This is the fourth in a series of posts about a few days visiting different farmers and producers in Iowa, including several from whom we’ve bought pork. Additionally, my perceptions are certainly informed from previous trips to the state, of a more social nature. Everything here is just my observation as an outsider; I’m sure I’m missing many subtleties and in several instances I may be just plumb wrong. Caveat emptor.
See the previous posts here, here and here.
Kelly Biensen chatting with a newborn calf
On my second day in State Center, Kelly took me on a tour of numerous farms and business, including a couple really interesting dairies. The first dairy was actually on the property neighboring Kelly’s farm, and it is a large farm owned by Kevin Blood. (I was later told it’s the largest dairy in central Iowa). In addition to being given an extensive tour of the operation, I had the pleasure to discuss the food chain with Kevin for quite a while.
The Bloods sell their milk as a commodity to a co-op, and their co-op has been exploring moving toward organic products and milk from cows not given rBST. (rBST is a hormone which triggers greater milk production, that occurs naturally in cows and which, in synthetic form, is given in additional amounts to cows by most industrial dairies to increase milk yield.) Kevin, who strikes me as a very intelligent and thoughtful person, was curious to know what I, working on the other end of the supply line, thought about the place of “organic” goods in the marketplace: is it the growth of a new movement or is it a fad?
I said that I think food labeled “organic” is a substitute for people really knowing (and being happy with) where their food comes from and the people who raised it; and since it’s not a very complete substitute, more effective approaches will eventually supplant it. This belief seemed to ring a chord with Kevin, as it did with a lot of farmers I met in Iowa — because, I think, most of them remember when they and their neighbors really did know where all their food came from, and have a strong understanding of what we as a culture lost when we (nearly completely) destroyed that system. This got us talking about modern American life in general, how food fits in to it, and what can be done to improve the quality of both.
He also took the time to give us a tour of the dairy, which was really interesting. Even though it is (by my standards, anyway, which don’t mean much) a very big dairy at over 1500 cows, it was a pretty peaceful place. The cows live in large pens all in a row under a roof (not a barn with wallls, though, more like a carport), much as they would in a beef feedlot. Eyeballing it, I would guess they have more room than beeves typically would at a CAFO, though. The animals (like most in Iowa) are principally fed corn and soybeans, though being ruminants they also get silage and alfalfa as well as nutritional supplements.
About 50 cows are led into the milking area for a few minutes of milking and then led out. Every cow is milked twice a day. The milking area is run by two guys who hook each cow’s udders up to a computerized milker and then monitor the progress. The guys are on a floor several feet below the cows’ floor, in the center. It’s actually kind of like a horseshoe-shaped bar with sunken bartenders, but in reverse — the patrons leave less full than when they started. The cows back into their stalls at the horseshoe, and the operators strap the machines to the cows and get the milk.
The milk is piped into steel tanks which are temperature controlled and carefully monitored. Pasteurization also takes place in these tanks. It was very impressive how everything was monitored, from each cow’s milk yield to the temperature of the milk in each vat every second.
Since the dairy tracks the milk production of each cow, they’re able to breed each generation of cows for greater milk production. I asked Kevin how much increase in production per cow per year he would typically see, and (if I recall correctly) he said that generally each dairy sees an average of 3% per year per cow increase. He has to keep up with that in order to not lose ground in the market.
That’s the rub about selling a commodity, which milk is to most of America. Since the price drops as production increases, by increasing his production every year at the median level, Kevin just breaks even. It seemed to me that he’s judged that economies of scale are a good way to mitigate that pressure. They’ve become a big dairy and plan to get several hundred cows bigger soon.
Picket Fence Creamery
Later in the day, I saw another option for a family dairy — to leave the commodity market altogether. Picket Fence Creamery in Woodward, Iowa is run by the Burkhart Family, and Jeff Burkhart is friends with Kevin. Jeff told us that they (both he and Kevin) had been in similar positions with their family dairies, and each had “I guess gone in an opposite direction” with them.
Picket Fence maintains a herd of about 80 cows, all Jersey breeds, grazing entirely on pasture (they don’t eat corn or soybeans, which is pretty unusual in Iowa). Jersey is a dairy breed of cow, but it’s very rare to find Jersey milk these days because Holsteins produce twice as much milk per cow. On the other hand, Jersey milk is higher in protein and calcium, and I think fat, too (and, some would say, flavor).
These cows were probably mooing along to “Living on a Prayer”
Picket Fence doesn’t homogenize their milk, which means that it separates and has to be shaken right before drinking (or the fat can be skimmed from the top). They do pasteurize it, but slowly at temperatures just high enough to kill bacteria, for around 30 minutes. This is in contrast to the modern dairy practice of heating milk to high temperatures for a matter of seconds, which also kills the bacteria but some folks think it cooks the milk , too (which seems to me like it would be the case, but I’d like to know what Harold McGee or Russ Parsons says).
Oh, by the way, the milk at Picket Fence was the best I’ve ever tasted, by far. It changed what I thought about milk as a beverage. The ice cream and cheese curds were fantastic, too. Of course, when I got home I spent a bunch of time on the internet trying to identify any source of grass-fed, Jersey cow, non-homogenized, slow pasteurized milk…and, as usual with this sort of thing, couldn’t find a lick. If anyone knows of such a thing available in San Diego, I’d be interested in learning more.
You should check out Organic Pastures – available through WFM in San Diego or http://www.organicpastures.com in CA – Their cows are 100% grass fed and the milk is raw – unpasturized and non-homoginized. Many of the cows in their herd of about 300 are jerseys although they have some holsteins as well. Sounds like Picket Fence was pretty good, but I would challenge you to try the raw milk. It is amazing.
Thanks Ted, I do plan to check out Organic Pastures’ milk for myself. Because it’s raw and unpasteurized, we probably won’t however serve it, since I know a lot of folks want to drink pasteurized milk only, reasonably so. For the restaurant, we’re looking at Strauss organic products, which includes pasteurized non-homogenized milk from grass fed Holsteins.
Boy, you made my mouth water! I am of the opinion that in general, the closer a food is too its natural raw state, the better. Now admittedly, I wouldn’t eat my meat raw, so I see some exceptions of course.