Maple Hill Milkshed: The Spirit of Local Dairy

mackenziehartung
Oct 7
4 min read

There aren’t many places in the U.S. with the perfect conditions for dairy cows and farms — this list shrinks even further when you’re looking for 100% grass-fed organic dairy. Each element needs to be right: stretches of healthy pasture for rotational grazing, rich soil, and farmers who are willing to embark into unconventional dairy. So how can you enjoy the best of local dairy when there isn’t a sustainable dairy nearby?

The Benefits of Local Dairy
The Local Dairy + Maple Hill Overlap
Moving Local Dairy a Little Closer

Why thinking local makes sense

Making a conscious food choice is an easy way to support the things you believe in — choosing local farms for your food is an alternative to conventional dairy practices that come with unwanted side effects, from quality of life for animals, to the quality of the product you bring home. Maple Hill is a small milkshed with big ambitions. To us, while we’re physically located in the east coast, we believe we can bring the conscientious spirit and down-home mentality of local dairy all over the country.

Here are some other common reasons you might choose to shop differently for dairy:

Sustainability: Smaller farms often prioritize sustainable practices, like reducing their carbon footprint and conserving resources.
Farmer Support: By buying from a smaller, non-conventional dairy, you're helping to keep family farms in business and providing a boost to their communities. .
Better Nutrition: Science backs the claim that organic dairy is more nutritious than its conventional counterpart, owing to the fact that organic dairy cows (especially 100% grass-fed dairy cows!), have a more diverse and nutritious diet which shows up in the final product.

Not all local dairies can make these claims — you might be closest to a large conventional dairy that doesn’t use organic or sustainable practices on their farm. And many conventional dairy farms use the term “local” to make up for the fact that they lack more conscious practices. That’s why we think Maple Hill embodies the spirit of what “local” dairy should be in ways that your closest dairy may not.

Of course, in some cases, we’re local in both spirit and proximity. If you live near Upstate New York or Pennsylvania, you might already be a neighbor to one of our family-owned farms in the Maple Hill milkshed. The reasons you would choose a local dairy farm are the same reasons that Maple Hill exists: to take excellent care of our cows, our farmers, and our land through sustainable dairy farming practices.

Where do your goals for buying from a local dairy farm and Maple Hill’s unique farming philosophy intersect?

Freshness

Organic dairy and local dairy share the same long-lasting freshness. Distance is the reason for both: for local dairies, they have a shorter distance to travel from the farm to the fridge. Since 100% grass-fed organic dairy is a specialty product that is not widely produced across the U.S., it is pasteurized at a higher temperature to stay fresher for longer on its journey. Organic dairy stays fresher for longer, just like local dairy products.

Sustainability

Sustainable farming on a smaller scale can help reduce a dairy’s carbon footprint and provide dairy cows with healthier, longer lives. Grass that grows in grazing pasture sequesters carbon from the air, while the cows do the hard work of aerating the soil and providing nutrients to support grass growth. Grass is transformational, and Maple Hill dairy farms have been using these regenerative practices since 2009 — continuing the unique tradition of 100% grass-fed dairy.

Most local dairies don’t practice 100% grass-fed dairy farming, which is what makes Maple Hill unique, and also gives it a reason to travel to stores outside of the east coast.

Farmer Support

The Maple Hill milkshed is made of 135 independent family farms, with around 50 cows on each farm. This smaller-scale approach empowers farmers to prioritize quality over quantity — they have the ability to make intentional, humane dairy products and get to know each cow on a first name basis. Because of our farmers and their intentional practices, our dairy cows live measurably healthier and longer lives. Most cows live 8-10 years, sometimes even to the age of 17, compared to the 3-4 year lifespan of conventional dairy cows.

Supporting local dairy is a great way to back your community — supporting 100% grass-fed organic dairy is a great way to support humane practices that you believe in and the family farmers who practice it.

Better Nutrition

100% grass-fed organic dairy stands apart from the crowd for added nutrition and taste. The nutrient-rich grass is the reason for the added boost of vitamins like A and E, as well as a balance of healthy fats like omega-3 fatty acid and antioxidants like beta-carotene. When conventional cows are fed a diet that is primarily made of filler like corn and grains, they aren’t getting the kind of rich nutrition that grass provides, and ultimately it shows up in their milk.

Studies have shown that the increased omega-3 fatty acid can lower the risk of cardiovascular disease, and that a single serving of grassmilk supplies up to 58% of the recommended omega-3 intake. If you are looking to make simple choices that are better for you in the long run, switching to 100% grass-fed milk is a great place to start.

Moving Local Dairy a Little Closer

When you think of the benefits of buying local dairy, you’re also thinking about all of the practices that make Maple Hill so unique: humane and happy conditions for cows, regenerative farming practices that sustains the land, and farmer support. You may not have local access to a good 100% grass-fed organic dairy, but you can enjoy our dairy across many grocery stores in the U.S — we like to think of our dairy as local-ish.

Read more about regenerative farming and Maple Hill: