Butter from Guernsey cows 'like eating happiness' – US farmers
AN AMERICAN farm is making and selling butter from Guernsey cows and mincing no words about what it thinks of the product.
‘It’s like eating happiness,’ said the Royal Guernsey Creamery.
Gurn-Z Meadow Farm is in Columbus, Wisconsin.
It covers 800 acres and is run by the husband and wife team Ed and Julie Bacon. Mrs Bacon’s sister, Jen Orchard, is also involved.
They have 120 Guernsey cows which are fed almost entirely by what is grown on the farm. Wheat, corn, soybeans and alfalfa are among its crops.
‘These cows do not need specially formulated feed to achieve such premium quality,’ said the owners.
Some dairies mix milk from different breeds, but the Royal Guernsey Creamery in Wisconsin has no such intentions.
‘Guernsey milk is too valuable to be co-mingled with other milk and sold on the open market,’ it said.
Mrs Bacon and Miss Orchard describe themselves as ‘seventh generation dairy farmers passionate about Guernsey cattle’ while the cattle’s lineage can be traced back more than 10 generations to their grandfather’s Happy Acres herd.
‘Guernseys are known as the “Royal breed” because of their reputation for producing the world’s finest milk with its golden hue.’
The owners’ interest in butter-making stemmed from involvement in a milk quality project for the American Guernsey Association.
‘Talking to other dairy farmers processing milk from Guernsey cows lit our fire,’ they said.
There are about 10,000 Guernsey cows in the world, with the island being home to about 1,250 of them.
