A desire for their community to experience the farm firsthand led John Carter and his family to create an annual event on the day their cows are released out to pasture in late April.

It’s not often you see a family-owned farm passed down through several generations. It’s less likely that it’s been in the same family for almost 200 years. It’s extremely rare to have the same genetics in that herd that existed 100 years ago. 

“[Switching from a traditional parlor to an automated milking system] primarily came down to the time savings,” Mallonee says.

What once was old is new again after an old cheese factory was rebuilt into an eight-room boutique hotel, restaurant, café and micro-dairy plant. 

“We absolutely loved the sustainability aspect and were really impressed by Rogue Creamery’s use of technology – the use of artificial intelligence robots, RFID chips, etc. David [Gremmels] explained all the benefits and demonstrated how the entire dairy could be run from the apps on the dairy manager’s phone, which we found fascinating.”

The Northeast Organic Dairy Producers Alliance (NODPA) recently held its annual Field Days, touring several organic dairy farms near Middlebury, Vermont, and hosting experts – including panels of organic dairy farmers – to discuss industry news, share concerns, offer solutions and promote the best practices for organic dairy success.

Growing a dairy business doesn’t always necessitate adding more cows. In the case of Pennsylvania’s Oregon Dairy Farm, it meant a dramatic reduction in cow numbers and building on custom cropping and agritourism enterprises. Interviewed in a recent Pennsylvania Center for Dairy Excellence (CDE) “Cow-Side Conversations” podcast, Maria Forry discussed her family farm’s move to create new and diverse revenue streams.

What happens when you combine dairy cows, on-farm processing, an old farmhouse, sunflowers, plenty of dairy products and consumers interested in learning more about where their food comes from?