown Swiss and Guernsey provide for the perfect blend of butterfat and protein components to make the finest cheeses in the world.
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How do you care for your cows?

Our farmer-owners recognize that exceptional cow care practices help lead to the production of exceptional quality, safe and wholesome milk.  Our farmer-owners provide healthful, clean housing conditions, nutritious feed, preventative health care programs, and sanitary milking procedures for their cows because these are important factors in the well being of our farmer-owners’ cows and the people who work with them.
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Do you keep your cows in barns or pastures?

The majority of the farmer-owners practice “pasture-based” dairying.  Specifically, this means that for the majority of the year (March through November) the cows graze outside, except for twice a day when they are brought to the milking facility.  During the winter (Late-November to early March) the weather is such that we keep our cows sheltered inside free-stall barns.  These barns have areas for the cows to eat, exercise and sleep in clean, dry bedding.  Their diets are customized and supplemented with grains and silage throughout the year. 
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What do you feed your cows?

Cow rations would consist of forages and grains that are balanced by a nutritionist so as to provide a complete ration that meets requirements for health, as well as milk production.  The forage portion of the ration would vary somewhat between dairies but would include grass, alfalfa, and probably some corn silage.   The grain portion would be a mixture of different grains, including corn and barley.  They would also be  given a vitamin/mineral supplement with their ration.
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Do you use antibiotics on your cows and is it in their milk?

We want to assure you that antibiotics are not allowed in the milk we use, and we have a strict process to test milk for quality and safety before it is accepted. 

While milking cows are not typically given antibiotics in their rations, as are other types of livestock, sometimes when an animal is sick it is necessary to medically treat them.  In these instances, our farmer-owners treat their animals with appropriate antibiotics approved for this use.  During their treatment the animal is taken out of the milk-producing herd, and their milk is not used until the cow is tested to show that the antibiotics have cleared their system.

As an additional precaution, every tank load of milk received is strictly tested for antibiotics.  If any tanker tests positive, even if a trace amount is detected, the entire load will be disposed of immediately, never reaching you, the customer.  
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