FAQs

The most important thing for our cows is to keep them calm. Therefore, being hand-milked will cause stress for our cows. Also, a cow can be unpredictable, so for your safety, we do not allow our visitors to milk a cow.

Most of the tour is held indoors. We will hold the tour regardless of rain.

Tours on any day of the week are considered, but we typically schedule group tours during the week.

Motor coaches pull up close to the buildings. 

We love that so many of you ask about buying milk directly from our farm! Here's why we don’t offer bottled milk right now:

1. Iowa Raw Milk Law
Under Iowa law, raw (unpasteurized) milk can only be sold by farms milking 10 cows or fewer. We milk about 220 cows, which means we don’t qualify to sell raw milk.

2. Equipment & Processing Requirements
Selling bottled milk is more than just putting it in a jug.

• Milk must be mechanically sealed—the equipment for this is costly to buy and maintain.

• People enjoy different types of milk: whole, 2%, 1%, skim. To offer that, we’d need a cream separator and conduct butterfat testing for consistency.

• To prevent the cream from rising to the top (as it does in cream-line milk), we’d also need a homogenizer.
  All of this requires specialized equipment, space, and staffing.

3. Licensing & Inspections
We are already licensed to make and sell cheese (which we love doing!). To sell milk, we’d need an entirely separate license, with different inspections, standards, and regulatory oversight.

Between the equipment costs, ongoing testing, and added inspections, the overhead for milk bottling just doesn’t align with how we currently run our farmstead dairy.

We truly appreciate your interest—and we’re proud to offer delicious, local cheese made right here on the farm!