We founded Plymouth Dairy Farms in 2000. Our family has raised corn, soybeans, cattle and hogs in northwest Iowa for generations, and we saw the dairy farm as an opportunity to expand the operation so our sons could also be involved.
Since the beginning, we’ve had an open door policy at the farm. We hold ourselves to the highest standards in caring for our animals, protecting the environment and providing a great workplace for our 30 employees. Each year, we host about 125 groups, from one or two people to entire busloads. The most fun tours are the 25 groups of schoolchildren we host every spring. Many of the students have never been to a farm before, and are excited to see the animals and learn how milk makes it to their tables.
We also are proud members of our community, supporting a number of local organizations from the Chamber of Commerce to 4-H clubs and schools. We held a community event this year to celebrate June Dairy Month, working with other area dairy farmers to host an open house event. About 2,000 people toured the farm and enjoyed a free meal and ice cream treats. We relied on about 100 community volunteers to help with the event – church groups and 4-H members helped with parking and food service, and area cattle producers grilled hamburgers.
Our town, Le Mars, is known as the Ice Cream Capital of the World because more ice cream is produced here by a single company than any city in the world. Our community takes pride in producing high-quality ice cream and frozen treats that are enjoyed nationwide. We are thrilled to provide milk for those ice cream products and even prouder to tell the story of how that milk is produced.