Why are you out of milk in the winter?

“Why are you out of milk in the winter?” is one of the frequent questions we get this time of year.

The answer involves some of our farming philosophy and a little about cow biology.

Working with Nature

Our goal on our farm is to work with nature, rather than fight against it.

We work naturally with the year’s seasons to produce our products on fresh pasture.

The cows slow down in milk production at the end of each year as they near their due date for the baby.

This is part of their natural cycle. The cow is preparing to stop giving milk and gearing up for her new baby’s arrival. We call this the dry period.

This time allows the cow’s body rest, recovery, and renewal. It usually happens six to eight weeks before a cow gives birth to a new calf, but can be longer.

During this period, we don’t milk the cow. This allows her udder to regenerate and get ready for the next round of milk production.

How We Got Here

In the natural world, most grazing animals give birth in the springtime. The plentiful fresh grass at that time of year allows them to feed themselves so they can produce the milk their babies need.

As we moved toward industrial farming, dairy farmers spread their cows’ birthing times throughout the year. That way some of their cows are always producing milk year-round.

They still give each cow the dry period, but only some of the cows would be dry at one time. The others were still producing, allowing the farmers to have milk for their customers all the time.

Producing the Best Milk

We want to provide you with the highest quality milk as possible.

Cows produce the best milk when they can be outside eating fresh pasture.

We schedule all of our cows to give birth in March and April. May and June are the months that grass grows the most. During those months the cows and their new calves have plenty of healthy green grass to eat.

However, that means that we are out of milk in the winter while all of our cows take their break from milking at once.

You will not be able to get our raw milk in February and March while the cows are not producing milk.

We look forward to seeing all the new calves next spring and returning to providing milk for you and your family in late March or early April.