Jerry and Cora Johnston are pictured on their dairy farm in Floodwood. Photo by Marlise Riffel.
FLOODWOOD – I am witnessing a huge dream come true, and it has been a very long process. Jerry and Cora Johnston had a small dairy farm in Floodwood with grass-fed dairy cows and a cheese license, something unique in St. Louis County. Jerry moved the herd from 27 pastures four times a day and brought them in for milking twice a day. Fromage de Cora: aged gouda with flavors of basil and garden tomato, and farmhouse cheddar. They chose bulls carefully to raise dairy cows that could produce milk on grass and withstand Minnesota winters. And then they got a call that changed everything.
Dahl’s Sunrise Dairy was going bankrupt and was looking for a farmer to buy the bottling plant. Jerry and Cora prayed about it and decided to move on. This involved moving to a larger farm, obtaining financing to build a large facility, and painstakingly dismantling, transporting and reassembling every piece of machinery from Babbitt to Floodwood. Everything is there now, including a huge butter churn. They have gone into debt and are selling cows to get by for years of process. The dream is to rebuild the herd and reapply for the cheese license and permits needed to operate the bottling plant on this 200 acre farm.
In the meantime, Johnston’s Riverview Farm milk is produced by Crystal Ball Farms in Osceola, Wisconsin, an organic dairy. I like the name crystal ball; it echoes the Johnstons’ vision of their dream. Twice a week, Jerry collects empty bottles from 19 milk outlets, takes them to Osceola, and picks up a load to bring back and deliver. They would love to do home deliveries, but the local factory will be operational in the future. That future is hopefully 2023, if all goes well.
The 102ft by 40ft building was constructed, complete with a loading area and cold rooms, a bottle washing room and a milk processing room. They plan to remake cheese, cream and butter in addition to milk. Johnston’s Riverview Farm milk is not homogenized, which means that each bottle contains cream. Customers sometimes think the milk is bad and call to check. But non-homogenized milk just needs to be shaken. Homogenization is an additional processing step requiring a lot of extra energy to pulverize the cream into droplets small enough to stay suspended in the milk.
The dream involves a herd of around 60 dairy cows and several bulls to be crossed for desirable traits such as good milk production on grass and tolerance to inclement weather. As on their old farm, the cows will not be given antibiotics or growth hormones, but they will still have plenty of grass and fresh air, moving four times a day to fresh pasture. The Johnstons will bottle once a day and deliver their milk, cream, butter and cheese to their homes. I will be queuing for this particular cheese! I hope they are also able to sell at local farmers markets.
The Johnstons shaped their dream in accordance with their values. Their website presents the family this way: “We have a passion for a simple lifestyle and raising our own food. We homeschool our five children, allowing them to help with farm chores and be part of our family business. Our long-term goal is to derive our main income from our family farm.
There is of course another way to make milk: total containment and zero-grazing. Agri-Search researcher in international dairy production at the QUB (Queens University Belfast) Institute of Global Food addressed the question “total containment vs grazing systems: what does the science say?” And science says it depends. There are advantages and disadvantages of each system. Total containment gives the farmer complete control – of nutrition, climate and husbandry. It can produce higher levels of milk. It costs more than grazing, but as herd sizes increase, these costs can be reduced somewhat. On the other hand, grass is the cheapest feed available and, according to recent studies, cows on pasture experience reduced lameness, mastitis, mortality and aggression. They demonstrate increased comfort/lying behavior, increased fertility, improved milk content and reduced environmental impacts.
The Journal of Dairy Science in 2002 published an article measuring milk production and economic measures, comparing confinement and grazing systems. They also compared two breeds of cows, Jerseys and Holsteins, which complicates the results a bit. But here they are, straight from the research: “In this four-year seasonal calving study, cows fed on pasture produced less milk, had lower feed costs, and lower culling costs compared to cows fed in confinement.
Jerseys produced less milk, had higher protein and fat percentages, and lower culling costs than Jerseys.
Holstein.
Overall, there was no significant difference in income versus feed costs between cows fed in confinement and those fed on pasture. The Holsteins consistently had a higher dairy income than the feed costs
Jerseys. Other factors such as manure management, labor, and some investments should favor the pasture-based feeding system, but the land required for fodder production may be less in a confined system. Although many factors contribute to the economic success of dairy farms, the results of this study indicate that pasture-based dairy production has the potential to be an economically competitive management system. (White, et al, “Milk Production and Economic Measures in Containment or Pasture Systems Using Seasonally Calved Holstein and Jersey Cows,” journal of dairy science, 85:96-104, 2002)
These studies come from the perspective of farmers. What about consumers of dairy products? Well, there’s research on that too. The New Zealand vet Log “Evaluating whether dairy cow welfare is ‘better’ in pasture-based management systems than in confinement-based management systems.” 21st century consumers are interested in the conditions under which the animals that provide them with their food were raised. Vegetarians and vegans, of course, reject all animal use. But for carnivores, animal welfare is a key factor. This study takes into account the current reality of dairy farming: the two systems are heterogeneous and constantly evolving. Some confinement operations allow cows to graze periodically. Some grazing operations provide winter shelter and, especially in northern Minnesota, supplemental grass products during the winter. Between the extremes of total containment and total grazing, there may be “the optimal system [which] gives cows an element of choice between the two environments.
But labeling can be confusing for consumers. Is there a difference between grass and grass? Yes there is. Grass-fed defines what an animal eats. Elevated pasture defines where they eat it. Some consumers make choices based on this. And in northern Minnesota, with brutal winters, those choices are real. You cannot let animals graze fresh grass in the snow. So grazing farmers have to import baled grass, raised to their standards, to supplement. Farmers using confinement methods must also purchase feed, and this is where consumers can ask if the dairy cow was fed hay/silage (corn husks and stalks, wheat and oats) or something else . It is really a choice of values. Consumers are increasingly choosing foods based on their values if they can afford to make such choices. And that is the subject of another article!
For the Johnstons, the dream is in sight and the hard work continues. But the result will be a unique dairy farm for our region and local cheese! I wish them good luck!
Marlise Riffel lives in Virginia, but grew up in Illinois with farming parents. She is a board member of the Iron Range Partnership for Sustainability.
Johnstons Riverview Farm milk is available at these locations across the range:
Pokegama Lake Store Super One-Grand Rapids South Super One-Grand Rapids North
Super One Hibbing
Super One-Southern Virginia
Natural Foods Natural Harvest
Super One-Northern Virginia
Kunnari Farm Market
F&D Meats
