Wellsville — The first thing you notice about milk from Newhouse Dairy of Wellsville is the way it's packaged.
Milk from the dairy, located about 25 miles southeast of Lawrence, comes in thick, sturdy bottles like the kind the milkman used to deliver to your house years ago.
The second, and more important, thing you'll notice about the milk products from owner Will Newhouse's dairy and bottling operation is the taste. The 2 percent milk, poured fresh from a chilled bottle, is rich and creamy.
But the real stars of Newhouse's product line have got to be his chocolate milk and seasonal eggnog.
It's no wonder why.
Some have likened the taste of Newhouse's whole chocolate milk -- which contains 3.25 percent butterfat -- to that of a Jell-O Pudding Pop.
It's fudgy, rather than cloyingly sweet, and is enough to transport even the most mature adult back to childhood.
"It's got a lot of cream in it, and it's made from scratch with cocoa and sugar, not chocolate syrup. It's our own recipe, too," said Newhouse, 38.
The eggnog, which Newhouse Dairy starting producing again this week, would do any holiday punch bowl proud.
Will Newhouse, owner of Newhouse Dairy, watches the bottling process at his Wellsville operations. Newhouse, pictured last week, sells an assortment of milk products and eggnog. The products can be found at the Community Mercantile Co-op and Hy-Vee Food Stores.
"Our eggnog has just really taken off. It's just more of an old-fashioned recipe," Newhouse said.
Tastes better in glass
Newhouse Dairy seems to have hit upon the recipe for success in the Lawrence area, where a growing customer base has cultivated a taste for its products.
They're available at the Community Mercantile Co-op, 901 Iowa, and the Hy-Vee supermarkets at 4000 W. Sixth St. and 3504 Clinton Parkway.
Newhouse sells a range of products: whole milk, 2 percent milk, low-fat milk, skim milk, whole chocolate milk and eggnog.
| Newhouse Dairy is in Wellsville, about 30 minutes southeast of Lawrence. The dairy herd is made up of 94 cows, mostly Holsteins, located on 120 acres of land near Wellsville. Travis Shuck, who lives north of Baldwin, owns the majority of the cows and is the dairy's herdsman. Newhouse Dairy sells a range of products: whole milk, 2 percent milk, low-fat milk, skim milk, whole chocolate milk and eggnog. Newhouse Dairy products are available at the Community Mercantile Co-op, 901 Iowa, and the Hy-Vee Food Stores at 4000 W. Sixth St. and 3504 Clinton Parkway. |
The dairy also produces fresh-squeezed orange juice, but that's temporarily on hold because of the string of hurricanes that hit Florida this summer.
"They all sell incredibly well here, for a number of reasons," said Nancy O'Connor, director of education and outreach at the Mercantile co-op.
"People like that they can buy a product that's fresh, that comes from a local dairy. And people buy their product because they really like the glass bottles. They like that they're not generating garbage like we do when we buy milk in plastic jugs or cartons."
Newhouse Dairy's products are sold in quart- or half-gallon glass bottles. They are labeled either Newhouse Dairy or Good Natured Family Farms.
Customers pay a $1 deposit on the first quart or $1.50 on the first half gallon they buy.
When they buy their next bottle, they return their empty one at the store and get their deposit back.
"We make it easy here at the Merc. Customers don't have to bring them back to a special desk. Just put your empties in your shopping cart," O'Connor said.
"Let's say you brought two empties and bought two full ones. You just exchange them when you check out."
Herman Reynosa labels milk bottles with expiration dates at Newhouse Dairy in Wellsville. Reynosa was working last week at the business, which sells fresh milk and eggnog to the Community Mercantile Co-op and Hy-Vee Food Stores in Lawrence.
The glass bottles are Newhouse Dairy's signature, and customer response has been positive.
"That definitely sets us apart in the marketplace. It's more appealing. There are a lot of people in Lawrence who are dead set on recycling, and they like to do something good for ecology when they re-use the bottles," Newhouse said.
"It definitely preserves the taste, too. Anything tastes better in glass."
Local, fresher
But it's what's inside the bottle that counts.
Newhouse Dairy has built its reputation as a small, local operation -- with a herd of 94 cows, mostly Holsteins, on 120 acres of land -- producing milk that's chemical and additive free.
Newhouse doesn't use any hormones or antibiotics on his dairy cows. He grows all the feed they eat -- corn silage, alfalfa and hay.
The cows are milked twice a day, and the milk is delivered to Lawrence four times each week -- Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. It's often in the dairy case the day after milking.
"Most milk is hauled, transferred and pumped (into huge tanker trucks). It has thousands of miles on it before it gets to the shelf," Newhouse said.
"I think our freshness makes it taste better. And our method of pasteurization is done at a lower temperature, giving our milk a creamier taste," Newhouse said.
O'Connor said people who are accustomed to the thin, watery quality of most low-fat and skim milks are surprised by the ones produced by Newhouse Dairy.
Not to mention their joyous response to the dairy's other, richer products.
"Their chocolate milk is over-the-top delicious, and when people drink it, the comment that I hear the most is, 'This tastes like a milkshake,'" she said.
"Their eggnog is exactly what you would expect from Newhouse. It's so delicious. We can't keep it on the shelves here."
Good thing that Newhouse and his handful of employees are always on the job.
"Seven days a week, 365 days a year. It never stops," Newhouse said.
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