Column: Farmers, kids reap benefits of Hudson Valley Fresh

Children are not the only ones making the honor roll at some area schools.

Milk from Hudson Valley Fresh, a cooperative of dairy farms in Dutchess, Columbia and Ulster counties, has scored high. Craryville”™s Taconic Hills schools report school milk consumption tripled since they began ordering HVF milk. Cold Spring”™s Haldane schools”™ milk consumption doubled since HVF entered student life.

Sam Simon, a retired medical doctor and fourth-generation dairy farmer, is co-founder and managing partner of the cooperative, coordinating its 10 farms. He credits several factors for what he terms superior flavor and healthful aspects of milk products produced by the cooperative, including cow diets rich in hay in addition to alfalfa, oats, barley, soybeans and corn silage.

Large commercial farms often feed cows less hay, as it is costly to produce and requires more labor to distribute, Simon says. Plankenhorn Farm, the Simon farm in Pleasant Valley, produces its own hay. “A diet rich in hay is better for a cow”™s immune system and incentivizes the cow to chew her cud more ”” we count 32 chews per mouthful. Hay and healthy chewing mean more omega-3 fatty acids in the milk and a better ratio of omega 3 and 6, improving overall quality of cream,” he says.

Chewing is not the only count done. Somatic cells mobilize to ensure milk is free of infections. Somatic cell counts test the herd”™s health and are an early indication of infection and unnecessary pus in the milk, Simon points out. He is proud of his cooperative”™s range of 45,000 to 180,000 cells per milliliter, noting the industry standard for premium milk is 200,000 and that HVF”™s counts are far below the federal government”™s 750,000 legal limit and under organic farms”™ 420,000 average. “This results in cleaner milk with better taste,” Simon says.

Each member farm has its own breed of cattle. The Simon farm has been populated with Holstein. Other member farms are stocked with Holstein, Jersey, Guernsey and Brown Swiss. “Milk from all is blended at Boice Brothers Dairy in Kingston,” Simon says. “They accept no milk except ours.” In addition to bottling the milk, the dairy produces yogurt, chocolate milk, sour cream, half and half, cream and specialty ice creams.

“HVF never uses R-BST hormones to artificially stimulate production. We are not over-pasteurized. We pasteurize only 20 seconds at 166 degrees. That is in contrast to industrial ultra-pasteurization involving heating to 280 (degrees), changing the flavor and protein nature.”

The milk meets the standards of Kosher law, certified by KOF-K Kosher supervision.

The cooperative prides itself on achieving “from our cows to your store in 36 hours.” The HVF website lists stores carrying its products.

Raised on a dairy farm, Simon graduated from Middletown High School, the University of Rochester and St. Louis University Medical School, and did his residency in orthopedic surgery at the University of Pittsburgh. When his father died in l969, leaving his mother with his two younger sisters, Simon divided time between his studies and working to keep the farm afloat. He opted to return to farming upon his retirement from medicine.

The Simon farm”™s original herd numbered 100 cows, 45 of them actively milking and the others in a dry period. The cooperative numbers 2,000 actively milking cows.

The cost of milk production to the cooperative farms is $2 a gallon, Simon says, noting that some farms could not function if not bound together in the cooperative.

Simon and his wife, Gail, whose Kingston grandparents were fruit farmers, have five grown children.

Challenging Careers focuses on the exciting and unusual business lives of Hudson Valley residents. Comments or suggestions may be emailed to Catherine Portman-Laux at cplaux@optonline.net.