From Dairy to Doorstep
By Chris Wolf, 1997 Copyright © Boulder County Business Report. All Rights Reserved.

LONGMONT -- Not everyone is lucky enough to have farm fresh milk delivered in glass bottles to their doorstep by six every morning, says Susan Boyd, owner of Longmont Dairy Farm Inc., one of only four "producer-handler" dairies doing business in the state of Colorado.

"I'd love to have a milk man bring four bottles to my house," Boyd says. But since she and her husband, David, live outside their company's delivery area, they can't count on opening the front door as a way of shopping for their family's dairy products.

Co-owners of the 30-year-old dairy they bought from David's father in 1988, the Boyds live east of Loveland on the 40-acre farm that is also home to the company's 550 Holstein dairy cows. Because they own the cows, the processing plant (at the corner of 10th and Coffman in Longmont), and 12 delivery trucks that cover an area from Berthoud to Golden, they're known as a vertically integrated, or "producer-handler" dairy.

Boyd says the Front Range has more producer-handler dairies operating in one region than anywhere else in the country. But that hasn't stopped her from more than tripling her number of delivery customers since acquiring the business eight years ago. She says it's a good business to be in because people seem to like the idea of dealing with a small, locally owned company -- and they love cold, fresh milk in glass bottles.

"People are really just nuts about the glass bottles," Boyd says. "The milk doesn't pick up any other taste." And since it's delivered to the customer's doorstep within 24 hours from the time it leaves the cow, Boyd says Longmont Dairy's milk is just about as fresh as it can possibly be. What's more, she says, there are no growth hormones or antibiotics in Longmont Dairy's milk, which means it's safe as well as delicious.

Growth hormones are legal and used by many larger dairies to increase production. But Boyd says she and David decline on principle to become involved in such an unknown as that. Regarding antibiotics, she said it's not really possible to maintain a herd of dairy cows without using them when a cow is sick. But she said Longmont Dairy pulls cows from production until they're clear of all antibiotic residue.

"It's state law that the milk doesn't have any antibiotics residue in it, and we test for it every day. We test over and above the state requirements," Boyd says.

When Boyd and her then soon-to-be husband took over the business, they had about 4,000 home-delivery customers. The business was just getting by, at best, she says. They saw home delivery as the company's best opportunity for success, and hired a half-dozen door-to-door "solicitors" to drum up more business. Although Boyd expressed the slightest misgiving about going door-to-door, she said the practice has worked.

Though she prefers not to reveal the gross sales for the year, Boyd says the dairy sells in the neighborhood of 22,000 gallons of milk and cream each week, which is a drop in the proverbial milk bucket when compared to Colorado's dairy giants, Robinson Dairy and Meadow Gold.

Still, with two full-time solicitors on staff, Longmont Dairy is approaching a four-fold increase in its home-delivery customer base. Boyd says home soliciting has proven to offer a daily delivery service the best of both worlds; not only does it garner new customers at a rapid rate (what's not to like about an offer of fresh milk delivered to the doorstep?), but the company chooses where it goes looking for new business.

"We've found the best way to increase business is to go door-to-door in the areas where we need more business," Boyd says. "I've never worked in retail where you could just go out and get the customers."

Boyd credited her employees for the success. "We've been fortunate to have very good solicitors," she says. And the same for the delivery drivers: "It takes a special kind of man to deliver milk at three in the morning," she says.

And the delivery drivers make up the largest number of employees by job-type: There are 17 of them. Next is the number of farm workers, eight. Then comes the number of office workers at the Longmont location, seven. Followed by the number of processing plant employees, five, Boyd says. Longmont Dairy also employs four retail salespeople to operate the company's dairy store at the corner of Colo. Highway 66 and U.S. Highway 287.

And if you think running a producer-handler dairy seems like a fun business to get into, consider this: A typical day for the Longmont Dairy has no beginning and no end. The cows need to be milked three times a day. The 3,500-gallon tanker truck delivers its full load to the processing plant by 6:30 a.m. every day. Then the milk is pasteurized and bottled and stored at 36 degrees until it's loaded on delivery trucks before midnight.

And the trucks are on the road and drivers making deposits in insulated milk boxes throughout the wee hours, the last deliveries guaranteed to be on the porch before 6:30 a.m. Longmont Dairy delivers whole milk, 2 percent milk, 1 percent milk, skim milk, Half & Half, whipping cream, orange juice from concentrate, and, most recently, frozen cookie dough. "It seemed like a natural to go with milk," Boyd says.

According to Boyd, cattle feed is the company's single largest expense, followed by wages and fuel. Veterinary bills are also expensive, she says, as are the usual expenses incurred by any business -- utilities, repairs and maintenance, taxes and insurance