Kavarna Milk Bulletin

Being In the Milk Business

We are in the milk business almost as much as we are in the coffee business. This isn't something we ever thought to think about until this past Spring when we brought in an outside barista trainer. She thought that we could be using better milk. And she was right! When she drew my attention to it, I could detect a slightly off taste to it, that's only amplified by steaming. It's incredibly subtle, but it's there. What we've been using is one of several local companies, commonly available in grocery stores. When we tried the other brands, they were no better. It was incredibly frustrating!

A short while ago, I glanced at the Appleton Post-Crescent (something I never do) and read an article about Red Barn Family Farms. Terry and Laura Homan recently started a small dairy with a compelling model. Terry, who is a large animal veterinarian, had grown concerned about the practices that he was seeing at large dairy farms, where mortality rates have been increasing every year. One day he was doing some work at a dairy farm and noticed that their herd was extraordinarily healthy. He asked the owner about their mortality rate and was told that if they lost even one cow in a single year, then that was a bad year. This was a shock to a veterinarian who came of age in an industry where a certain amount of mortality was considered a normal operating cost. This was an epiphany for Terry, and Red Barn Family Farms was born in that moment.

So what makes Red Barn different? It starts with the “Red Barn Rules,” which are:

1. Farms are run by families who earn their livelihood on the farm and do the majority of the animal care work.
2. Twice each year each cow is individually assessed by a veterinarian and given a health score.
3. Criteria are measured in the milk verifying the outstanding cleanliness of the milk as well as the health of the cows.
4. Premiums are awarded to each farm based on the milk quality measures and the health scores.

That last rule is my favorite. Because, well, imagine that you're a conscientious dairy farmer who is concerned about the health of your herd and the quality of your milk. Imagine that you know your neighbor and know that he or she doesn't go to the same lengths to insure that you are producing high quality milk. Now, imagine that the dairy truck pulls up to pick up your milk and then goes to the neighboring farm to pick up theirs. Your milk is mixed with your neighbor's and you're both paid the same price. This is how the dairy industry operates... there is no incentive to excel. The last Red Barn Rule provides that incentive.

In addition to following the Rules, the farms that supply Red Barn Dairy are also certified by the American Humane Association. This means that they are free from rBST supplementation (growth hormones), free from animal byproducts in their feed, free from performance enhancing antibiotics, free to live and grow in a stress-limiting and humane environment, free to express normal behavoris and live in an appropriate environment with sufficient space, and free to readily access fresh water and a healthy diet. You can read more about the American Humane Association's certification thehumanetouch.org.

Aside from the intrinsic worth of treating animals more humanely, the end result is great milk.When Linda first sampled it, she remarked that it tasted like milk she had when she was a kid. And that's what it is! The three farms that Red Barn is currently working with are not ones that needed to improve what they were doing in order to comply with the Rules and be AHA certified, they're the ones who resisted making changes for the worse in the name of greater efficiency all of these years. Only now are they being recognized and rewarded for it.

When we met Terry and Laura Homan and sampled their milk we knew that this was a business that we wanted to support. Not only is their milk amazing, they have created a business that has the potential to improve Northeastern Wisconsin's dairy industry. Down the road, when we have more space, we will start retailing their milk by the gallon. For the time being, we will be using Red Barn's 2% and Skim; as well as stocking their chocolate milk (no HFCS!) in the beverage case. We've always sold milk by the glass at Kavarna, and we'll be even happier to sell Red Barn's! They haven't begun producing 1/2 and 1/2, so we won't be able to change that yet. (At the moment, we only have the 2%, we'll have the skim next week).