Following Their Dreams

A destination for travelers from Amarillo to Lubbock, Milk House Market — a boutique store offering carefully curated home decor, furniture, lighting, clothing and more — is nestled in a small town in the Panhandle of Texas. As its name alludes, the store started with a dairy, and a mother-daughter duo with a passion for decorating and collecting.

 

When Rocky and Liz Gingg started Del Rio Dairy in 1982 together, they milked around 100 cows west of Phoenix, Arizona, they never expected to leave the area. But as the Phoenix city lights crept closer to their dairy, they knew they needed to explore other options. By 2004, Del Rio Dairy found itself surrounded by housing developments — and offers for the property were coming in.

The Gingg family had to make a decision: move the dairy to another location in Arizona, or somewhere else entirely. High land costs in Arizona and lengthy milk transport time led the Ginggs to build a new dairy in Friona, Texas, doubling the size of the dairy in the process. Now, Del Rio Dairy milks around 7,000 cows and recently expanded the operation with a new milk barn in September 2020. 

While Rocky and Liz decided to relocate the dairy, their daughter, Crystal Moroney, was studying fashion merchandising at Northern Arizona University with the goal to become a buyer. Weekends spent thrifting with her mother to discover unique pieces helped fuel her interest in fashion and merchandising. Crystal married her high school sweetheart, Nathan Moroney, graduated from college and started working in corporate retail. And while the experience was unforgettable, Crystal learned that working in the corporate retail industry wasn’t right for her.

“Because it was commission-based, the clothes were a lot prettier than the people,” Crystal says.

Returning to the family farm to help with the dairy’s construction business and manage the farm’s books during the transition to Texas was an easy decision for Crystal. After managing the books for five years, Rocky told Crystal and Nathan, “If you’d ever want to come to Texas, and be closer to the farm, you’re more than welcome.”

Nathan was working for his father’s residential and commercial roofing business when the economy crashed in 2010, and he found himself looking for a new opportunity. Little did he know that he wouldn’t need to look very far. Even though he had little dairying experience, Nathan was up for the challenge of becoming a dairy manager for Del Rio Dairy.

Next stop: Friona, Texas

One month later, the Moroneys, and their two sons, Nathan Jr. and Max, found themselves in Friona.

“I look back and think ‘God knew what he was doing because if I didn’t start working for my dad, it would never have led me to where I am today and us moving to Texas,’” Crystal says.

For Crystal, moving to small-town Friona felt like coming home. 

“It was easy for me to adjust because I’ve always lived in the country — I never had neighbors until college,” Crystal says.

For Nathan, he had to quickly learn not only about cows, but also about his role, the life of a dairy farmer and the industry. And when Crystal and her mother, Liz, weren’t busy assisting with the dairy barns, they found other barns to spend their time in.

Pick, pick, pick

Unlike Arizona, where the mother-daughter duo would head to antique stores, Texas had barns everywhere — barns filled with dusty antiques ready to be repurposed. All they had to do was ask permission to dig through them, often heading home with special pieces. Before too long, the pair realized they had far too many things to use themselves, and so the idea for creating their own store was kindled.

“My mom has inspired me to accomplish anything — to her, there are no boundaries,” Crystal says. “And even though we live in a small town, we can still do anything.”

Crystal knew she wanted two elements to go into the name of the store, the word ‘market’ and dairying. “I wanted to incorporate dairy into the name because that’s the root of everything in my life, and it’s so important to me. The milk house is where milk is stored, adjacent to the milking barn. Pretty soon, the name Milk House Market stuck.”

Before purchasing the building Milk House Market currently occupies, the original store was housed in a 1,000-square-foot building across the street from their current location. In July 2014, Milk House Market was founded, showcasing the treasures the two found during their adventures meandering down two-lane roads in Texas. In addition to their timeless finds with modern trends, Crystal and Liz brought in repurposed furniture, candles, tea towels (designed and handsewn by Crystal’s mother-in-law) and home goods to their inventory.

Soon enough, word spread to the surrounding big cities and Milk House Market had the opportunity to grow into a larger building.

Hardware store turned decor store

Across the street from their original location sat an old hardware store. The building is nostalgic to Friona residents because of the memories in the building. The old hardware store was a place where locals would register for wedding gifts or visit for do-it-yourself project supplies.

“I was hesitant at first, but my mom wasn’t,” Crystal says. “I knew this would be a drastic change, and I had three children and was still working full time at the dairy. But we decided to go for it, and in the process, we convinced my dad that we needed a creative outlet besides the dairy.”

To Have and to Hold

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A dairy farming couple shares their love story and how they lived through “for better or for worse.”

 

Nestled on the San Joaquin River in California’s Central Valley lies Stockton, Calif., a small town south of Sacramento. It’s here that Ron and Sherri Prins went to the same high school, but they didn’t really know each other until after graduation. Then, they caught each other’s eye at a friend’s wedding. Sherri was 19 and Ron was 21. Shortly after, they began dating.

“I pretty much knew she was the one,” Ron says. The pair married one year later, and together they started building a life they had only dreamed about as individuals; but now, as a married couple, they could start a family and create a future. Like most love stories, the pair had big aspirations starting out as a young couple. They faced some challenges along the way, but two things remained steady: They were going to raise a family and they were going run a dairy together.

From this day forward

The Prins have now celebrated more than 30 years of marriage. They have four children who are all grown and raising families of their own. Together, they milk about 1,100 cows and focus on a family atmosphere through all aspects of their operation.

“There’s your health and your family’s health, and taking care of your family is number one,” Ron says. “To this day, Sherri and I are a team. Dairy farming is just a way of life that we live. We’re not punching a clock day to day.”

Sherri married into the farming family, and with Ron, took over his parents’ dairy. Ron oversees the farm and employees while Sherri cares for the calves with help from their many grandchildren — 13 to be exact.

“The grandkids come and help in the calf barn, and they all really love being a part of the dairy,” Sherri says. Caring for cows is part of their success, but caring for one another has created a strong bond that keeps the third-generation family operation running smoothly.

“The grandkids kind of lighten the air pretty quick. Having them come around the dairy, they can always put a smile on your face,” Ron says. “The interaction with animals and being able to take care of our cows, learning the work ethic, all those things are very important to us, and that’s something we passed on to our kids and now our grandchildren.”

With a wonderful marriage, their children raised and out of the house and loving grandparents to more than a handful of grandchildren, Ron and Sherri seem to have it all.

But things didn’t always go according to plan.

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In sickness and in health

In 2000, Sherri started to experience a lot of headaches. They started off as a daily annoyance, but gradually continued to get worse.

“I found her curled up in bed one day with severe headaches, and thought, ‘OK, that’s it, I’m taking her to the doctor,’” Ron says.

The doctors found a mass and diagnosed Sherri with a brain tumor. The shocking news stopped the couple in their tracks. 

“Thoughts start going through your head,” Ron says. “How am I going to raise our four kids and do everything else that goes along with being a dairy farmer?”

Their lives were established, their farm was on the right track and their kids were growing. “We weren’t sure what the future would hold,” Sherri says. “There were some pretty tough times for a while, but Ron was my rock. He was very stable and made sure the kids were taken care of, that we had food and that all the chores on the dairy were checked off.” With Ron by her side, Sherri could focus on healing. “I didn’t feel like I had anything to worry about because Ron was taking care of everything.”

As with most marriages, Ron and Sherri had to work hard for their love story. They had to fight, not only to continue their relationship, but for their family. “What’s going to happen to my family if something happens to me? These are the kinds of conversations we had to start having. We weren’t sure what the future would hold,” Sherri says.

As they do on the dairy, Ron and Sherri worked as a team to find the right doctor, determine the next steps and create a successful path toward a positive future and a cure. After a hard-fought battle and numerous trips to different hospitals and doctors, Sherri had surgery and was given good news — she was healthy and tumor-free. The tumor was benign and did not spread to other parts of her body. The couple could start thinking about their future again — together.

“Our faith got us through a lot of that. There were a lot of prayers prayed for me,” Sherri says. “I think our marriage definitely grew closer, and now, I’m healthy, and I’ve been able to see my grandkids be born. It’s pretty amazing.”

To love and to cherish

Today, Sherri’s back on the family farm, using their operation and herd as therapy to help redevelop her brain. “My brain healed, but it was a long process, so feeding calves was a part of that process — remembering numbers, who the mom was,” Sherri says.

“I do think Ron knew that it would be good therapy for me, but he didn’t tell me that was the reason,” Sherri says of his encouragement for her to work with the calves. “But it’s all been so good.” For those at Prins Dairy, caring for their cows has always been part of their success, but now, it has also helped keep their family legacy alive and well.

“I think sometimes when you have little kids, you get very caught up in just the daily chores — bath time, homework, meals — and you kind of forget the value of their life and what that means and that you’re raising adults, and their lives are very important, more important than all the other stuff that we do,” Sherri says.

For the Prins, their love story on the dairy continues to live on. Their lives have slowed down some, but as long as they’re together, Ron and Sherri wouldn’t have it any other way.

Warm and Cozy

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It may be cold outside, but dairy farmers — like the Korn family — keep their herd comfortable, no matter the weather. 

 

With snow falling more than four months of the year, and some mountainous areas receiving even more winter weather, Idahoans like husband and wife Richard and Kim Korn, who operate Korn Dairy, are well accustomed to donning their snow boots and winter coats. The Korn family has weathered through their share of Idaho winters on their third-generation family dairy in Terreton, Idaho. They work hard to provide comfortable conditions for their herd of 90 Holstein and Brown Swiss dairy cattle 365 days a year, including the chilly ones.

Their responsibility to take care of their cows is an everyday endeavor, so nothing, including cold winters, will stop them from maintaining a high level of care. That starts with caring for each cow as if she was the only one.

The Korns use trackers that the cows wear around their necks to monitor their health. If a cow’s temperature or exercise levels are off, the Korns are able to quickly identify the cow, so they can check on her and provide any necessary care.

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But, while the Korns may have to bundle up in their winter gear to go check on their herd, the cows are right at home in the cold weather. Their thick skin, coarse hair and natural insultation help them stay warm. In fact, all year long, cows have an internal body temperature of around 101 degrees, and they prefer temperatures between 40 and 65 degrees. They don’t typically get stressed due to cold temperatures until they reach nearly 20 degrees below zero for a long period of time — and dedicated dairy farmers make sure that doesn’t happen.

When temperatures dip below or near freezing, cows have their barn mates to thank for helping keep them warm. Cozied up, cows can produce enough heat to warm the barn and stay nice and comfortable. And to keep it even more toasty, farmers may put up curtains or plastic to mitigate snow or drafty winds getting in the barn. Some barns in areas with cold winters are even equipped with built-in wind protectors that can be manually raised or lowered, depending on the weather that day. The Korns ensure their girls have extra dry bedding on cold days to help insulate the barn and keep the cows dry.

“Another thing we have to prepare for is something breaking, such as our stock tank heaters,” Kim says. “Since we’re 50 miles from the closest store for parts, we’re sure to have spare parts on hand.”

A cow’s diet also plays a factor in keeping her warm during the winter. Dairy farmers may alter their cows’ feed rations to accommodate for their bodies using energy to keep them warm. And they don’t let up on their drinking habits, either. Cows can drink upwards of five gallons of water in a single minute, so farmers ensure their water tanks are always full to keep up with demand. In the winter, it’s especially important that the water source is checked, too, to make sure pipes don’t freeze or water gets too cold to drink (cows prefer a water temperature anywhere between 40 to 65 degrees).

The little ones are cared for in much the same manner. But because calves are smaller, they require a little extra warmth, including more straw, a separate barn with space heaters or an enclosed hutch away from the elements. In some conditions, calves also wear warm, quilted jackets. At Korn Dairy, the calves in hutches get dried milk fat added to their milk bottles during the winter. The extra calories give them more energy against the cold temperatures.

Cows are tough animals and are well-equipped to face the many seasons and temperature fluctuations the environment gives us. It takes dedicated family farmers, like the Korns, to ensure that they are cared for despite the cold winds of winter or heat of summer. “We love the dairy lifestyle, working with family, caring for our cows throughout the seasons and being productive and involved members of our community,” Richard says.

Back to the Farm

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Two dairy farmers’ daughters carry on their families’ legacies.

As the next generation of farmers step up to feed the world, dairy farmers are relying on their sons and daughters to take over the family farm. While many children who grow up on the family dairy choose to leave and pursue other passions, two young ladies, Emily Bourdeau, 20, and Emily Mikel, 21, are returning to their roots.

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Emily Bordeau

“As I grow up, I see how many people my parents and grandfather have helped out, and how much they have done for the agriculture industry,” Emily Bourdeau says. “As my grandfather gets older, I think ‘I only have sisters, so what’s going to happen?’ Normally, the sons would take over, but I love dairy and I work just as hard as any guy.”

The oldest of three daughters, Emily Bourdeau recognized the responsibility of being a dairy farmer’s daughter at a young age. She cherished the longstanding tradition of her family’s farm, Pleasant Acre Farms in Swanton, Vt., that her great-grandfather started in 1946. Her earliest memories include carrying buckets to feed the calves and sweeping barn floors with her mother. Now, as a junior studying animal science at the University of Vermont and a first-generation college student, Emily Bordeau’s responsibilities look a little different. She has an active hand in caring for the cows alongside her mother and father, in areas including cow care and health, partnering with veterinarians to doctor sick cows and helping in the fields during hay season and harvest.

Emily Mikel

For Emily Mikel, dairying has been a life she’s loved since 2008 when she joined her parents in building Mikelholm Holsteins in Stafford, N.Y., from the ground up. Now going into her last semester before graduating with a degree in dairy management from The State University of New York Morrisville, she has big plans for her dairy. As an only child, she’s the future of her family farm and she’s ready to step up. Adding more fans and switching to energy-efficient LED lightbulbs in the barn are just two examples of the ways she has already begun to advance and expand her dairy.

As the next generation on their respective family farms, both women have chosen to carry on the legacies of their parents and the dairy industry as a whole.

For Emily Bourdeau, that means caring for her cows and her community. “Dairy farmers want to share about what we do and help others understand that their food comes from people who respect the land, passionately care for their cows and are good neighbors that invest in their communities for the long haul”, she says.

Emily Mikel envisions an industry moved forward by young people. “I’d like to see more young people in the industry because the average age of the dairy farmer is rising,” she says, “and younger people need to step up and into the roles the older generation has held.”

For the Emilys, returning to their roots was never a question, but a way of life.

Wild White. Moo-Moo. Valentine.

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It’s very common for people to have a favorite animal — a cuddly dog, a mischievous cat or even a rambunctious rabbit, but what about dairy farmers? They spend their days tending to their cows, running a 24/7/365 operation and ensuring milk makes it to tables around the world. With a herd to care for, you wouldn’t think they’d have time to name their cows. But many do, and this farm family in particular has the naming game down.

Nestled between the bustling city of San Francisco and the beautiful Sierra Nevada mountains is a third-generation family of dairy farmers focused on raising happy, healthy cows. At S&S Dairy in Ceres, Calif., Darin Bylsma milks 1,300 cows alongside his wife, Tanya, and his parents, Sam and Sherri, while striving to provide a wholesome childhood experience of growing up on a dairy for the three youngest Bylsmas: Danika, 8; Sadie, 5; and Tarren, 1.

Like many dairy farms, S&S Dairy focuses on keeping their cows as comfortable as possible, so they produce quality milk for people everywhere to enjoy. From 72-inch fans hanging from the top of the barn with variable speeds to adjust the temperature, to sprinklers that turn on at 80 degrees to blow cool water on their cows’ backs on hot days, S&S Dairy ensures their cows are well taken care of. “It will be over 100 degrees out here, and you’ll touch a cow’s back, and it will be perfectly cool,” Darin says.

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But for the Bylsma family, their commitment to their herd goes beyond producing milk — they love their cows and treat them like part of the family. It’s the same mentality that’s been around since the dairy’s founding in 1968. “My grandpa originally bought the dairy, and for 25 years now, I’ve been working with him and my dad and taking care of our cows,” Darin says. “If you take care of your cows, they’ll take care of you. I’ve been around it my whole life and it just comes naturally.”

Like other dairy farms, cows at S&S Dairy sport an ear tag with a unique number to identify each cow individually, which ensures accurate records. Many dairy farmers memorize these numbers and can provide information on each individual cow when needed. For the Bylsma family, it goes beyond numbers. They know their herd personally and care for each cow because they love their animals. To show this caretaking mentality, the Bylsmas and their three young daughters took it one step further.

They named their cows. From Een and Twee (Dutch for one and two) to Candy, Valentine and Moo-Moo, certain cows along the way stole their hearts. These cows represent special moments to the Bylsma family. Valentine was born on Valentine’s Day and Candy enjoys eating Hershey’s Kisses. For the Bylsmas, they just enjoy their animals and treat them with the utmost care, attention and love.

Today, their favorite is a heifer named Wild White. “I like Wild White because she’s wild and I’m wild,” Sadie says. With a unique identification tag and number 3061, the Bylsmas make it a point to go search for Wild White when checking on their herd, creating a fun family outing everyone enjoys. “I like that Wild White is a scaredy-cat like Sadie,” Danika says.

The family usually easily spots Wild White mixing in with the others thanks to her identifiable features. “What I like about Wild White is that she has black around her eyes, a black nose and white spots, and that makes her special. She’s different and unique,” Sadie says. With Darin and Tanya by their side, the Bylsma girls can be heard on the farm calling out, “Wild White, Wild White, come say hi to us.”

For Darin and Tanya, naming their herd isn’t just for their daughters to have fun. They want to teach the next generation about truly caring for their herd and each individual cow. And, that continued commitment is starting to pay off. “My favorite part on the dairy is putting straw down for the cows to lay on,” Sadie says. Her favorite chore aligns perfectly with advice from the operation’s nutritionist — well-rested cows produce more milk. So by providing a soft, welcoming area for them to lay down throughout the day, they’re ensuring their herd has enough energy and, in return, produces more milk.

By naming their cows, educating their daughters and creating a wholesome environment on their dairy operation, the Bylsmas practice cow comfort and reveal an unconditional love that many dairy farmers have for their herd.

For the Bylsma girls, they can’t wait for their next outing to spot Wild White.

Good Deeds

As Ken DeVries and his wife, Sherrie, owners of Hinkley Dairy in Hinkley, Calif., drove hours through the winding roads of the San Bernardino Mountains in southern California, they carried precious — and familiar — cargo: Milk. But, this was no ordinary day for the pair, who milk 1,200 cows on their family dairy farm, and no ordinary milk. Loaded up in a borrowed refrigerated truck, the 726 gallons of donated milk were bound for two area food banks — and wouldn’t have made it to these particular food banks if it weren’t for the DeVries and a lot of serendipity.

This journey started with a conversation the day before. During an hour and a half roundtrip drive (long drives are a common occurrence for the couple) hauling their calves, they talked about the unprecedented time in the world due to COVID-19 and the people hurting from its effects.

“We knew some really good food banks that were just exploding right now because many people who had a paycheck coming in, who had a job, were laid off because of COVID-19,” Ken says. “These people needed help right away. Right now.”

The DeVries wanted to assist but weren’t sure how. Ken started by calling an acquaintance at Alta Dena Dairy, a dairy processor in City of Industry, Calif., who he works with to get half pint cartons of chocolate milk donated for his milk demonstration at the county fair every year.

He learned a tanker load of raw milk had just come in, donated by Dairy Farmers of America (DFA). Alta Dena Dairy planned to process the milk, paying for the bottling and processing costs, but hadn’t identified food banks to receive it.

“I said I know of three of them right off the bat that would gladly take it. But I don’t know the logistics,” Ken says. He didn’t know if the food banks could store it. The other caveat: Alta Dena Dairy wasn’t able to deliver it.

Beg, borrow and … ask

The logistics of delivering donated milk is complicated. Not all food banks are setup to store milk, which is both bulky and perishable. Plus, many food banks don’t have the transportation needed to pick up milk donations themselves, as milk has to be refrigerated from start to finish.

Ken coordinated with two food banks he knew. Both wanted the milk — if someone could get it to them. After another few phone calls, a local butcher shop and wholesaler, Morgan Meat Co., agreed to let Ken borrow and drive one of their trucks — thanks to the commercial driver’s license he still had. It was a homecoming of sorts for Ken, who drove trucks before he began dairying.

“It was like God kept opening doors for us,” he says. “I normally wouldn’t call on people who are running their own businesses to ask for help, but I thought, ‘You know what, everyone is involved with this COVID-19. I’m just going to ask.’”

Across the country in Masontown, Pa., another dairy farmer, Louie Diamond, owner of Diamond Farms, also discovered the power of asking. He coordinated a donation of 4,860 gallons of milk to local residents in need. “When I called up to see if there was anything available, I never guessed that we were going to get a tractor-trailer of milk,” Louie says. “If you don’t ask, you’re never going to get it. You’re not going to get a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’.”

It started weeks before with a drive-thru style food distribution event put on by Fayette County Community Action Agency and Salvation Army. “They had traffic backed up way into town, with people waiting to get boxes of food,” Louie says. He asked one of the recipients what they received in their box. Dried food. Fresh vegetables. No dairy. That stuck with him and he called a representative at Salvation Army to see if they would take dairy. “She said, ‘We would love to have dairy. We just can’t get it’,” he says of the call. “And I said, ‘Well let me see what I can do’.”

Many phone calls later, Louie had put all the pieces together to ensure those precious half gallons of whole and 2% milk reached his local Salvation Army — from finding the milk to ensuring there was a place to unload and store it so it could be provided in food distribution drives across Fayette County in the coming days.

In the humble way of the dairy farmer, he says, “A lot of people think I donated the milk. All I did was link it up.

The fourth-generation farmer and second-generation dairyman milks 130 cows in partnership with his brother, Paul, and says, as a dairy farmer, if the milk couldn’t be sold, he wanted it to go to people who need it. “On a personal point, there are people that are in need right now, and as a Christian I just feel like the thing to do is to help other people,” Louie says.

Making a difference

Where able, dairy farmers from coast to coast are giving back through cash donations or by purchasing dairy products to go to food banks lacking those staples.

One such dairy farmer, Adrian Diepersloot, owner of Wolf Creek Dairy in Severance, Colo., donated $10,000 worth of cheese (that’s 3,325 pounds) from The Creamery, a retail store in Beaver, Utah, to his local food bank in Greeley, Colo. He, several employees and his family — wife, Jaclyn, and his kids, Brooklyn, Cade, Mina and Tyce — spent Good Friday loading and unloading the family-size blocks of baby cheddar at their local food bank, hauled using their own pickups.

After seeing businesses shut down and friends struggling, the family decided they wanted to help in some way. Originally, they thought about giving back to first responders, but saw a real need from food banks.

“The food banks were short of food, and at a time that is critical for food banks (given that people were all of a sudden unemployed) they were having a hard time getting food,” Adrian says. “People were hoarding food at the same time, so it was kind of a double whammy for them.”

Why cheese? “Cheese was the first thing we thought of because most of our milk goes to making cheese,” he says. “It made it really special for us, and for my kids especially. They spend a lot of time on the dairy; they don’t know the logistics of it, but they know our milk gets made into cheese.” While the Diepersloots didn’t hand out the cheese directly to recipients, clad in face masks and rubber gloves, they unloaded and loaded each block, ensuring the cheese made it to the food bank — and they did it as a family.

“This is something that is near and dear to our hearts and we were so glad to be able to help people with it,” Adrian says.

Doing essential work

Across the nation, family dairy farms continue to show up and work hard to ensure we all have access to fresh, wholesome, dairy products to feed our families. Whether they make a donation or not, dairy farmers are there for their communities during times of need.

At the same time, as COVID-19 makes accessing reliable, nutritious food more challenging for many people, family dairy farms are struggling too. Consumers stocked up on goods at grocery stores in preparation for stay-at-home orders and demand for staples like milk surged But, that demand quickly plummeted as restaurants, hotels and schools closed. Some dairy farmers had to do the unthinkable — dispose of excess raw milk on their farms.

No dairy farmer wants to see their livelihood on the ground. “You see all over the internet people saying, ‘Well, why don’t the farmers just give this to food banks?’” Louie says. “The problem is: Who’s going to pay for the processing, the pasteurization, the transportation? That costs a lot.” Raw milk has to be processed before it can be donated, and processing plants were at capacity. But, both hardworking dairy farmers and the industry pulled together to ensure as much milk as possible was being processed, whether for sale or donation.

“I feel like dairymen in general have a big heart for people and for society,” Adrian says. “We’re not just making a product to sell; we believe in the cause behind what we’re making. I know it’s a hard time for many to be giving. We all can only do what we can. We just have to remember, we’re all in this together.”

Leave it to fate

Ken and Sherrie delivered their truckload of milk to two area food banks that day, and even helped hand it out to people who needed it.

“It was really just a blessing from the Lord just how everything came together,” Sherrie says. “Everything clicked and we got the milk there, and we were able to keep it cold the whole time.”

Just days after their delivery, they got some surprising news. In a twist of fate, the milk they delivered had turned out to originally come from their farm. Clearly it was meant to be.

Top it

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The most delightful dip in the Upper Midwest

Make room in your fridge for Top the Tater®, a savory sour cream dip with a bold personality. Introduced as a baked potato topping in 1962, the brand has developed a loyal, cult following in the Upper Midwest over the years. Depending on who you talk to, it’s perfect for dipping, as a favorite topping or as a secret ingredient.

With a variety of flavors, including “The Original” Chive Onion, Zesty Buffalo, Taco Fiesta and the recent additions, Classic Ranch and Nacho Cheese, Top the Tater® has more to offer than your typical chip dip.

Josh Brock, senior brand manager, explained that, Kemps®, which manufactures and distributes the 100% farmer-owned brand, saw opportunity in marketing to millennials when a fan created a Top the Tater® Facebook page that garnered 13,000 likes.

“We’re able to show up in ways traditional dairy brands probably wouldn’t,” says Josh. “When people message a sour cream dip on social media, they usually aren’t looking for a serious conversation. Top the Tater is undeniably quirky and can engage with a funny, jester personality.”

The Kemps® team is finding new ways to appeal to consumers who have a good sense of humor and a taste for delicious sour cream dip. You’ll find Tater-themed shirts, hats and other merchandise on the website, and the team is finding new opportunities to break out the Tater, including the development of a custom van dubbed, “The TaterWagon.”  With a giant foam chip mounted on top, the neon green van will travel to college campuses to spread the good word to the next generation.

Top the Tater® is a staple dip in Minnesota and Wisconsin, and despite its limited availability outside the Upper Midwest, it was the fastest growing sour cream dip in the country in 2019. The goal is to continue to grow awareness of the brand and expand to new geographies.

One thing is for certain: Top the Tater® fans are all part of a cult following that truly appreciates this delightful dip.

Spread the love

From the pad melting on your morning toast to that extra dollop to finish off your creamiest mashed potatoes, butter can elevate a dish from just alright to award worthy. But, for many home cooks, picking the right butter from the grocery store aisle can be trickier than just stick or tub.

If you’ve ever wondered what the difference between salted and unsalted butter is, and if it really matters, you’re not alone. In short, the difference is, you guessed it, salt. Salted butter simply has salt added to it, whereas unsalted butter doesn’t.

Simple, right? It is. But, here’s the scoop on why it matters.

Because different brands use different salt to cream ratios in their butters, with salted butter, you won’t have exact control over the amount of salt being added to your dishes. Salted butter can also include a variety of salt types — from standard table salt, to sea salt and everything in between.

When in doubt, the experts, like Mihira Rami, marketing director for regional and national butter brands like Plugra®, Keller’s® Creamery and Hotel Bar® Butter, says to go for unsalted, especially when baking. A great option is Plugra’s® Premium Unsalted Butter, sometimes referred to as European-style butter, because it uses a ratio of 82% butterfat for the right balance of moisture and fat, perfect for those cookies and cakes. Salted butter is best for spreading, sauces, sautées or other dishes that benefit from an added pop of flavor.

Mix it up

Can you swap unsalted for salted and vice versa? Sort of, say the pros. While it’s best to stick with the type of butter your recipe calls for, you can make the switch in a pinch. But, bakers beware. Because salted butter contains more water than unsalted, it may be more difficult to get that flaky texture you’re after.

As a general rule of thumb, one stick of butter (about 4 ounces) contains ¼ teaspoon of salt. If a recipe calls for salted butter, but all you have is sans salt, add ¼ teaspoon of salt for every half cup (a stick’s worth) of butter. If salted is what you have on hand, reduce your salt by ¼ teaspoon for every half cup of butter.

Give it a shake

Don’t be afraid to get creative in the kitchen. According to Mihira, it’s a-okay to add your own salt to a recipe that calls for unsalted butter, just make sure to give your dish a taste test before serving. At the end of the day, it all comes down to flavor and personal preference.

Tag, you’re it

Stories from our dairies are often tales of hard work, dedication and tradition. This one is about love.

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Brent Hemmi is a fourth-generation dairy farmer on Hemmi Family Dairy in Scotland, Texas. His great-grandfather started the dairy close to 100 years ago, and for Brent, it’s all he’s ever known. “I grew up on it,” the 24-year-old says. “Been here all my life.”

It’s an important part of who he is. This is why he wanted to make it the place he chose to ask a very important question — for the love of his life, Heather, to marry him.

It was Saturday, Feb. 22. Heather Skinner woke up with a horrible headache — she didn’t want to move or get out of bed, but church was on the to-do list for the day. “Brent came in and said come on, we have to go to church,” she says. “We have about 15 minutes to get ready.” Heather slowly got out of bed, put on jeans and a comfy sweater and got ready to head to church. Brent was wearing a dairyman’s T-shirt and a hat (his usual).

The couple had been dating for about two years, and good friends for nearly five. They ran around in the same group of people and frequently saw each other out. Brent says he knew he was going to marry Heather pretty early on.

“We left the house and got to the edge of the road and he said, ‘Oh, I left the cows locked up, we have to go check on them’,” says Heather. Visiting the dairy with Brent wasn’t uncommon for her, as he often takes her to the farm to help out.

When they got to the dairy, Brent told Heather to walk down the right-side row of cows, he would walk down the left side, and she needed to find the cow with ear tag 2021. As she was walking along, she saw it: An ear tag, attached to a cow with a little white spot in the shape of a heart on its fur, with the words “Will you marry me?” written across it. When she turned around, there stood both of their families, and a nervous Brent, down on one knee, holding the ring box upside down, asking for her hand in front of all the people they love most, in the place they love most.

About one year ago, the Hemmis built a freestall barn to house their 350 cows. Brent says walking through that barn every day was where he came up with the idea of how to propose to Heather. “Now, I get to walk through it every day and know that’s where it happened — that’s where I proposed to her,” he says.

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Heather said she was hopeful Brent would pop the question soon, but 100% was not expecting it to happen that day. “He’s lucky he even got me up to go to church,” she laughed. “But he did really good at keeping it a secret and made it really special.” Certainly, a moment she will never forget.

The pair plans to wed at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Windthorst, Texas — a place almost as important to them as the dairy. “There was no question that was where we were going to get married,” Heather says.

As for the future, the couple has no plans to leave the farm anytime soon. “We don’t really ever plan on leaving,” Heather says. “It’s a part of our lives every day.”

And now, it’s home to a very special memory the two will forever hold.

A few clicks, a big collection

Helping dairy stay relevant in the evolving world of online shopping.

From clothes and jewelry to toys and electronics, almost everything you need nowadays can be purchased with the click of a button. Add groceries, fresh produce and your dairy favorites to that list, and there’s almost no reason to ever leave the house again. Well, maybe.

Online grocery shopping, also known as click and collect, is increasingly replacing many people’s weekly trips to the grocery store. Greg Czernik, senior director of consumer insights, analytics and trade at Dairy Farmers of America (DFA), wants to know what makes consumers tick, what their motivations are around shopping and how they make decisions. He explains that e-commerce has been around for many years, starting with the retail-giant Amazon, but buying food online, especially fresh foods like dairy and produce, is just now gaining popularity.

“Online grocery shopping continues to be just a small part of total grocery shopping, but it’s growing very fast,” Greg says.

According to the sales and marketing company Acosta, only 3% of grocery dollars are being spent online. However, over the next three years, those sales are expected to triple, reaching 74 billion dollars by 2023. Retailers such as Kroger, Walmart and Target have jumped on board in the last few years, so they don’t miss out on the action. They’ve also invested in redesign and organization to feature pickup locations near the front entrance for shoppers, giving them the VIP grocery shopping treatment.

The idea behind click and collect is that you can sit in the comfort of your home, or plan out dinners during the workday, and build a virtual shopping cart without having to roam through the store. Then, you have two options: Have your groceries delivered to you or go to the store and pick them up. Shoppers can also save their virtual cart and refer back to it if they want to purchase those groceries again. It’s easy, convenient and fast. From young adults to baby boomers, people of all ages are jumping on board the bandwagon — especially parents. Households with kids are taking the most advantage of click and collect because of its convenience. “Parents don’t have to worry about having someone watch the kids or taking the kids with them to the store,” Greg says.

When it comes to dairy, Greg says this trend is helping it remain a shopping cart staple. The refrigerated items category is the fastest growing click and collect category for stores that allow in-store pickup or delivery. Originally with Amazon, shoppers didn’t have the option to order fresh dairy products because those items had to be shipped. Even now, Amazon primarily sells shelf-stable milk or packaged cheese. When other retailers decided to join the movement, it opened a new door for delicious dairy. Now, fresh milk, ice cream, cheese and butter can be purchased in a matter of minutes and delivered straight to your door. It can’t get much easier than that.

“I can ask them to select bananas for me, or a gallon of milk, or ice cream, and I trust what they are going to collect for me. And as a shopper, I don’t have to worry that it’ll be sitting in transit overnight or arrive melted because it will either be waiting for me at the store at a set time for me to pick up or they’re going to bag it and deliver to me within a few hours,” Greg says.

According to Acosta, here’s what some shoppers have to say is their favorite part about the online grocery shopping experience:

“It saves me time walking around the store to find what I need, especially on busy weekdays.”

— Millennial

“It’s easy and I can track what I buy and have a list at my command to refer back to.”

— Baby Boomer

“The convenience cannot be overstated. As I am getting older, it is hard for me to pull heavy carts and load them in my car.”

— Baby Boomer

“The ease of it. Someone else does my shopping for me.”

— Generation X

Only time will tell, but click and collect looks like it’s here to stay.

Farm to Plant and Everything in Between

Moving Dairy Farmers of America’s (DFA) family farm-owners’ milk from farm to plant is no exception. When milk haulers pick up a load of milk, they test it for safety and quality, ensuring all milk is antibiotic free. To track this, haulers complete a paper manifest, entering all relevant information by hand — like where the milk came from, on-farm test results, where it’s going and who it’s being sold to — essential to dairy farmers getting paid and consumers receiving safe, high-quality milk. 

With paper manifests being handwritten, there’s an increased possibility for misplaced notes, as well as extended processing times. For dairy farmers, the waiting game can cause unforeseen quality issues. For haulers, it creates stress of keeping track of paperwork on the road, extra work and inefficiencies. 

How much paperwork are we talking about exactly? In 2018, DFA collected 1.3 million paper manifests.

So, to reduce paper usage and increase efficiencies, DFA’s Mountain Area region recently implemented a new process for moving milk from farms to plants. This new innovation — a mobile manifest system — is helping cut down on potential errors and the amount of time it takes to process a load of milk. It makes the hauler’s job easier and brings value to farmers, customers and consumers by creating a reliable information trail.

Before going mobile, on average, the time between a load of milk being delivered until the data was captured off the paper manifest verified was three days. With a digital manifest, verification takes less than a day. And the advancements don’t stop there.

Data is captured in the mobile manifest when a user scans a QR code, which automatically completes the manifest without anyone having to verify the information. Ship to, sold to and more is captured immediately and readily available for users to help bill customers and pay DFA’s family farm-owners. Even better, the digital manifest collects more data than ever before. 

Want to know who the name of the driver hauling the milk? Easy. 

Need an exact time stamp to help judge timing when testing? It’s there.

When dealing with a perishable product like milk that communities around the country and world rely on for unbeatable nutrition, every hour counts.

The launch of this innovative idea started in Colorado and has since moved to Utah and Idaho with plans to continue to expand to DFA’s other regional Areas across the country. 

Future plans for the system include farmers receiving an email when the milk truck leaves their property, so they’re aware of every step in the process.

Innovations like this is what’s incredible about the dairy industry — telling the story beyond the gallon through quality and traceability.

The Science Behind Fermentation

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From kefir, kimchi and kombucha to pale ale and pinot noir, some of our favorite foods and beverages are fermented. Fermentation enhances flavors, makes wine and sourdough bread possible and has also been linked to gut health and mental wellness. The process has been around for thousands of years and is still experiencing innovations today. And when you combine the process of fermentation with real dairy straight from the family farm, the benefits multiply.

Fermentation is an enzymatically controlled anaerobic breakdown of an energy-rich compound (such as a carbohydrate to carbon dioxide and alcohol or to an organic acid). Jessica Niblick, an innovation food scientist for Dairy Farmers of America (DFA), explains how it works:

“Dairy is an excellent base to start with because it’s full of fats, sugars and proteins that cultures need to thrive.”

— Jessica Niblick

“It all begins with a base, to which you’ll add the culture that starts the anaerobic breakdown. Dairy is an excellent base to start with because it’s full of fats, sugars and proteins that cultures need to thrive. The culture can be a bacteria, mold or yeast,” she says. “These are your work horses, driving the development of the product and its final flavor or functionality.”

“The cultures take the raw materials in the base and either break them down or reconstruct them into the desired product. From there, it’s a matter of balance,” Jessica says. “Keep an eye on the temperature and acidity, and make sure the culture has plenty to eat.”

Most of the cultures found in fermented dairy products, like yogurt, are beneficial to helping keep a healthy balance of good bacteria in the digestive system. The probiotics present help support the gut’s microbiome. “Additionally,” Jessica says, “the fermentation process breaks down components of dairy and other foods into more easily digestible products that make the nutrients stored in those foods more readily absorbed by our bodies.”

The process also results in natural preservation, which accounts for a lot of its historical importance. It has been used around the world for thousands of years to prevent foods and beverages from spoiling without refrigeration. However, gut health and preservation aren’t the only reasons fermentation is so popular.

“Consumers are looking for clean labels with recognizable ingredients,” says Bill Hayes, director of innovation on the ingredient solutions team at DFA. “Savory umami flavors are currently quite popular, and people want to get those flavors through recognizable ingredients. Fermentation allows us to create strong, distinctive flavors with healthy dairy products that still have that clean label.”

While yogurt, kefir and sour cream are probably top of mind when you think about fermented — or cultured — dairy products, recent innovations have widened the breadth of choices. Restaurants are transforming dishes by adding exciting new flavors through fermented dairy powders, and new cultures are being discovered every day.

“It’s a fascinating process, and there are so many cultures out in the world that can make anything from bioplastics to pharmaceuticals to delicious food,” Jessica says. “Who knows what we could be making in 10 years? There are really no limits.”

For the Love of Food

Opening a restaurant takes courage and dedication. Mother-daughter duo Renee and Rebekah Alford had both when they bought Rainbow Shores, an upscale eatery along the eastern shore of Lake Ontario.

As part of a family dairy farm, the two know about hard work. Rebekah grew up helping on the family’s dairy, Locust Hill Dairy in Mannsville, N.Y., and Renee worked on dairies all her married life. Like a true entrepreneur family, the dairy is managed and operated today by Renee’s husband, Timothy, and two of their daughters Jessica and Amanda, and their husbands, Bruce and Brian.

 

“Dairy farming teaches you really good work ethic,” Renee says. “I’m sure that’s why Rebekah was able to apply herself to the restaurant business. She already knew it was seven days a week, nighttime, weekends and holidays.”

Ready to prepare food the way she wanted after years working in restaurants and catering in the Adirondack area, Rebekah didn’t expect to return home to take on restaurant ownership. But after an evening eating together at Rainbow Shores and taking note of the for-sale sign, her mom convinced her to go for it.

When the two took over ownership in 2010, they continued the legacy of this favorite local spot. Built in the 1920s, several different purveyors have owned the white clapboard building and the restaurant has served delicious food long enough for Renee to remember bringing her children, including now head chef Rebekah, to eat there. “It’s been open a long time and has a great history of being a good place to eat,” she says.

Hidden down a dirt road that opens onto stunning waterfront views, the charming fine dining space begs you to linger. “We don’t want you to just eat and leave. Make going out to dinner an event,” Renee says. “Order appetizers. Take your time. Wait for the next course. Have dessert. Enjoy the experience.” She recommends the bacon-wrapped scallops in a maple mustard sauce. “You may have tried bacon-wrapped scallops in a lot of places, but if you have ours, there’s a big difference.” And she knows. She orders them whenever she sees them on a menu. The restaurant also serves up mouthwatering filets and seafood favorites paired with fresh, artful salads and homemade bread.

“Dairy farming teaches you really good work ethic. I’m sure that’s why Rebekah was able to apply herself to the restaurant business. She already knew it was seven days a week, nighttime, weekends and holidays.”

— Renee Alford

Like her chef-daughter, Renee appreciates food. Even as a restauranteur, she enjoys going out to eat. “I hate to be rushed when I go to a restaurant. I want lots of time between my courses,” she says.

Open May through October to take advantage of the mild summer days in upper New York, Rainbow Shores features once-a-week crab nights and live music every Thursday through Sunday. On most evenings, you’ll find locals and summer residents with cottages and second homes along the lake dining at the Shores or enjoying a glass of wine on the deck and watching the sunset. “There’s also the tourists that find us by accident,” Renee says. “They’re just traveling through and fall in love with it like we did.”

There’s a lot to love. Planters overflowing with flowers frame the deck. String lights twinkle overhead and curl around trees. A crisp breeze rolls in off the lake.

As a true family affair, the restaurant and dairy complement each other. Renee’s son-in-law, who works on the dairy, hung the string lights at the restaurant and built the stage for the band. Whenever a piece of equipment is needed from the farm, they’re only too happy to share with the restaurant. “Even though the other children are not involved in the restaurant, they love to come here,” Renee says. “It all works together.”

Milk on a Mission

Meet the Kemps giving cow. This happy bovine is more than a smiling face on a carton. She represents kids in need getting a nutritious snack they might not otherwise have.

Since June, The Giving Cow Project, a hunger awareness campaign launched by Kemps, has committed to provide a carton of shelf-stable milk to kids in need for every gallon of Kemps Select and Kemps Milk purchased, up to 500,000 cartons. Partnering with Feeding America® Eastern Wisconsin, Second Harvest Heartland, Food Bank of Iowa and Greater Chicago Food Depository, the donations will go to food shelves and backpack programs in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and Illinois.

Kemps is a household name in the Midwest, providing wholesome dairy products like milk, ice cream and cultured products to communities since 1914, and actively works to give back to the local community.

“Families served by food shelves often receive less than one gallon of milk per person per year,” says Rebecca Heagney, director of marketing for Kemps. “For that to happen right where we are — in the heart of America’s dairy country — we wanted to fix that. We wanted to do something about getting nutritious milk to those families and kids who don’t have access to it.”

“Families served by food shelves often receive less than one gallon of milk per person per year.”

— Rebecca Heagney

Food banks list milk as one of their most requested but least donated items. Because milk requires refrigeration, food banks struggle to store and distribute this grocery staple. Access to nutritious milk is vital for families in need because they often turn to less healthy foods that cost less, have a longer shelf life and can stretch over multiple meals.

Enter the Giving Cow carton. These eight-ounce airtight cartons of 2 percent milk don’t require refrigeration and will stay fresh for up to a year — much longer than the typical shelf life of milk, which is 14 days after processing. Made by pasteurizing milk at a higher temperature and packaging it in an airtight container to prevent bacteria from growing, shelf-stable milk still offers the same nutrients, vitamins and goodness of regular milk.

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Giving Cow cartons help bridge the nutrition gap for kids who depend on reduced breakfast and lunch programs at school. Besides stocking food bank shelves, the Giving Cow cartons will also get stuffed into kids’ backpacks through local backpack programs. Backpack programs fill kids’ bags with nutritious meals and snacks to help them get enough to eat over the weekend.

“We are so grateful for this generous donation,” says Julie Vanhove, Feeding Minnesota sourcing manager with Second Harvest Heartland. “Kemps is a valuable partner in our fight to feed the one in eight children in our service area and Minnesota who experience hunger.”

The cute carton was designed with kids in mind. “Often, food banks will receive food or donations in blank packaging,” Heagney says. “Our Giving Cow adds a little more fun and personality to delight the little ones.” But you won’t find these cartons on store shelves, they’re only available for local kids in need.

Want to help? If your grocery store stocks Kemps, grab a gallon of milk or pick out a Kemps Simply Crafted ice cream. Unlike other give back programs, The Giving Cow Project doesn’t require any extra work, like sending in UPC codes or receipts. Simply buy a gallon and Kemps will donate the giving cow cartons to the kids who need them most.

When thinking about how to give back to its community, Kemps considered a monetary donation. “We liked the giving cow cartons because we’re giving back something that there’s a need for, we’re filling a gap for kids in need and it’s something we believe in,” Heagney says. “We believe this is a nutritious product that offers all the vitamins and nutrition of regular milk, and we liked the idea of connecting this to our purpose of nourishing families.”

Milking a Trend

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The dairy case has gotten bigger in the past few years, but the real estate isn’t taken up by more gallon jugs. Plant-based dairy alternatives, like almond beverage, have hit the mainstream and are gaining in popularity. From lower calorie counts in unsweetened varieties to lactose-free label claims, more people are picking up alternative “milks” on their weekly shopping trips.

As consumers continue to purchase dairy alternatives, the dairy industry is dedicated to bridging the gap between real milk and plant-based alternatives.

The Live Real Farms brand started as a smoothie line, and recently entered the fluid milk category with a product the market has never seen before. Meet Live Real Farms Dairy Plus Milk Blends. A purposeful blend of 50% real milk and 50% plant-based beverage.

“This product line was built to be disruptive in the market,” says Eric Loper, general manager of Live Real Farms, a Dairy Farmers of America (DFA)-owned brand, which launched Dairy Plus Milk Blends as a dual effort with Dairy Management Inc. (DMI).

While a product that combines dairy milk with its top competitor seems taboo, innovations like Dairy Plus is needed to find more ways into consumers’ fridges and increase consumption of fluid milk. Even if that means playing in a space that’s never been pioneered before.

“We are aiming to capture those who are considering migrating from fluid milk to plant-based beverages and to invite those consumers who have already made the move and are missing the nutritional benefits fluid milk once provided them,” Eric says. “The greatest concern we hear from these consumers is missing the protein and calcium from fluid milk. Dairy Plus Milk Blends offers a great tasting, balanced nutrition option for them to consider.”

“The goal of this product isn’t to take away from fluid milk. We are targeting the duel consumer that is purchasing both dairy milk and a plant-based alternative, and giving them an option that can fit their whole family.”

— Shelly Groesnick

With a goal to innovate beyond the jug and attract today’s consumer, the brand’s product line has four flavors of dairy milk blended with almond beverage — original, unsweetened vanilla, vanilla and chocolate — and one flavor — original — blended with oat beverage.

“Almond was pretty easy as it’s the largest portion of the plant universe at about 70% market share,” Eric says. “For the secondary plant-based option, oat is really on trend as one of the fastest growing alternatives.”

Beyond leveraging popular blends and similar label claims like lactose-free, Dairy Plus Milk Blends brings the nutritional value of real dairy to the table. With five grams of protein per serving, a cup of Dairy Plus has five times the protein as traditional almond beverages.

“We’re a consumer-first brand with the foundation of always needing to set up our innovation and activities to support the dairy farmers who own the Cooperative (DFA),” says Eric. And that foundation is part of every half-gallon carton. The milk that goes into each Dairy Plus flavor is from local DFA family farms and distributed from DFA-owned Kemps’ Farmington, Minn., plant.

“I am fascinated by the innovative steps agriculture as a whole has taken to make our food new and exciting,” says DFA family farm-owner Shelly Groesnick. “But also keep up with the growing demands of younger generations who crave adventure, convenience and nutrition.

“Dairy Plus Milk Blends seems to be a product that can fit that bill and it contains 50% milk — bonus for us in the dairy industry,” Shelly says. Dairy Plus Milk Blends just wrapped up its test market of Minnesota and is expanding throughout the Midwest through the end of 2019 in known retailers like Roundy’s, HyVee and Target — to name a few.

“We are performing above our expectation,” Eric says. “The chocolate-flavored Dairy Plus Almond, by surprise, is our most popular flavor, and we look forward to increasing those sales, distribution and eventually, the product line.”

Come 2020, you will also be able to pick up a half gallon in Texas grocers like HEB and United.

While traditional fluid milk is still the main star of the show, Dairy Plus Milk Blends brings a new look to the stage with the nutrition and goodness of real dairy.

A Story of “and”

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Milk powder might not be as glamorous as chunks of gorgeous Gouda on a charcuterie board, but it represents a lot of good. The good nutrition packed into a storable product. The good of paying farmers for their labor. The good of reducing waste as sustainability becomes more important every day. Milk powder is packed full of good, and it’s impactful.

Dairy powder plants are one stop milk might make on its way to your table. And while making cheese might seem more interesting than evaporating water, dairy powder plants allow milk to have a long, productive life. These processing facilities create powder from milk produced by local farmers — offering the world affordable, shelf-stable nutrition while providing a consistent home for milk, even when local milk markets are saturated. They impact not only the world’s hungry, but also the farmers who feed them.

Global impact

Michael Lichte might be dairy powder’s biggest fan. He’s the vice president of sales and operations planning for the Ingredient Solutions division at Dairy Farmers of America (DFA) — the sixth-largest milk marketing cooperative in the world — so he knows a little something about dairy powder and the plants that process it each and every day.

“Powder plants are a story of ‘and,’” Michael says. “They create manufacturing capacity for dairy nutrition that processes large volumes of our members’ milk and they can aid in bringing balance to local milk markets.

So what does it mean to create manufacturing capacity for DFA’s family farm-owners? Why not just make more fresh dairy products with the milk they produce?

“Powder plants provide an efficient way to deliver value to our members by processing the milk they produce, even if the demand for fresh dairy products isn’t there.”

— Michael Lichte

“Inherently, milk marketing is trying to match supply and demand,” Michael explains.

If people aren’t buying fresh dairy products like yogurt or cheese fast enough, it can spoil. But to keep their cows happy and comfortable, farmers need to milk them several times per day. And they have to send that milk somewhere, whether consumers are buying cheese or not. Supply and demand are never perfectly balanced because they depend on consumers’ buying habits and farmers’ milk production.

“But powder plants provide an efficient way to deliver value to our members by processing the milk they produce, even if demand for fresh dairy products isn’t there,” Michael says.

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These facilities remove water from the milk, creating powder that stays fresh for up to two years without refrigeration. It’s lightweight and contains milk fat, protein, amino acids and other nutrients like you find in liquid milk, but stays fresh longer, is easier to store and is more affordable to transport relative to liquid dairy products.

In this way, dairy powder plants provide a way for people around the world to feed their families — 60% of the milk powder DFA produces is exported. That means families without access to refrigeration — due to poverty or lack of a reliable electrical grid (and likely both) — can still get the dairy nutrition they need by purchasing high quality U.S. milk powder in economical packets. It’s more cost effective than liquid milk and still contains the nutrition they need. It allows us to move dairy into parts of the world that most need it.

In the kitchen

You might be wondering what else you can do with powdered dairy products. 

“It has a lot of diversity,” Michael says. “It will go into secondary manufacturing for consumer-packaged dairy products like infant formula, yogurt, ice cream or cottage cheese.” Also some of those decadent chocolatey desserts you love.

Dairy powder plants create ingredients that can be used in different forms with varying levels of protein, milk fat and water, which determine its best use. Here are a few you might recognize:

• Nonfat dry milk — chocolate dairy drinks (no, they don’t come from brown cows)

• Whole milk powder — whipped topping for your favorite pie

• Buttermilk powder — dips and dressings to dunk those veggies

• Cheese powder — macaroni’s best friend

• Yogurt powder — turns raisins into something your kid will snack on

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Making the most of waste

Dairy is known for reusing things you might think are at the end of their lifecycles. For instance, the citrus pulps, cottonseeds and stale taco shells farmers incorporate into their cows’ nutrition plans are used to make milk. The byproduct of those byproducts — manure — is used to make fertilizer and energy.

So it should come as no surprise that the dairy industry is making the most of waste in processing facilities as well.  

“Liquid whey is a byproduct of cheesemaking,” Michael says.

But instead of throwing it out, it’s transformed into something else. “It can be dried as whey powder and used in ice cream, beverages or cheese powders,” he says. “You can also really concentrate the protein to make protein bars or the recovery drinks athletes use after a workout.”

The good created at dairy powder plants seems endless. And we’re all benefiting, from the cooks looking to liven up a dish, to children with no access to refrigeration and all of us sharing the planet.