Advice on farm made ice cream

Does anybody here have advice about making ice cream on the farm for retail sale? I have been looking at ways to get back into full time farming. My latest project after several ideas that didn't stand up to a pro forma, is a brown cow dairy, with a grazing rotation during a spring/summer lactation. I plan to run dry cows on purchased hay from mid Sep to mid March. I plan a freestall system with parlor milking. I don't know if I should set up the retail operation on the farm, or on a highway location that we own on the other side of town. (our farm is about 1/2 mile off a highway) Does another poster have such an operation where I could volunteer for a week or two before I make a big investment?

Interesting post. Having grown up in the country, I remember many such small dairies with a retail outlet attached; they always did well and the ice cream was the stuff dreams are made of.

I do see your dilemma about location though. Part of the attraction of these small dairies was viewing the actual cows the ice cream came from. For the most part these dairies were located on rather busy highways. The 1/2 mile off the highway could prove a large problem. It could also be an asset. Farmer's Markets are very popular, perhaps you could combine with other local farmers and put your place on the map as a desirable destination point for both dairy and other farm fresh products. This would also help to spread the risk.

Artisan cheese may also be a very desirable option. It gives you a mail order and Internet option as well as an option to sell to gourmet retailers. Worth a thought, anyway.

There was/is an operation like this outside Mt Holly NJ. It's been quite awhile but I recall it was a very large operation. Watching the cows feed and be milked was part of the draw and they had calves in small pens outside the main pens and around the parking area for petting. Sorry not much help, just another trip down memory lane instigated by RF

You might try contacting Wilcox Ice Cream/Dairy in Manchester, Vermont--a family run dairy farm producing their own ice cream. Sorry I don't have a contact name for you, but maybe they'd be willing to chat.

Tmiles, You might want to contact Paul Richardson of Richardson dairys in Middleton Ma. on Rt. 114. He has an operation that you are looking for. Being an old Yankee farmer I'm sure he wouldn't turn down volunteer help. A little closer to you is Kimbles dairy in Westford, not sure if they are milking their own though, last I seen the former pasture land was turned into a golf course and the barn a gift shop. Great homemade ice cream at Bensons in West Boxford Rt133 they use fresh local berries only in making their product, it's worth a look at, besides the Clam Box is close to it, kill two birds with one stone. Chow Jim

greyghost, that was a brilliant post!(mainly because i was thinking the same thing, kinda)

ooppss, forgot to add my two cents.(nickle)
sounds great, but have an exit strategy. as well, diversify if you can. maybe do the farmer's market yourself, and have farmers pay you, for space, when you make it big.
get a truck, and take the ice cream to the customer, like maybe restaurants, and maybe schools. dont forget two important things you will need. a huge storage freezer for all that icecream(perhaps a big rig trailer or two will do). plus, you will need an independant portable generator, for a back-up in case of power failure. always, have a back-up generator when dealing with frozen foods. high temp alarm inside freezer, to send signal to your house or cell.
other than that, a ton of faith, many folks praying for ya, and a flicker of luck....
great idea!

quote:

Originally posted by Jimeats

Tmiles, You might want to contact Paul Richardson of Richardson dairys in Middleton Ma. on Rt. 114. He has an operation that you are looking for. Being an old Yankee farmer I'm sure he wouldn't turn down volunteer help. A little closer to you is Kimbles dairy in Westford, not sure if they are milking their own though, last I seen the former pasture land was turned into a golf course and the barn a gift shop. Great homemade ice cream at Bensons in West Boxford Rt133 they use fresh local berries only in making their product, it's worth a look at, besides the Clam Box is close to it, kill two birds with one stone. Chow Jim

Richardsons is a little different from what I am looking at. I have posted about them here, because they are so special. They run 1000 cows, and I want to run 25, lol. Thanks though! A new operation that I am going to keep my eye on is www.browncowdairyproducts.com . They have just opened in upstate NY. The family has experience with the cows (in fact the herd is fairly well known) and has moved into on farm ice cream. They run brown cows, which IMO, are better for super premium ice cream than the common black and whites. There are other local places that I admire, but they might see me as competition. Plenty of companies want to help me, and I have been talking to www.pladot.com , but this is in the very beginning stages. I'm not doing this without a business plan, including a pro forma, that looks very profitable.

WhenI was a kid most farms around us had brown cows, in later years, I was so suprised to find out most farms had black and white cows.

Can You make money on your ice cream if You are buying your grain and hay. 25 cows take alot of feed!!

That a cool web site for brown cow dairy products

How much is a gallon of the super premium ice cream?

quote:

Originally posted by dreamzpainter

There was/is an operation like this outside Mt Holly NJ. It's been quite awhile but I recall it was a very large operation. Watching the cows feed and be milked was part of the draw and they had calves in small pens outside the main pens and around the parking area for petting. Sorry not much help, just another trip down memory lane instigated by RF

That would be Sunnyside Dairy. It's actually become a destination place in the summertime for the towns around, for the ice cream. Their operation even includes selling manure to local gardeners.

Another one I know of is Maple View Farm, in Chapel Hill, NC. They don't have the dairy operation visible, but they do the entire operation, from field to retail. What's cool about their operation is that they declared themselves a land conservancy, so the farm will always be their instead of being nibbled away by condominiums.

The more I think of it the farm location could or would be the location your looking for. Most people love those out of the way places that are off the beaten path. For some reason they think they are going to find that secret little gem and it's worth the extra driving to accomplish their goal. Heck, that's why most of us are here at Roadfood. You live in a great area of this state and I'm sure it would work for you. Up here on the North Shore we have many of these type spots and during the early spring thru late fall they do very good business. The big draw back is milking twice a day seven days a week, no time off. Hopefully you have children {another by product of farming} that are willing to step up to the plate as needed. Chow Jim

Check out Penn States short course on ice cream.

http://conferences.cas.psu.edu/IceCream%5cdefault.htm

You probably know of this, but you may want to check out Great Brook Farm in Carlisle. They're larger than your target, but not enormous.

A bit off-topic, but the story I've heard is that they've kept the farm in one of the most expensive residential towns in the state through a series of land transfers to the state, maintaining certain farming and residential rights. So much of the old farm is now a state park, which brings people in for the ice cream stand. They also have a little petting zoo and nature programs. Works well for them, and when I've had the I.C. it was quite good.

A lot of lurkers read Roadfood! I got some valuable off line advice from people who read but don't post. For the time being I have put the project on hold. Some of my ideas had merit, but some didn't. Buying feed was one idea that the experts agreed with, because it is very difficult to supervise the ice cream and hay at the same time, hay production of under 10,000 bales a year doesn't pay (we used to make about 2500 to 3000), people will not pay extra for brown cow ice cream, and my idea for a 180 to 200 day lactation was just plain stupid with Gurnseys. Salers cattle www.salersusa.org are used for a grazing season lactation in Europe, but it is going out of style even there. A good ice cream stand uses the production of only 4 or 5 cows, and is not nearly as profitabe as it looks from the outside. As one lady told me, "If you want to milk cows, you had better be the low cost producer, you will not make it up on ice cream". Another interesting quote was ,"Be ware of those who say that you need to spend money to make money, because they usually have something to sell". I may go to the Penn class, anyway, but for now I am looking at other dreams.

quote:

Originally posted by tmiles

A lot of lurkers read Roadfood! I got some valuable off line advice from people who read but don't post. For the time being I have put the project on hold. Some of my ideas had merit, but some didn't. Buying feed was one idea that the experts agreed with, because it is very difficult to supervise the ice cream and hay at the same time, hay production of under 10,000 bales a year doesn't pay (we used to make about 2500 to 3000), people will not pay extra for brown cow ice cream, and my idea for a 180 to 200 day lactation was just plain stupid with Gurnseys. Salers cattle www.salersusa.org are used for a grazing season lactation in Europe, but it is going out of style even there. A good ice cream stand uses the production of only 4 or 5 cows, and is not nearly as profitabe as it looks from the outside. As one lady told me, "If you want to milk cows, you had better be the low cost producer, you will not make it up on ice cream". Another interesting quote was ,"Be ware of those who say that you need to spend money to make money, because they usually have something to sell". I may go to the Penn class, anyway, but for now I am looking at other dreams.

my remarks about hay and feed costs is not important now that I know you only using the production from 4 or 5 cows.

Ice cream is good... Cheese is better!

When I mentioned "bought feed" I was talking about hay and grain. I am a fairly good pasture manager, and I run animals on pasture 9 months a year, even in the middle of New England. My sheep actually prefer winter pasture to hay. I am in no position to grow my own grain, because I don't have enough grain land. I don't feed much grain anyway. I can grow hay, but not as cheaply as I can buy it. In any case , for now, I am just expanding my sheep flock a little. For those of you who read it, there was a lot of wisdom in the piece that I posted a month or two ago, by Stan at Premier1. He (and some of you on this board) believe that in the future more and more carbs will be used to make alcohol, leaving less for animal feed. It is still profitable to feed grain to animals, today, but in the future will we be better off getting milk from 2 or 3 cows on grass, rather than from one cow on a 25 to 30% starch diet? It all depends on what the carbs cost.

Another operation you should look at is Rich Farm in Oxford, CT.

http://www.roadfood.com/Reviews/Overview.aspx?RefID=1202

They are located on the local main road. They are seasonal, roughly mid-April through at least October. They do incredible business, partly because their ice cream is SO good, and partly because their prices are so reasonable. Go there of a warm summer evening, especially on a weekend; and you will be hard pressed to park your car, and you will wait on line for a while. My completely wild guess, they do 80% of their business after 5:00 PM.

quote:

Originally posted by lvw

You might try contacting Wilcox Ice Cream/Dairy in Manchester, Vermont--a family run dairy farm producing their own ice cream. Sorry I don't have a contact name for you, but maybe they'd be willing to chat.

Simply put there Ice Cream is great, you can get it at their Farm Ice Cream Stand on Rte 7A, but also at Vermont Confectioners also on rte 7 in Bennington close to the NYS line..

quote:

Originally posted by UncleVic

Ice cream is good... Cheese is better!

You may be right, but doing what these people do is beyond my ability. www.vtcheese.com/vtcheese/blythedale/blythedale.htm They had a good feature about them in this month's FARMING magazine, so although I don't know them, I know a little about them. The Loftus family took over an already good operation and made it better. I don't think that I could do what they are doing from scratch. I have had their cheese and it is excellent, but expensive. I don't know if I could sell enough.

quote:

Originally posted by texgrill



That a cool web site for brown cow dairy products

How much is a gallon of the super premium ice cream?

I bought some this past weekend at a country store. $3.59 a pint. It is priced just below Ben and Jerry, but IMO, better. They no longer sell it at the farm, having gone wholesale only. We did drive past the farm. The cute little retail store on a country numbered route must not have done enough biz.