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Arethusa Farm Dairy Opens First Stand-Alone Retail Store


Matthew Bethea, an employee at Arethusa Farm Dairy at 1020 Chapel St. in New Haven serves a sample of their ice cream to a customer during the soft opening Thursday, March 10, 2016. Co-owners George Malkemus and Tony Yurgaitis are selling milk, cheese, cream, butter and ice cream made at their farm in Litchfield. Catherine Avalone — New Haven Registe

Veronica is now a cover girl.

It is just one more accolade for the big brown-eyed Jersey who just won Cow of the Year beating out younger cattle in the Jersey Journal contest.

The former Supreme Grand Champion, who continued to produce milk until she was 14, and whose 110 progeny are sought after for their genetic traits, is a favorite of the owners of Arethusa Farm Dairy.

She is among the herd of pampered Holsteins, Jerseys and Brown Swiss cows living a bovine’s dream in the Bantam section of Litchfield on the 350-acre property owned by Tony Yurgaitis and George Malkemus.

The longtime couple in life and in business love telling their story, which now has a New Haven connection.

Last week, they had a soft opening for their first stand-alone retail dairy store, which occupies the space at 1020 Chapel St., the former home of jeweler Peter Indorf.

Word of mouth and street traffic downtown brought in customers for the milk, cream, butter, cheese, yogurt and cheese delivered fresh from the Litchfield hills.

“The phones rang non-stop,” said Erin Hubbard.

The office manager for the farm said the staff at its small outlet in Bantam, which fronts the dairy production facility, reported all the calls were coming from New Haven.

The story of Arethusa is an unlikely melding of the high fashion world and an earth-bound dairy farm, a meditation on stilettos and work boots.

The businessmen hold the North and South American license for Manolo Blahnik’s handcrafted shoes — yes, those shoes made famous by Sarah Jessica Parker of “Sex in the City” fame.

The phenomenal success of that couture operation for the past 35 years allows them to indulge in the dairy business where they employ 100 people, something they never really planned.

Yurgaitis said when the horse farm, across the street from their country home in Litchfield, came on the market in 1996, they bought it to save it from being turned into a development.

Over time, they decided to bring it back to its original use as a dairy farm, concentrating first on a breeding program that has generated awards that cover their office walls and the hallway leading to the milking barn.

“People from all over the world buy into our genetics,” said Yurgaitis, whether it is farmers purchasing cattle or young people training there.

The 300 cattle on the farm are split between the milkers, with 150 expected by the end of March; the heifers, referred to as the “teenagers,” up to around 14 months of age before they are bred, and the calves who stay together for about five to six months.

They each have their own barn, with a show barn for those who compete in various contests.

“There are always cattle in different stages of lactation. There is young stock coming up to calve and because of the genetics, as well, we are constantly selling cattle,” said Matt Senecal, the farm manager.

Last year, the farm sold 50 cattle in a home auction that was one of the top three grossing sales in the U.S. Also, Karlie, a 3-year-old Jersey, broke sales records in 2014 when she brought a price of $170,000.

They have had 30 calves born there in the last three weeks and 40 more are expected by the end of the summer. That’s a time for everyone to pitch in and help, including Yugaritis.

Among the newbies was fawn-colored, 2-day old Vicky, the great-granddaughter of Veronica, who pressed her head up against her pen as Yurgaitis and Senecal came to see her.

Another great-granddaughter was being exhibited this past week at the U.K. Dairy Expo by a woman who spent a year working and training at Arethusa. “It’s just amazing the connections and the people who know about this farm,” Senecal said.

“Everyone wants in on that Veronica family,” Yugaritis said. Veronica, who is now 16, is retired and has a favorite pasture she likes to visit, but she still welcomes the attention she generates, Seneca added.

The talk on the tour is all about the cattle and the dairy, with any possible reference to Manolo Blahnik offhand, like the 4-month-old calf named Rihanna.

The singer has a collection in the works with Blahnik to be released in May with the shoes selling for between $767 to $3,483, according to Footwear News.

“These cows have their own stories,” Yugaritis said, steering the conversation back to the farm’s awarding-winning cattle and the staff that takes care of them.

In a visit to the farm on Friday, some 90 cows just had their mid-day meal, after exercising, and were about to have their tails washed and conditioned with Pantene Pro V.

Yurgaitis said the brand of shampoo wasn’t a fashion decision, it’s what dairy farmers recommend.

Cleanliness is the uppermost rule for the comfort of the cattle and to reduce any bacteria getting into the milk, Senecal said.

“ … we are trying to ship the best quality milk down to the processing plant. Our idea, which should be everywhere, is the better quality milk we can provide them, the better quality product we can make,” he said.

The cattle are monitored 24 hours a day with their stalls continually mucked out and the bedding changed every morning, while those who need it, will get a full bath.

The temperature is about 45 degrees with fresh air always circulating. There is no need for heating, even in the winter, since that is taken care of by the body heat the animals themselves generate.

The average milk production is 94 lbs. per day for each cow with milking scheduled at 4:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m.

“These girls are not stressed out,” Yurgaitis said of a likely contributing explanation for this high production on the relatively small farm.

The Holsteins are known for the large quantity of milk they produce, while the Jerseys have a high amount of butterfat. The Brown Swiss will also produce a high quantity and quality of milk, Senecal said.

The milk is pooled and trucked daily to their production operation five miles away in a former firehouse in Bantam.

The farm is open every Saturday to the public from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. with people stopping there after an ice cream cone at the dairy store in Bantam or at their restaurant, Arethusa al Tavolo, which is next to the production plant. Also, in this small center, a cafe should be up and running shortly across the street.

Only open for two years, Arethusa al Tavolo was voted among the best 100 restaurants in the country by Open Table in 2015. It is closing after today for a few weeks so the kitchen can be expanded to keep up with demand.

Senecal said he is happy to have visitors come to the farm where they can see where their milk comes from and how a sustainable low-impact operation functions.

“The carbon footprint is very small for us. It goes from here five miles down the road to Bantam. It (the milk) is processed on Monday and ends up on the shelf by the earliest Tuesday afternoon,” he said.

Chris Casiello, the production manager, who started out overseeing the cheese creation, is the man at the receiving end of all the work by the crew on the farm itself.

“This is where the magic happens,” Casiello said of the milk production and bottling plant in Bantam.

“We are a small to mid-size dairy plant with a huge diversity of products. The difference between us and everybody else is the fact that we have our own farm. We have control of the product from the cows eating the grass all the way through most of the distribution,” Casiello said.

He said they also handle the milk differently.

Arethusa vat pasteurizes in small batches at a lower temperature which gives them a “better milk quality. It is as close as you can get to raw milk and still be safe,” Casiello said.

The manager said the bigger dairies have to heat the milk to a higher temperature, which is harder on it.

Casiello said their whole milk is exactly how it comes out of the cow, while conventional dairies will standardize it to 3.25 percent milkfat.

Arethusa’s milkfat can be 4 percent and higher depending on what the cows are eating, which he said is great for the cheeses and the all the other products.

The staff of 20 make nine different cheeses with the youngest, the farmer’s cheese setting over night.

The Camembert and washed rind cheeses can take about four to five weeks.

The hard cheese, such as their Swiss-style Crybaby; the Tapping Reeve, a crumbly cheddar-style, and their blue cheese are all aged from two months to two years, which requires a lot of patience.

“It is a long slow process. You make the cheese. You try it at 3 months, you try it at 6 months, you try it at 9 months. Then you make subtle changes as you go to try to steer that final flavor. Everything you do makes a difference,” Casiello said.

Senecal said they are fortunate to be located in such a beautiful area of the state and to have the interest of Yurgaitis and Malkemus.

“George and Tony really do what so many people wish they would have the means to do in an industry, where the price of milk is so low it’s almost impossible to operate a dairy farm,” Senecal said.

Yurgaitis is pleased with their slow introduction to operating more retail stores and said New Haven feels like the right place to start.

“Arethusa is a brand known all over the world,” Yurgaitis said. “New Haven doesn’t know Arethusa, but they are going to.”

Source: The Register Citizen


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