A dairy justly named, Morning Fresh Dairy, starts before the kiss of dawn can gingerly mark it’s’ territory and before most of us have had our first sip of coffee. Busy bees loading truckloads of freshly bottled milk and other creamy delights to doorsteps before the cereal hits the ceramic.
With soft hums of cows mooing their good mornings to one another as they themselves prepare for the days busy schedule; “Time to get to work, let’s moooove,” they seem to say to each other. (No pun intended) 400 cows are milked three times a day producing 10 gallons for each cow.
It started in Bellvue’s Pleasant Valley near the entrance to the Poudre Canyon with Williams C. Graves and his sons in 1894. The Grave’s family owns and runs this dairy still which sits on about 1,200 acres of space with deep roots that stretches out across a landscape that provides 100% natural products meaning no artificial hormones, pesticides, preservatives, or growth hormones that are carcinogenic to humans. In the next year or two they will become 100% certified organic, it’s a seven year process! And, in order for the milk to be organic, Morning Fresh provides all the feed for their cows to ensure the highest quality of milk and keeps a closed herd meaning their cows are bred and matured there on the farm.
Their crops and production are designed to be environmentally friendly reducing their carbon footprint, allowing the cows to graze and trim the pastures, and using glass bottles that are reusable, not to mention the glass preserves the taste and freshness of the milk. There’s no cutting corners in the Graves family. They’ve also recently teamed up with Grant Family Farms, another quickly expanding local farm in Northern Colorado, to provide organic seasonal produce with your dairy delivery.
We had the opportunity of taking a tour of the farm and it was like visiting the grandparents. Open arms and large smiles greeted us without hesitation. We walked through mud to greet the ladies cooed at the fluffy wobbling calves. Each section of growth development for these furry friends is nothing short of loving. Each process ensures their safety, comfort, and optimal development.
When they reach their equivalent teenage years they move into their own single bedroom apartments where their neighbors are a good distance apart for range of motion and meandering. We ventured into the “vault” sort-of-speak where the gold is kept. Huge full room sized tanks hold the precious liquid where it’s delivered to various parts of the factory via stainless steel piping. A door is opened and the thunder of the ladies’ hooves blares through some honky tonk jammin’ orchestrated by one cowboy. The heifers do their jig and inline themselves without supervision. They hum to the music to pass the time then off to frolic in the fields until the next round.
Our journey is led by steel pipes into the yogurt room where flash pasteurized milk is pumped into a tank with Australian yeast culture and honey for flavor. It’s then heated inside an old fashioned ice cream maker that churns the mixture, fully cooled, and allowed to set. From there the yogurt is pumped into smaller tanks where it’s aged for up to a week to the perfect velvet consistency and placed into containers with a variety of flavors like the new Strawberry Rhubarb, which I have had the ultimate pleasure of enjoying and highly recommend.
Morning Fresh Dairy has impressed so many like myself that they’ve had no choice but to expand and with the upcoming holidays, they’re going to need the extra space for all that Eggnog! So hats off to you Morning Fresh, thank you for upholding a delicious and moral dairy. I for one will put my vote towards keeping our dairy local and strong by purchasing their products at locations like Whole Foods or signing up for daily deliveries. Put your vote in today.
Morning Fresh Dairy
5821 West County Road 54E
Bellvue, Colorado 80512
Special thanks to Alison Williams, 7 Bar Grille Healthy Lifestyle Correspondent for JPFreek Adventure Magazine, for her contribution of this article.