Maple View Farm:
Reviving the Tradition of Fresh Milk, Direct From the Farm 
by Vicki Dunaway 
(This article was originally printed in Southern Sustainable Farming, issue no. 22, Spring 1999, published by Southern SAWG.) 

Roger or Muffin Brosig
3109 Dairyland Road
Hillsborough, NC 27278 
 
A customer turns into the entrance of Maple View Farm, cruises up the driveway bordered by white board fence and green fields, passes a stately old home surrounded by huge maple trees, and parks her car in the lot behind. Stepping out into the warm Carolina breeze, she walks up the steps of an immaculate block building to a glass-front cooler the size of a large refrigerator. She deposits two empty bottles in a waiting crate and an envelope of change into a locked box. Opening the cooler door, she chooses two bottles -- a half gallon of skim milk and a quart of buttermilk. Happily, she returns to her car and drives home with her bounty -- milk as fresh as it can get, direct from the farm.

The days are forever gone when milk could be ladled out of the cooling tank into a neighbor's Ball jars, but Maple View Farm Milk Company has revived an honor system of on-farm sales with their self-serve cooler on the porch of their new processing building. Roger Nutter, plant manager and co-owner of the milk company, says the cooler ranks third in sales among the 60-some locations where Maple View milk is sold.

Located several miles outside Hillsborough, NC, Maple View Farm has easy access to the burgeoning markets afforded by the high-tech "Research Triangle." Two company trucks deliver 5000 gallons a week of fluid milk products and butter to locations within fifty miles of their farm. These outlets include large chain supermarkets and small grocery stores, country stores and restaurants. All of the milk is sold in glass bottles, which can be returned to the stores for deposit or trade. The company drivers pick up the empties when they deliver milk to the stores. Less than one percent of Maple View milk remains unsold despite the milk company's preferred short sale period of 10-12 days -- a third less than the 16-day industry standard. One hundred percent of the production of the dairy's 125 Holstein cows is now bottled or buttered and sold by the dairy in this way. 

Followed the Lead of Bergey’s Dairy 

It wasn't always so. Just two years ago, Maple View sold all their milk to a dairy cooperative, who mixed their milk with that of hundreds of similar dairies and shipped it to parts unknown. The Nutter family was caught in the cost-price squeeze that so many dairies have experienced -- high costs for feed, equipment and supplies on one side; low prices paid for their milk on the other. They began investigating on-farm processing and decided to follow the lead of Bergey's Dairy in Chesapeake, VA, one of a very few dairies that had continued bottling on-farm in glass bottles despite the trends toward consolidation, centralization and plastic jugs.

Although the idea was risky, they were encouraged by Bergey's success and rising consumer demand for wholesome milk from animals not treated with hormones. It took a year and a half worth of planning to bring the bottling facility into being, much of that work being done by Roger Nutter and farm manager Russ Seibert. They involved the state health department from the very beginning. "We didn't want to install everything and then have to change it," says Muffin Brosig, Roger's sister and business manager for the dairy. In fact, she says, "we sat down for a whole day with the inspector and the equipment salesman," deciding on layout of the plant. "That day saved a lot of expense and time in the long run," Muffin reflects.

The processing plant is housed in a new 2700 square foot block building next to the milking parlor. "We could use 5000 square feet," Roger says. They have added a refrigerated trailer as supplemental cooling space. All equipment was purchased used or reconditioned, much of it from a dairy in Pennsylvania. The entire processing facility cost about $500,000, which they expect to be able to pay back in about ten years.

The Nutter family didn't know much about processing when they embarked on this venture. Leonard Bergey helped a great deal in setting them up. They also got a break when Pine State Dairy went out of business. Pine State's production manager, Floyd Johnson, then 63 years old with 38 years' experience, was left without retirement benefits or a job. Maple View hired Floyd, and Roger and Muffin credit him with moving their dairy quickly along its path, jumping over much of the learning curve. "It's been good for him and good for us," Muffin says.

Starting the operation has not been without problems, though. In the first year labor was a real problem. People wouldn't stay to do the hard work and turnover was high. Finally, they were able to find people with good work ethics who were willing to start with a new company and grow. Currently the plant employs ten people pretty much full-time, including processing workers, drivers and office personnel. This does not include the five employees who work on the farm. 

Labeling and Pricing Were Challenges 

Another challenge was the labeling of the glass bottles. They tried "paraglazing," a process by which the label is permanently imprinted on each bottle, with a result that looks something like a clear address label. This is an attractive way of labeling, but very expensive at about 30 cents a bottle. Since only 60 percent of their bottles are returned, this adds up. Additionally, since Maple View bottles a variety of products -- skim, low-fat, chocolate and whole milk, as well as buttermilk and eggnog -- sorting the bottles with individual nutritional labels was a nightmare.

The dairy was finally able to obtain an exemption from the nutritional labeling requirements by providing point of sale brochures with this information, and by printing their address on the bottle caps. Stores have implemented look-up numbers at cash registers in lieu of bar codes on the bottles. So far these compromises have worked well.

Rather than having stores set their own prices for the milk, Maple View sets the retail price for the half gallon, and works back from there to get their wholesale price. Roger says this prevents Maple View milk from becoming an exclusive item out of reach of many families. At one time their milk was priced slightly higher than the others on the shelf; now Maple View half gallons may range from five to fifteen cents less than the competition. In exchange for the set price, Maple View guarantees their milk so the store is not stuck with spoiled or out-of-date product.  

Consumer Education on a Low Budget 

Muffin says a huge challenge has been to educate consumers. "People tend to buy milk as a habit," she says, "and just pick up the same brand week after week without looking to see what else is available." To address this problem, Maple View personnel have done taste samplings in stores. The reaction is usually favorable; people often say they "never noticed" Maple View's milk before.

Other sampling events have been less successful. A booth at the Southern Women's Show hasn’t shown much return. Somewhat better for them have been the "Taste of North Carolina" show and the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association farm tours. Additionally, about 1500 students have also toured the operation. "Our advertising budget is 'zilch,'" Muffin says, so they aren't able to purchase radio or TV spots. On a whim, Muffin wrote to Paul Harvey to tell him about their dairy, and he responded within a couple of days. "Everyone in the plant laughed at me for writing to him," she chuckles, but Harvey has talked about Maple View several times on his show.

The future of Maple View Farm Milk Company looks bright. Demand already exceeds supply for their products, and they consider on-farm processing a success after less than two years in operation. Their goals for the future include having an on-farm store and making ice cream.

Roger agrees that there is opportunity for other dairies to get into on-farm processing in the region. Going from pure production to value-added products is not easy, requires a significant risk, and takes an excellent team of people, as well as commitment to high-quality products. The smiling faces in this bustling little plant are visible testimony to Maple View's success. "Would we do it again?" Muffin asks her own favorite question. "Absolutely."