The green dairy pioneers at Wholesome Dairy Farms in Yellow House care about cleanliness, cows, customers and cheese. Their dedication to pure and natural products could catapult them to rock-star status while putting pasteurized milk out to pasture.
For veterinarian/farmer Mark Lopez, who is licensed by the state to carry raw milk products, caring for a herd of about 45 pasture-grazed Ayrshire cows comes naturally.
“I think of them as my family,” Lopez says.Lopez and dairy manager Rebecca Seidel know every cow by name.
“That’s Sharon Faye, that’s Roxy, Isabel and Daisy,” says Seidel, brushing a cow, “all born and raised here.”
Ayrshire cattle are brown and white, unlike the typical black and white Holstein cows most associate with milk production.
“They are generally smaller cows that produce a higher butterfat content, and a good cheese yield…they’re great grazers, too,” Seidel says.
Like the herd, generations of Lopez’s family have also grown up walking the fields on this 100-acre site. Lopez plans to buy the property from his uncle in 2013, while working on the expansion of the raw milk cheese business.
Green energy and local food advocates are finding the farm an inspiration because of its holistic approach to raw milk production: using methane-reduced dairy cow feeding strategies and solar energy practices. Not to mention the happy, clean cows, who spend most of their time grazing.
If you’re buying raw milk, Lopez and Seidel stress the importance of knowing your farmer.
“If you buy from the farm where the milk is made, you know that you’re drinking milk that is clean. You can see the cows and look at our lab test results,” they explain.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned interstate sales of raw milk about 23 years ago. According to the FDA, unpasteurized milk is inherently dangerous, and could contain bacterial groups including coliforms.
“If you milk a cow in an unclean way, there’s manure in the milk, and then you pasteurize the milk to kill the bacteria,” says Lopez. “You now have cooked manure in the milk, and that affects the shelf life, the flavor profile, and indeed could have health effects. We raise, care for, and milk our cows in such a way that there are no coliforms in the milk. Our levels are undetectable.”
According to Lopez, about 30 percent of his customers are from New Jersey, where it is illegal to sell raw milk. And others travel substantial distances to get this quality.
Customers Geoffrey and Bethany Overdorff travel all the way from Breinigsville to stock up.
“This milk is unmatched. We just make better milk than anywhere else,” says Lopez.
Every customer has an index card to keep track of the number of gallons purchased. For every 10 gallons sold, the 11th is free. The farm and its practices have garnered Internet attention with social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, and informative videos are posted on You-Tube.
“I tweet everything that happens: a cow has a calf, Rebecca’s making cheese today,” says Lopez. “We like to engage our customers.”
And the word about the farm’s cheese is spreading like wildfire. Wholesome Dairy Farm has a novel approach to cheese making, with their delectable marinated cheddar curds in savory flavors such as herbes de provence, garlic herb, savory curry and jalapeño. Lopez says there are curds out there, but no one is taking it to the place they are. In a kitchen converted from a shipping container, Seidel performs magic: turning the milk into delicious feta cheese. Only the milk and the feta are from raw milk. The other products are batch-pasteurized at 140 degrees for 30 minutes, according to state law. Trying is believing when it comes to yogurt and yogurt cheese, ricotta, and cheddar, which has to pass a “squeak” test.
“It’s not ready until it squeaks when you eat it,” Rebecca says.
Kefir, a probiotic fermented milk drink, is another impressive product of the farm; you can drink it alone or mix it with fruit in a blender to make a healthy and delicious milkshake-like beverage.
Lopez says it’s cheaper and more beneficial to buy products at the farm, but they are also available at Kimberton Whole Foods in Douglassville, Echo Hill Country Store in Fleetwood, Hershey Harvest in Laureldale, Shillington Farmer’s Market, Jen and Dale’s Quick Stop in Shillington, and Hendricks Farm & Dairy in Telford.
If you have been thinking about trying raw milk and raw milk products, Wholesome Dairy Farms is the place to go, because after all, you can’t “get milk” until you’ve “got it”…real milk that is.
WHOLESOME DAIRY FARMS 181 Camp Rd. | Douglassville | wholesomedairyfarms.com
BY KEITH SMOKER | PHOTOS BY MIKE NOBLE
