Buying Local Podcast · Episode 13 · February 26, 2025 · 50 min

S3E13: Dairy Farming at Willow-Marsh Farm

In this episode of Buying Local, your host Mike Nelson of Five Towers Media interviews Chuck and Sara Curtiss, owners of Willow-Marsh Farm. Tune in as they discuss raw vs pasteurized milk, what happens when you have a listeria scare, the importance of teaching agriculture in schools and much more! 0:05 Introducing Sara and Chuck 0:58 Raw Milk vs Pasteurized Milk 5:15 Feeding the Cows 6:06 How Much Milk in a Day? 7:46 Listeria Inspections 11:55 Milk Sampling 13:18 The Cow Milking Process 16:30 12 Hour Days 17:00 The Equipment 18:56 From Tank to Bottle 20:44 Scaling the Farm 23:00 Price Fixing 23:29 “Pet Food Grade” 24:50 Selling from the Farm vs the Grocery Store 28:50 Agriculture in the Classroom 32:33 Where does Milk come from? 36:01 The Listeria Scare 38:15 Cows don’t have to be Pregnant to be Milked 42:13 Timing Dairy Farming 43:44 The Farm Store 50:04 Where to Find Sara and Chuck