Wisconsin-based Milk Source, which purchased the troubled Vreba-Hoff dairy farms in Michigan’s Lenawee County three years ago, gave the media a three-hour tour of one of them today to showcase more than $40 million of improvements that have been put into it.
The tour was at Milk Source’s Hudson Dairy on U.S. 127 south of Hudson and two miles west of the company’s Medina Dairy on Dillon Highway, which spokesman Bill Harke said has likewise received $40 million of upgrades.
Mr. Harke urged people to give Milk Source a chance, saying the company takes pride in its reputation as an environmentally responsible dairy producer and wants to distance the farms from their Vreba-Hoff days.
“It was a poorly run farm,” he told The Blade during the tour of Hudson Dairy. “But it was because of a company, not the industry.”
Vreba-Hoff sold the properties after being cited by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality for numerous violations, many potentially impacting western Lake Erie tributaries. Violations were prosecuted in state court by the Michigan Attorney General’s Office.
Milk Source this year was one of three finalists for the prestigious Wisconsin Leopold Conservation award for a second consecutive year.
The award is issued by the nonprofit Sand County Foundation, the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation, and Wisconsin Land and Water Conservation Association to recognize voluntary stewardship and management of natural resources.
The Sand County Foundation honors the legacy of renowned Wisconsin conservationist Aldo Leopold, whose 1949 book, A Sand County Almanac, is considered a classic because of how Mr. Leopold called for humans to develop a land ethic with nature.
Mr. Harke said Milk Source is offering tours of its Hudson Dairy to the general public.
For information, call him at 920-759-4649 or email him at bharke@milksource.net.
The company’s website said tours are offered of the Hudson Dairy at 10 a.m. every Thursday and on the first and third Saturday of each month, provided arrangements have been made at least 72 hours in advance.
Tours also are offered on a regular basis at three Milk Source dairies in Wisconsin, according to the website.
Source Toledoblade
