History of 1st supplier: Diamond Hill Dairy

We formed the coop in December 2006. Our SC Raw Milk Grade A supplier was a very small dairy called Diamond Hill Diary.

I had originally found them through www.realmilk.com when David and I were making a trip to N. Carolina. After getting rather lost, we found the farm. We pulled up to this little house and noticed the sign on the door indicating that milk was inside. As I stepped out of the car, my nose was assaulted be the smell of cows and their waste products. I had to remind myself I was at a farm, not as Publix. Once we entered the building, the smell was gone.

The set up was simple; to the immediate left was a desk with a note explaining the self-serve process. There was a row of large refrigeration units beside the desk. On the other side of the room was a large stainless steel tank. The room was not really dirty or clean; it looked similar to other farm areas we'd seen in the past. We purchased two gallons of milk and left our check where requested.

After we started the coop in Smyrna, we continued on with Diamond Hill Dairy.

We learned the dairy was owned by an elderly couple. I met the wife on our first coop trip; she assisted us with filling the bags.

Once the Smyrna coop started, we began to get comments about the condition of the dairy pick-up area. Members commented on the dirt, the mud, the smell. It was quickly apparent that the owners of the dairy were not interested in window dressing to sell their product.

One coop family went to pick up milk one Saturday morning and the dairy had run out of bottled products. The family observed the husband bottling the milk from the Stainless Steel tank; he was not wearing gloves. Instead of questioning the dairy people themselves, they brought back their complaints to my door mat. Of course, this concern along with the other negative comments only give me a belly ache.

There was not question that everyone loved the product and we had reports from SC stating the dairy was still complying and passing all inspection.

One big problem we kept encountering was people expected the dairy to look like the picture on their website. Trust me on this ... the website picture was clip-art the website developer sold the farm. The picture was of a large bed barn against a large field of Kelly green grass; it was the picture of where you wanted to get milk. The reality was a rutted, loose gravel road to a small brick building where we picked up milk. It was no visually attractive and then there was the farm smell to contend.

After making the dairy aware of the complaints and concerns of our members, they created a letter to "Our City Friends." The letter thanked them for their business and educationed them they were purchasing a product direct from a farm where their were live animals, dirt and farmy smells. It was well written and was given to all members before they made the trip. This letter, seemed to do the trick with the complaints from those making the trip to the dairy.

Of course, we still had complaints from other sources. Like the mom who was upset that her milk had spoilt after her husband stopped by the store on the way home; the raw milk was not on ice and they lived 20 minutes away. This mom believed that the dairy should either refund her money or replace the product. In 90 percent of the complaints with Diamond Hill Dairy, it was the end users error causing spoilage issues.

In the beginning of 2008, Diamond Hill raised their prices from $3.50 a gallon to $4.00 a gallon. We were also informed they were looking for a buyer for the farm/dairy.

Our coop was informed in May 2008 that Diamond Hill Dairy had been sold to a local family who would be continuing the dairy as Cows R Us.

The story will continue ....