Cooperstown Farmers’ Market

Again Offers Fresh, Local Milk

COOPERSTOWN – The Byler family’s Mountain View Dairy Farm, Richfield Springs, has just expanded to include production of pasteurized bottled milk for the Cooperstown Farmers’ Market, beginning last Saturday.

“It’s brilliant for our customers and the market, for sure,” said Lyn Weir, market manager, “our thanks to the Byler family for making it all possible!”

Bottled by the half gallon, the new product is called creamline milk. It is pasteurized whole milk that is not homogenized, so the cream collects at the top of the jug. A quick shake blends it back together, or it may be poured off the top into a small pitcher for coffee or other uses.

The Amish family’s herd is predominately Lineback cows, producing approximately 9,000 pounds of milk per cow per year.

“We are bottling a small amount of milk to get started, but then plan to grow with the demand,” said Byler. “Our cows are 100 percent grass-fed.  We practice organic methods and apply a higher standard of animal husbandry than is required by law to become certified.”

Small creameries are a rarity now, but in the 1950s milk from many farms was processed in a creamery on Chestnut Street in Cooperstown. Milk from small farms was brought in milk cans, pasteurized, bottled and distributed locally.

Today, a farm-sized operation requires specialty equipment that Byler ordered from Europe, had shipped to Canada so a craftsman would make modifications to ensure compliance with current New York law. Small volume bottling requirements, meant more modifications and specializations.