New dairy aims to provide milk fresh from the cow

The 'Dairy Evangelist' isn"t just selling milk, he"s also selling freedom. The self-described Dairy Evangelist is Warren Taylor, who owns the Snowville Creamery in Meigs County with his wife, Victoria Taylor. The business has been selling locally produced and packaged milk since December.

The "Dairy Evangelist" isn't just selling milk, he's also selling freedom.

The self-described Dairy Evangelist is Warren Taylor, who owns the Snowville Creamery in Meigs County with his wife, Victoria Taylor. The business has been selling locally produced and packaged milk since December.

The milk has caused a stir locally, both in customer support and questions over if local stores are carrying the product. The milk is not certified organic, but Taylor argues that his product is healthier than most organic milk, and that it also tastes better and is lower-priced.

Taylor is a former engineer who once worked for the Safeway food chain, and also owned a design firm.

The general manager at Snowville Creamery is Steve Ferreira, who served as the quality control officer for Safeway's dairy products and worked directly with the dairy farms the company contracted with. Ferreira also worked for Taylor's design firm, which handled projects all around the world.

Ferreira and Taylor also come from families that ran dairy farms, and now they are working in the dairy industry as well, selling milk the way they feel it should be sold.

"We're kind of living the dream down here," Ferreira said.

The Snowville Creamery gets its milk from the dairy farm owned by Bill Dix and Stay Hall, just off Ohio Rt. 143 in Meigs County and a few miles outside of Albany.

The family dairy farm always sold its milk to traditional dairy companies, but Taylor knew the family and had been impressed for a long time with the way they took care of their cows and with the quality of the milk. It was frustrating, though, that the milk was just being mixed with milk from other dairy farms that might not take as good of care of their cows, he added.

Taylor finally decided to open his own dairy product business working with Dix and Hall.

The Snowville Creamery is set up as a "Same Day Dairy" company, meaning that the milk is processed and packaged within 24 hours of the time it is taken out of the cow.

Dairies are allowed to store milk for three days after the milking before it is sent to the packaging company, and that company can take up to three more days before it has the milk ready to be sold in stores, Ferreira said.

The Snowville Creamery only sends out dairy products a few days a week, so on the other days the milk from Dix and Hall's dairy farm is sent to other milk producers.

A large amount of milk also comes from "confinement dairies," meaning farms where the cows stay inside barns for most of their lives and eat only feed that is brought into them, Ferreira said. At the Snowville Creamery, the 230 dairy cows have 280 acres of pasture to roam.

The cows walk back and forth on a dirt path twice a day for milking, but spend the rest of their days in the pastures. Ferreira explained that the cows are shifted from one part of the farm to another throughout the year in order to keep the grass growing well.

The farm has a mix of types of cows, including Jersey, Guernsey, Brown Swiss and Holstein. The milk from the various types of cows is different, and Ferreira said the diversity improves the milk product.

Although the cows live outside and eat mostly grass, the dairy is not certified organic for several reasons, Ferreira and Taylor explained.

First of all, the cows do eat some pellet food in the milking barn, and that food does not qualify for the organic certification. The cows also receive antibiotic shots, although the business stresses that federal regulations prohibit any antibiotics from entering the milk supply. In addition, whenever the cows are treated with antibiotics, the milk is discarded to make sure the antibiotics do not taint the milk

Taylor said some farms don't use antibiotics, but added that the cows at this dairy farm generally live longer than other dairy cows because they are treated well, and in their long lives they need antibiotics for different reasons. He sees the antibiotics as beneficial to the cows in order to help them stay healthy and live long lives.

Taylor argues that the Snowville Creamery cows are treated better, eat more grass and are healthier than most dairy cattle, including those at organic farms. The term "organic" does not mean as much with dairy products as it does with other food products, and he stressed how his company also takes care of the milk after it is taken out of the cow.

"When it comes out of the cow it's perfect. The challenge is not to screw it up," Taylor said.

Other dairies often heat the milk to very high temperatures as part of the treatment process, and Taylor argues that this sterilizes the milk.

The Snowville milk is heated as part of the pasteurization process, but it is heated to nearly the lowest allowable temperature. Also, the milk is not homogenized because it s not needed, which means the cream rises to the top in the carton.

The milk will stay fresh for 15 days, and has a "sell-by" date on the carton, not a "use-by" date, Ferreira said. The milk will stay fresh for five days past the sell-by date, according to an information sheet from the company.

THE MILK IS SOLD  currently at Athens stores such as Kroger, C&E, The Farmacy, Food World, Seaman's and The Village Bakery, as well as Kroger in Nelsonville. The company is working to get the product in local stores in areas such as Trimble and Lancaster.

The milk is also sold in several stores in and around Columbus, and the key to the business now is to get more stores in Columbus and other large cities to sell the milk, Ferreira said. In particular, the business needs to get more large retail outlets to carry the products.

Recently, there was concern around Athens that the local stores were cutting back shelf space for the milk, which would hurt the business.

Taylor said that the concern was over a miscommunication, and said he is proud to have the product in the local stores. He particularly mentioned how helpful the Athens Kroger store has been, and how Manager Dave Shull is supportive of the Snowville milk and other local products.

Taylor sees the dairy industry as a symptom of what is wrong with the country. The dairy industry is controlled by large companies that all produce the same type of milk, he said.

America has a great problem with the concentration of wealth and power, and this can be seen in the dairy industry and in other walks of life, he said

"We're challenging all of that," he said. Taylor sees his company as taking on the large corporate dairy companies, and selling products that are better tasting and healthier. He wants to have a product that children and adults enjoy drinking and gain health benefits from, he said.

He sees his product as a free choice for consumers, and he believes strongly in the need small businesses like his. He talks glowingly about his milk, and the term "dairy evangelist" seems to fit him well.

After six months in business, the company is doing well. The big question for the business now, is if the dairy evangelist can get businesses and customers around the state to try his milk and believe in what he is selling.