A Visit To Clauss Dairy Farms
Hilmar, CA

A Jersey brown cow

I was recently invited by the California Milk Advisory Board to tour Clauss Dairy Farms in Hilmar, CA. I think it is important to approach food with a farm to table curiosity — to ask where it comes from and how it is produced. At Clauss, I saw how the cows lived and how they were treated, and I even got to pet them!

Clauss Dairy Farms raises brown Jersey cows, and the farm raises over 3,500 cows. Clauss is a family-owned business started by Richard Clauss. His daughter, Kimberly, now works alongside him in the business.

The cows are free to roam between an outdoor pasture and a large covered barn. They're fed hay and grain, and given plenty of clean water. Each cow has access to their own stall with clean bedding that they can lie down on. The cows at Clauss get 12 hours of rest per day. They were all very laid back and relaxed, although a bit shy. I got to pet a few, and some even licked my hand! They were quite curious about us, looking at us with big brown eyes fringed with long eyelashes.

When the cows are milked, they're led to a large covered area with fans blowing to keep things cool, and one by one they step onto a "carousel," which is a circular track with divided sections for each cow. One by one, the cows' udders are fitted with the milk pumping machines, and the track rotates counterclockwise. When the cow completes a full 360-degree rotation on the carousel, she calmly steps off and wanders back to the barn and chews more hay. It was very interesting to watch and the cows were rather nonchalant about it all.

Clauss takes food safety seriously. Sick cows are immediately isolated from the herd and not brought back to milking until they are free of any medications and antibiotics, so the milk supply doesn't get contaminated. The milk goes through a rigorous screening process, so it's constantly tested to ensure quality.

Consider visiting your local dairy farm and seeing the farm to table process of how milk is made - it's very interesting and makes a great family outing.

Clauss Dairy Farms
21575 Bloss Ave
Hilmar, CA 95324
209-667-4582

(Images: Kathryn Hill)

Apartment Therapy Media makes every effort to test and review products fairly and transparently. The views expressed in this review are the personal views of the reviewer and this particular product review was not sponsored or paid for in any way by the manufacturer or an agent working on their behalf. However, the manufacturer did cover the travel expenses of our visit.

Comments (6)

I think this farms looks great and I'm very happy that you featured it to educate consumers.

However, as we all learned from the recent animal cruelty prosecutions in Ohio, not every farm is like this. Consumers really SHOULD visit their local farm and figure out if they are happy with the way their cows are kept. Because sometimes dairy production is more cruel than meat production.

Here, in NY, I recommend visiting and purchasing Ronnybrook products. IF your farm won't have you, you don't want their milk.

Aw, I love it! They sound like a happy bunch of cows, and happy cows make the best milk.

My mother and her husband raise holsteins and jersey/holstein mixes in upstate NY.

Of course, you wouldn't have been invited to tour this farm by the state dairy trade group unless it had been picture-perfect and they were sure you would write this kind of positive PR post for them. What possible purpose did you think they had for inviting you?

STH, what you say is exactly true- the council knows the horrific truths of 99.9% of animal agriculture and knows that they have to spread good press like this so that consumers will keep that "green pastures and happy cows" visual.

Dairy cows only produce milk because they are inseminated and separated from their calves at birth, their young is sent to be veal, be fattened, or to be just disposed of like a waste product. This is when humans step in and collect the milk that was intended for the calf.

It's great that people are beginning to care about their "food" sources, but at the same time it is disturbing that some consumers might mistake this type of exception for the norm.

Hmmm, quite a different story at this blog:
http://www.cheeseslave.com/2011/03/24/will-the-real-california-happy-cows-please-stand-up/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+realfoodmedia%2FNmAF+%28Real+Food+Media+Blog+Network%29

Cows were made to eat grass and live on pasture - outdoors all the time, not in confined, covered quarters standing in cow manure. They should not be eating leftover corn chips or soybeans or grain! God designed them to eat grass. Their rumens are designed for just that.