Rocky Road Dairy Open House: A Day Down on the Farm – Northeast of Mulberry Grove, IL
Open House for Organic Milk Producing Dairy Farm
Tony and Marsha Snow have invested most of their lives operating the Rocky Road Dairy and they have adapted to many changes during time, which led to them having an open house on a recent 2021 fall Sunday afternoon. They invited their customers, friends, and neighbors to the farm to thank them with a fun day.
It was also a celebration of their successful ongoing conversion from a producer of “bulk” milk to becoming a specialty dairy products producer/retailer.
They previously had made major changes in their operation by switching from Holsteins to Registered Brown Swiss cattle. They then went to 100 % grass feeding their cows and taking the steps to have their acres certified as “organic” by 2019, which is a somewhat complicated process. Now they are selling directly to retail customers, while also wholesaling to some retail outlets.
Another welcome change for the Snow’s has been seeing their daughter, Ashley Osborne (and husband Tyler when not handling his “day” job), return to the operation as a critical part of the process of change, including the addition of more processing equipment on the farm.
Below you will see several photos from the day.
A toddler and a goat met at eye level during the Snow Farm open house. These Brown Swiss heifers will be producing milk for the organic dairy in the not too distant future. Animals of all kinds were available at the Snow Family Farm’s recent open house. Milking goats are becoming part of the farm’s future plans. Produce displays exhibited some of the raw products available at Rocky Road Dairy. Getting smart about the Brown Swiss breed helped on a quiz visitors could attempt to master. Calves less than a week old need lots of sleep. Where there are pumpkins there will be decorators.Milk and related dairy products are available every day at Rocky Road Diary Farm. During the open house, space was made available to other area producers – like this meat producer. Rocky Road Farm’s trailer explains that their products originate from a grass-fed dairy cow herd. Chickens also have a place on the farm. Have you ever milked a cow? During the farm’s first open house, you could have!Families turned out on a perfect day to see and touch the animals. A round baler is a key tool for handling hay for a grass-fed dairy herd to reduce labor needs. No one seemed to mind waiting in line to make purchases from a lengthy menu of dairy products. Young people sought answers to a quiz to earn a bag of candy.
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