Friday, June 3, 2022
CapitalPress.com
11
Clover Mountain Dairy: When small is good
By BRIAN WALKER
For the Capital Press
CHEWELAH, Wash. —
Clover Mountain Dairy near
Chewelah, Wash., trans-
formed an empty 40-acre
fi eld into an organic dairy
destined for statewide sales
in three years.
“We built up the farm
and associated infrastruc-
ture from scratch as our
U.S. Coast Guard commit-
ments allowed,” said Stacy
Thomas, who owns the busi-
ness with his wife, Virginia.
“We began with fl uid
whole milk in glass bot-
tles, but soon expanded into
other fl avored milks like
chocolate, eggnog and a par-
ticularly popular coff ee ver-
sion called Cafe Latte. Now
we also make whole milk
yogurt and cheese including
feta, cheddar curds, cheddar,
Monterey jack, pepper jack
and Gouda.”
Stacy takes the lead on
technical aspects of produc-
tion and processing, while
Virginia spearheads market-
ing and sales.
“We both work in all
areas and really enjoy work-
ing together on our own
schedule,” Stacy said. “We
can keep the farm a manage-
able size and make a good
living with a small herd by
direct marketing.”
Stacy grew up riding his
family’s milk trucks around
eastern Washington and
northern Idaho and worked
on a dairy before joining the
Coast Guard in 2000. While
on active duty, both sought
out learning and work expe-
rience on dairies wherever
they were stationed.
Clover Mountain Dairy,
certifi ed organic by the
Washington State Depart-
ment of Agriculture, has Jer-
sey cows with New Zealand
genetics and are grass-fed.
“The New Zealand genet-
ics really allow the cows to
excel on pasture as they are
more effi cient grazers and
seem to hold body condi-
tion better on forage alone,”
Stacy said. “Our cows are
incredibly healthy and
hardy, so vet bills are min-
imal. They have amazing
foot health as well with no
need to ever trim hooves.
“The Jerseys live up to
their creamy reputation
with our milk averaging 5
to 7% butterfat, which really
makes our products stand
out to our customers.”
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Brandon Hansen
Stacy and Virginia Thomas own a 40-acre organic dairy
in northeast Washington near Chewelah.
The cows are milked
once a day in the morning
in a refurbished Surge side-
opener parlor.
“Even with a small herd,
it was important to us to
have a raised parlor for our
back and knees,” Stacy said.
“We also really like the abil-
ity to see the entire side of
the cow, as that is really
important for monitoring
animal health and catching
anything early. We bucket
milked in the parlor for the
fi rst two years, but are cur-
rently installing a pipeline.”
Milk is cooled and held in
a 130-gallon Van-Vetter bulk
tank until it is transferred to
the processing room.
“We love our set-up and
are happy with how it has
performed,” Stacy said.
The dairy has four milk
cows this year and will have
eight next year.
“We plan to grow to milk
around 10 cows on aver-
age,” Stacy said. “Our land
and infrastructure could sup-
port 20 to 25 cows, but we
don’t want to push ourselves
or our land that hard.”
Located in the foothills
of the Rocky Mountains in
northeast Washington, the
farm is far enough east that
it is spared from the worst
eff ects of the Cascades’ rain
shadow and gets 18 to 20
inches of rain. The orienta-
tion of the Rocky Mountains
also shields the farm from
the worst of the arctic air
from the north. The area has
four distinct seasons with
panoramic views of valleys
and mountains.
“The area was always a
milk shed for eastern Wash-
ington because of these attri-
butes, which allows lush
pastures and hardy cows,”
Stacy said.
Stacy and Virginia have
learned from trial and error
and mentors rather than the
college education route.
“We’re pretty transpar-
ent, chronicling our farm
journey on our YouTube
channel,” he said.
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