CURIOUS ABOUT GUERNSEY

Guernsey Dairy is milk exclusively from Heritage breeds, including Guernsey, Jersey, Milking Shorthorn, Dutch-belted, and Brown Swiss. The story begins in 960 A.D. on a small island in the English Channel between France and England. Bred with the best bloodlines of French cattle, the Heritage was born. Fast forward to 1840, the first Heritage heifers and a bull were imported from the island to America. They belong in a group of heritage breeds that have never been modified for production. Although they produce less milk per day than your average production cow, they produce the highest butterfat milk which means superior nutrition and taste.

Traditionally, cows produced milk with A2/A2 beta-casein protein. Over time, a mutated A1 gene worked its way into dairy cattle. Today cows produce a combination of A1 and A2 proteins, creating a type of milk that is relatively new to the human body and may be more difficult to digest. Our cows only produce A2/A2 milk. It’s most natural to the body and easily absorbed. You can trust that our milk is always 100% pure A2/A2. Our milk is milk the way cows were intended to produce, as nature intended.

Our family farms and processing plants are located in Holmes County, Ohio. Lancaster County, PA and Boulder County, CO.

This milk comes from small family farms with 35 to 85 cows. We believe that a network of trusted small family run operations is the best way to ensure the highest standard of cow care along with superior quality of our A2 Heritage products.

Our cows graze freely on grass pastures but also have access to a variety of grains that are not only essential but a natural part of their diet. Undomesticated cows, out in the wild, will come across oats, wheat, rice and grains of all kind and will naturally supplement their diet with the much-needed fats, oils, carbs, proteins and other nutrients found in these food sources. In fact, a cow will choose to include between 5-18% grains, rice, oats, etc in their diet depending on various factors, mainly having to do with life-cycle and lactation cycles. We know that the vast majority of dairies are really just milk factories that rely heavily on grains and corn to a degree that is unhealthy. We allow our cows to have access to grains as they need them, especially during lactation. Our Heritage cows produce between 3-5 gallons of milk per day compared with 10-18 gallons of milk per day from all other breeds, including 100% grass-fed, organic milk. We appreciate the sentiment behind 100% grass-fed but that is simply a human idea and NOT what would happen naturally if a cow was allowed to graze freely.

Vat Pasteurized refers to the pasteurization of milk in a batch-like style. Milk is held at 145 degrees for 30 minutes and then quickly cooled. This retains a high percentage of the milk’s natural enzymes and protein which adds to the flavor and health benefits of our milk. This low temperature pasteurization does minimal denaturing to the good enzymes and protein in our milk, as opposed to a high temperature for a short time (HTST) which will cook the milk as high as 160-211 degrees. Our minimal processing means that the shelf life of our milk is shorter.

The plastic that we use is called PET, and it is quality, safe, non-toxic, strong, lightweight, flexible material that is 100% recyclable, and BPA free! We also have a built-in Ultra Violet protection in the resin of the plastic, this protects the milk on the shelf from being oxidized from the light. We do not want to denature the milk in any way, shape or form, and that UV resin protects that. We also have a skinny neck on the bottle to protect the cream as it sloshes around in trucks, much like how milk bottles use to be in the olden days. The lightweight part of the bottle is nice because we are hauling less weight and more can fit in a truck – we are also then only hauling them one way, and then to the recycling center so we believe we have a smaller carbon footprint with our plastic bottles. Two other major points with plastic is that the retailers really do not like glass, as it breaks often with milk bottles and is heavy and harder to handle, and they have less work dealing with the plastic. The price per bottle is significantly different as well and we really wanted to price our milk according to the quality of the milk and not add on a whole $1 for the glass.