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Red Barn Farms Buck the Mega Dairy Trend

Animal husbandry and excellent animal health are at the center of the Red Barn philosophy. Terry Homan is a local veterinarian and the founder of Red Barn Family Farms. Terry believes that healthy cows produce the tastiest milk and cheese and he finds that small family farms have the potential for great tasting wholesome dairy products. Red Barn Family Farms is currently three farms in the Black Creek area: Bob, Mary and Charlie Nett (Pulaski), Don & Debbie Zuleger & Family (Black Creek), and Craig & Marlene Krohlow & Family (Black Creek).

What sets Red Barn farms apart? At the heart are families that employ the highest levels of stewardship as they fulfill the responsibility to provide ethical care for their animals. The member families of Red Barn earn their livelihood from and do the majority of the work caring for the cows. All Red Barn cows are outside whenever the weather allows and brought inside the barn into deeply bedded stalls when the winter gets cold. Cows are given special care when they give birth. Red Barn families clearly care for their cows as individuals with personalities.

Although Red Barn farms employ organic practices in general, The Red Barn operation is differentiated from organic operations in that the use of antibiotics is rare but allowed when necessary to return a sick animal back to full health. In an organic operation, the cow would likely be culled or sold as non-organic. On rare occasions, antibiotics are used, the milk is always discarded for a length of time that exceeds the minimum guidelines set by the FDA. Cows are not given any rBST hormone. No animal-based feed or additives are used in the production of Red Barn cows.

Terry feels that the lack of lameness is a good measure of the success of the program and claims that Red Barn farms achieve excellence with lameness virtually absent.

Last spring, I had the opportunity to visit the Nett Family farm with a group of Lawrence University students. I interviewed Terry Homan and Don Zuleger at the Zuleger farm and learned that each farm in the Red Barn achieves the goals on their own terms. The Nett farm cows are pre-dominantly grass fed on the pasture while the Zuleger farm grows some feed grains in a sustainable manner. The Zuleger farm has been in the Zuleger family for over 100 years. Don had been employing sustainable practices without the USDA organic certification without any return on that investment as he couldn't claim organic certification. Under the Red Barn umbrella, Don receives more for his milk than in a larger more traditional op-eration. Red Barn milk generally brings in a higher price than commodity milk but less than certified organic.

I first heard about Red Barn as their first major customer when I worked at Lawrence University. Red Barn is still served at Lawrence, both in the retail and cafeteria operations. Red Barn milk is now served at Concordia College as well and has a retail option at UW Oshkosh and UW Green Bay and in over 30 retail operations in the area. I recently noticed that Red Barn has expanded into cheese while shopping at Arthur Bay (a local cheese store) in Appleton. Terry informed me that Red Barn now produces three cheeses: Heritage White Cheddar in 40# blocks that are further broken down, a Heritage Weise pro-duced in 13# wrapped wheels that earned a fourth place at the US Cheese Championship, and a Heritage Weise Reserve that is due for distribution at the end of October.

Look for Red Barn dairy products at your cheese store and check out their website: www.redbarnfamilyfarms.com.

Fall 2009 • Volume 1, Issue 1