LINCOLNTON, N.C. — Piedmont Jerseys is a 300-acre dairy farm just 40 minutes outside of Charlotte in Lincolnton. The family that owns the farm is trying something new – it’s using some of the 11,000 pounds of milk it makes every day to make fresh ice cream and bottle its own milk.
Corey Lutz said the idea was born when his children decided to join the family’s dairy farm business.
“My kids were interested and the economics of the dairy industry, especially in the southeast, has gotten to the point that this dairy [farm] wasn’t big enough to sustain one family, let alone two,” Lutz said.
The family has been running Piedmont Jerseys since 1997. This month, it added Riverbend Creamery to the family business. The creamery makes ice cream and bottles of milk from the farm, selling the products on the same land they’re made and processed on.
The family has more than 200 jersey cows producing milk.
“They’re known for making a richer, creamier milk with a higher buttercream or butterfat content,” Lutz's daughter Olivia Miller said.
The freshness of the product also makes a difference in taste, Miller explained.
“I would definitely say that our milk and our ice cream has a lot richer and fresher taste,” Miller said. “We milk the cows here and try to get the product out to consumers within 24 and 48 hours.”
Contact Indira Eskieva at ieskieva@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook and Twitter and Instagram.
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