Dairy products in Northern Nevada

Yes, it’s true! It’s been a few weeks since my last post. Why? Essentially, it’s because I got a bit stubborn. I refused to pursue any other unknown-to-me food source until I found a local resource for my favorite food group, diary. I was determined to write about local, sustainable milk, butter, and cheese available direct from a Nevada dairy to Nevada families. After months of searching I have to face it...there is no such thing in Northern Nevada.

In many places communities have found ways to develop programs that give consumers a fresh, local, farm-direct option for acquiring milk. Farm direct cheese, butter, yogurt, sour cream, and ice cream off-the-farm is less common, but milk happens all over the country. I figured there had to be something like this going on in Nevada...right? Nope!

Here are some of the things I learned over the last few months in discussions with people from the Nevada State Dairy Commission, Model Dairy personnel, and occasionally, people who live the Nevada ag-life:

Read NRS 584 to see the serious regulations that control diary production. Wow!

Cow-share programs must meet the same requirements as any industrial dairy that wishes to sell, trade or distribute raw milk. The law allows for the sale of raw milk if certain requirements are met, but no dairyman has met them because consumer demand is not enough to help fund the cost associated with requirement compliance.

Model Diary is sort of local because the plant is located in Reno, they obtain some of the dairy products from local dairies, which are available all over the Truckee Meadows, but the company is no longer locally owned. This could be an option.

Model Diary sells drinking milk grown on local dairies located in Gardnerville, Yerington and Fallon, which is then processed here in Reno. Look for the Model Dairy label or code 32-01 on the carton if you want to buy Nevada milk.

Horizon organic milk is a Model Dairy product but it comes from diaries located in other states.

Model Dairy drinking milk is from local cows. MD butter, cottage, ice cream, etc. is made from dairy that comes from other states.

Most of the milk we have access to usually comes from two breeds - Holstein and Jersey. Drinking milk typically comes from Holstein cows; cheese makers prefer Jersey for the high-fat content that contributes to cheesey lusciousness.

Some Nevada dairymen produce Jersey milk but it is shipped to California for yogurt production. If you want to make your own cheese try using Strauss Family Creamery milk, which still has the cream on top so makes a creamier cheese. My cheese-making friends say it works fairly well.

We lost our last goat cheese makers within the last couple of years. Is anyone out there looking for a new cheese-making life? I understand the facility is still up for sale.

At this point it seems the only way my family will be able to get fresh, unprocessed, all-the-fat diary is if we get our own cow. Pretty sure the HOA won’t go for that!