Friday, June 4, 2021
CapitalPress.com
11
Pleasant Meadow Creamery
Paul and Debra Hern-
don broke ground on
their latest milking
parlor and bottling
plant at Pleasant
Meadow Creamery
south of Sandpoint,
Idaho, in 2018.
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PLEASANT MEADOW CREAMERY
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SANDPOINT, Idaho —
One milking cow was all it took
for Paul and Debra Herndon to
start selling milk to friends.
“We had more milk than
our family of four could deal
with in 2011 when we started,”
Paul said. “We then had to add
a second cow in order to meet
demand from more friends.”
The Herndons’ Pleasant
Meadow Creamery, a 60-acre,
family-owned organic dairy
south of Sandpoint, started hum-
bly, but now sells raw Guernsey
milk to 12 retail stores in North
Idaho.
“We’ve grown slowly and
methodically since 2013,” Paul
said. “We purchased a base of
A2A2 Guernsey cows from
Iowa, Wisconsin and Oregon
and have grown by rearing
off spring.”
The farm is now milking up
to 18 cows with a target of about
22 by summer 2022.
“We settled on Guernseys
for fl avor and milk quality,”
Paul said.
The fi elds are certifi ed
organic and the cows are in the
fi nal months of the transition
toward the standard.
The employees milk into
bucket milkers instead of a
pipeline.
“It’s a slower milking pro-
cess, but helps assure the high-
est quality raw milk going out
the door,” Paul said.
Paul and Debra are the
shareholders of the farm.
Paul is the chief herds-
man and makes the hay and
fi eld management decisions.
Debra does bottle washing,
bottling, books and general
management.
Grown son Christopher is
the main milking employee.
The Herndons have two
school-age girls who feed
heifers and clean cow areas.
The farm also has a part-time
bottling and delivery driver.
“The business model is
good, but we’re working with
live animals so things natu-
rally don’t always go accord-
ing to plan,” Paul said. “I love
the cows and enjoy working
with them, and we’ve found
the family greatly benefi ts by
doing this together.
“We are all together every
day, homeschooling our kids.
For the two who have reached
adulthood, they are described
as some of the hardest workers
people have seen by folks who
know them.”
Paul said the family has
stayed the course because cus-
tomers love the milk.
“That’s why we got a fam-
ily cow — we wanted grass-
based organic raw milk and
nobody was producing it at the
time,” he said.
The farm also leases 60
acres nearby for hay producing
and manure spreading.
“The way we are farming,
we don’t really produce any
odors,” Paul said. “There is no
manure lagoon. All waste is
solid waste and is composted in
the fi elds. Our area is still rural,
so there are no encroaching
subdivisions.”
The milk is sold at all Super
1 Foods stores in North Idaho,
Pilgrim’s Market in Coeur
d’Alene, Winter Ridge Natural
Foods in Sandpoint and Only
Local in Sagle.
Paul said the population
growth in the area has posed an
interesting trend.
“Every time we think we are
about to maximize the market’s
fl uid milk capacity at our price
point, we fi nd out we’re not
there yet,” he said. “Our grocery
shelves are sitting empty some
days, and it is our goal to get to a
point where that is not the case.”
The pandemic has made
receiving a few supplies more
diffi cult, but market demand for
milk has not been aff ected, Paul
said.
“Gaining cows fast enough
to meet market demand has
probably been our biggest
challenge,” he said.
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Family’s raw milk dairy
grows with demand