Since 2008, Battenkill Valley Creamery has been a local source for farm-fresh milk, and more recently, ice cream products, offering eight varieties of milk as well as 13 flavors of ice cream created and packaged right on their farm in Salem, Washington County.
The backstory: The Battenkill Farm has been in its current location since 1945, but only began processing and bottling milk in February 2008 after spending years developing the process. With a business that has grown from 12 to 350 cows since its founding, brothers Donald and Seth McEachron are now celebrating their four-year anniversary. All of the cows are fed an all-natural, hormone-free diet of grains produced on the farm.
Their herd, made up of Holsteins, Jerseys and Holstein-Jersey hybrids, makes for higher protein and higher fat content in their milk, providing an old-fashioned rich flavor, according to Seth McEachron. The farm was awarded the title of "Highest Quality Milk in New York State" in 2010 by Cornell University's department of food science and was the first self-sustained family dairy farm to receive the award.
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