3rd Dairy stop on January 17: Milky Way

Our final stop was Milky Way Dairy in Starr SC. This dairy was listed on www.realmilk.com as a Certified Grade A Raw Milk dairy. Based on the number of cities listed, it appeared the dairy provided Raw Milk to many people and because it was basically the same distance as Cows R Us (CRU) and the price was the same, it was worth checking out. Based on the satellite views of the dairy from Google Maps, there was lots of green grass available to the cows.

I emailed the owner inquiring if it would be possible to pick up 12 gallons of milk on this Saturday. He said he could accommodate us and inquired what time we would be arriving. I had responded at 12:30 PM.

Our departure from CRU was later than we had expected but had been time well spent. The directions I had from CRU to Milky Way were "flawed" ~ we ended up on a 2 lane dirt road for about 4 miles; that was rather discouraging ~ David had lots of comments about what the coop members might have to say about having to take this road. I reminded him most likely they would not be taking this route to Milky Way ~ we finally found a paved road again ~ ah ha civilization.

Another 10 minutes and we arrived at Milky Way. As we approached, David pointed out the large grain silo. There was signage for Milky Way Dairy on the drive just past a large farm house. As we pulled in the gravel drive, we followed it back to building that looked similar to the CRU milk building. There was no signage as to where we were suppose to go and no people were around. Dogs came to greet us with their friendly barking, so we waited a few moments for someone to appear. No such luck.

There was an open doorway on the side of the building by where we had parked; as I walked towards it, I heard voices and followed them. To the left of the entry was an office-type area and to the right was another swinging door ~ one of the dogs pushed through the door. I partially opened the door and saw several farm hands in the milking parlor. I inquired if any of them were L.D. Peeler. They said no and turned back to what they were doing. Well so much for that avenue. I returned to our vehicle and gave David an update. Then I called the cell number from the email; no answer so left a message.

Since we were 15 minutes early, I suggested we might as well walk around the farm a bit. We started walking farther down the gravel drive and I noticed another door on the building. This door had a screen door which I opened and noticed a couple of large refrigerators and equipment similar to what we had seen at Harmony Dairy's production building. Bingo ~ we had found the milk.

We opted for taking a walk around for a couple of minutes. Just past the building I had nosed around, there was a large covered paddock area with a lot of cows corralled. This day was very mild with plenty of sunshine. I wondered aloud why the cows were not on pasture. The paddock area was all hard packed dirt. As we walked on a bit further, we noticed there were no cows anywhere visible except in the paddock area. We also observed a lack of fences, gates, etc. So where exactly were the pasture areas??

After about 5-7 minutes we returned to our vehicle, removed the 3 Transportation bags, and entered the room with the refrigeration units. David loaded the bags with the milk; we'd need to stop for ice after we left as we did not see an ice machine available. After loading the bags, we dawdled for a few more minutes; it was now 12:45 PM and we needed to head back to Smyrna.

Since this was our first time at Milky Way, I was uncertain what I should do with the check for the milk. I asked the guys in the Milking Parlor and one of them told me to just put it on the shelf of the fridge. I put the check in the fridge and we took off.

About 10 minutes after we had left the farm, the owner returned our call. I explained we had already left the dairy and stated where he could find the check.

Although the dairy/farm was set in a very visually pretty area, I was less than impressed by the owner not having someone to meet us and the people in the parlor's not inquiring if I needed assistance. I was also bothered about the cows not being on pasture at midday and the lack of visible fences. But in all fairness, because we had not met with the farmer, I might just not be understanding how his farm operated. We'd see what we thought of the Milky Way product.