From field to milk jug

WOODSTOCK, Ill. – Grant DeYoung took control of his farm’s future when he launched Cow Valley Creamery last year. The milk processing plant is located on his farm near Woodstock where he milks 10 cows.

Cow Valley Creamery is the only Grade A dairy plant in McHenry County after the region lost two large dairy processors in the last eight years, DeYoung said. Although the young farmer always had a home for his milk, DeYoung said that sometimes it made a 1.5-hour trip to Rockford. Now, DeYoung’s milk stays close to home.

After it is pasteurized and bottled on-site, the milk is sold at Bull Valley Farm Country Store, located just steps from his barn. The store, which is open seven days a week, is owned and managed by DeYoung’s mom, Michelle Aavang.

“It was either do this or get really big, but I didn’t want to milk a lot of cows,” DeYoung said. “This is better for the future and went along well with my mom wanting to open a store.”

Cow Valley Creamery and Bull Valley Farm Country Store are companion businesses, operating on the farm Aavang bought after renting for many years. She opened the store in December 2022.

“We’re located on a busy intersection, so it’s a great location,” DeYoung said. “My mom used to sell beef at the farmers market, and she always wanted to have a store.”

It was at this same time that DeYoung, who had plans to become a processor, downsized his herd from 90 cows to 30. Since 2015, he had been milking cows on his grandparents’ farm down the road. He finished building the plant and then reduced his herd again, cutting it in half before moving to the new location the following March.

The venture was economical for DeYoung, who bought all used equipment except for the bottle filler and pasteurizer, which were purchased new.

“The parlor and milkhouse were already here, and next to it was a blank slate,” DeYoung said.

DeYoung took a structure built in the 1950s and transformed it into a modern space for processing milk. He installed new milking equipment and replaced the glass pipeline in the double-2 parlor. He poured new concrete and built new walls and a ceiling for the processing facility, which is connected to the milkhouse and parlor.

DeYoung said his bulk tank is considered a milk silo. It does not have a hose chute for a milk truck, but rather, another milk pump is positioned where milk exits the bulk tank, and the milk is filtered again before it is piped to the pasteurizer.

Milk is heated to 145 degrees for 30 minutes in a 200-gallon pasteurizer. From there, milk is pumped to the bottle filler. The single-head filler pours milk one bottle at a time at a rate of 4 gallons per minute. DeYoung bottles whole milk in plastic containers in three sizes: gallon, half gallon and pint. Once the bottles are filled, the milk is immediately refrigerated.

DeYoung processes 1,000 gallons per month, bottling milk twice a week. Once a month, he bottles three times a week to make chocolate milk.

“I’ve gone up anywhere from 50-100 gallons per month,” DeYoung said. “Every month is better than the previous.”

DeYoung can do the bottling by himself, but sometimes a second person makes the process easier, he said. DeYoung’s girlfriend, Madison Epping, helps him bottle milk. She also helps Aavang in the store.

“It takes 7-8 hours each time we bottle from start to finish, which includes 4-5 hours for pasteurizing,” DeYoung said.

Every time he bottles milk, DeYoung collects a sample of both the raw and pasteurized product. He also sends in a raw sample to a separate lab once a month. The creamery is inspected every three months, and the farm is inspected every six months.

“Dry storage is another thing you have to think about,” DeYoung said. “You need enough room for that. We have a six- to nine-month supply of bottles on hand.”

DeYoung’s herd is pasture-based where cows primarily eat grass and hay but also receive grain in the parlor. His herd includes Holstein/Montbéliarde/Swedish Red crosses, a few Jerseys and one Holstein. DeYoung farms 100 acres of hay and helps his mom farm 1,000 acres of corn, soybeans and wheat. All of DeYoung’s milk is sold as fluid milk. He said he enjoys selling his product directly to the consumer.

“We set our price for milk, and it’s pretty good right now,” DeYoung said. “It was hard to set in the beginning. You don’t want to price it too high, but you don’t want to price it too low either.”

DeYoung’s milk is also sold at a grocery store and several farmers markets. He calls his product “cream-top” milk because the milk is not homogenized so the cream floats to the top.

“You have to shake it well before use,” he said.

DeYoung said he feels this gives it a better flavor.

“It’s thicker and creamier,” he said. “Cows being on grass helps too — you can tell the difference through the seasons. Low-temp pasteurizing also helps retain flavor. I can’t tell the difference in taste from our raw milk that I used to drink.”

In addition to DeYoung’s milk, Bull Valley Farm Country Store supports local dairy farmers by carrying cheese, heavy cream, buttermilk, sour cream and yogurt that comes from farms in the area.

Along with staples like milk and eggs, shoppers can also get salsa, sauces, jams, pickles, coffee, ice cream, candy, fresh produce in season, apparel, soaps, lotions, candles and more. But the store’s main attraction is the meat, DeYoung said. Beef, pork and chicken are some favorites as well as flavored bacon.

“My mom tries to source as much as possible locally while focusing on small family farms and businesses,” DeYoung said. “We have a lot of repeat customers.”

There is an opportunity for growth at Cow Valley Creamery as DeYoung’s pasteurizer is not yet at capacity, and he is thinking about increasing production in the future.

“I could do 200 gallons a day if I wanted to, but I would need 30 cows,” he said. “I would like to get up to more cows and grow with this pasteurizer.”