January 20th 2017

Founded in the late 1890’s we have committed to improving farming for over 5 generations. We believe if you know your farms you know your food. That’s why we believe in transparency and invite our friends and community into our dairy family. Our goal is simple: great farms make great food. We strive to uphold that starting with healthy cows and homegrown food; cared for by great people for many generations to come.

At Oakridge Dairy there’s more to do than just milking cows. From birthing calves raised to adulthood, to managing our land yielding crops to feed our herd. Each hard working division focuses on their area of expertise to achieve our goal together. While the milking division is tasked with milking thousands of cows, day after day after day, the chores of all other divisions vary greatly from season to season. There’s land to till, crops to plant, calves to birth, fertilizer to spread, young to raise, and finally crops to harvest.

It all started over 100 years ago with the Adolph Bahler family. Our family was one of many small farms scattered across New England raising not only dairy cows but also growing tobacco and potatoes as cash crops. Through the decades dairy became our passion and while time moved on and other dairy farms closed their doors, we pushed forward. Through that process we learned one thing; quality does not happen by chance; it’s done on purpose. In 2016 we decided to take things to the next level by building our current facility that is 318,000 sq. ft. We built this with three things in mind: first and foremost the comfort of our cows and also efficiency & sustainability. The integrity of our farm and milk has been our priority from the beginning.

It begins with a happy cow and continues with an exceptional level of care throughout our process. When we say happy cows make great milk we mean it! Did you know that cows love a boring, consistent life? Without it cows become confused, agitated and in other words “stressed out”. A stressed cow does not produce as much milk and you can actually taste a difference. Truly! Another thing that makes a cow happy is good health and Oakridge cows are cared for by our dedicated farmers and vets that provide an optimal living habitat for our girls.

With over 2,800 holstein cows, how do we milk them all? Cows love routine, so that’s what we give them. Once we open the door, they make their way down the corridor to a state of the art milking carousel. The carousel consists of 72 stalls and constantly rotates at a slow, steady pace.

At Oakridge Dairy we have a long heritage of animal care enabling us to provide a healthy, safe and wholesome environment for our girls. With over 2800 holstein cows (approx. 2400 milking and 400 dry/not milking) we have created a place for them to spend their days relaxing among their peers. If you pop in for a visit, you’ll see that we have an open-stall barn that allows cows to walk around as they please whether to eat, drink, sleep or huddle together. Essentially our 8 acre barn is laid out similar to an outdoor area only it provides protection from the elements to keep the cows comfortable - shade in the summer and warmth in the winter. We also keep 2415 open stalls for space and natural ventilation. Needless to say, our cows have plenty of elbow room.

Oakridge has modeled the interior of the barn to reflect the layout outside