November 3, 2007
Shaw Farm Is The Last Of It’s Kind In Greater Lowell
Located in Dracut Massachusetts, Shaw Farm is the only operating dairy farm still around in the Greater Lowell area. You can be sure that when you visit Shaw Farm for your dairy needs you are purchasing fresh milk from a dairy farm on a very, very short list of dairy farms in still operating in New England today.
But how fresh is fresh? When you are talking Shaw Farm fresh, it means that the milk that you are buying in the afternoon more than likely came from the cow that very morning. You can’t ask for fresher milk than that. So what makes Shaw Farm so special?
Shaw Farm, which is still owned and operated by the Shaw family, has been in the dairy business since the beginning of the 1900’s. At that time there were many similar dairy farms in operation in the immediate area of Merrimack River Valley and also throughout New England.
It was in 1908 that M.L. Shaw began the operation of what is still known today as Shaw Farm. Farming today is still hard work but has been made easier with the help of power driven equipment. Not so was the case back when M.L. Shaw started out.
In the beginning, everything at Shaw Farm was done by hand. This included milking the cows twice a day, Clearing and plowing the fields with the help of a team of horses, cutting the hay with a hand scythe, and heating water in a wood fired kettle. The Shaw Farm milk was delivered door to door all over the Greater Lowell area with the use of a horse drawn carriage.
What Has Changed?
It’s important to realize that the only thing that has changed about Shaw Farm is the method in which they get their farm work completed. What was once done by hand is now done by power driven equipment.
What hasn’t changed about Shaw Farm is the quality and freshness of their dairy products. They still milk their cows twice a day. They also still take great lengths to ensure that the finished product that is sold to the public is of the highest quality possible.
You can still get a taste of nostalgia when purchasing your milk from Shaw Farm as it’s available in returnable glass quart bottles. Don’t worry, for those of us that are less likely to return the bottles, we can also purchase Shaw Farm milk in plastic containers.
Although the horse and wagon days of delivering Shaw Farm Milk are gone, if you are in the Greater Lowell area you can still have Shaw Farm dairy products delivered right to your door. You just don’t find that type of convenient service in this day and age.
More Than Just Milk
You can be sure that when purchasing your milk from Shaw Farm you are getting more than just milk. You and your family get a chance to experience a real working dairy farm in an age when dairy farms are very few and very far between.
You can also experience the fresh Shaw Farm milk and cream in the form of ice cream. Shaw Farm ice cream is made from the same fresh milk and cream that you love to drink. They have over 50 flavors available of their hard gourmet quality ice cream and also carry a line of sherbets, low fat frozen yogurts, and no sugar added ice creams all of which are for sale in the farm store.
If you want that “on the farm” ice cream experience, all you have to do is walk across the street from Shaw Farm to their seasonal Shaw Farm Ice Cream Stand. It is here that you can get all of the same variety of Shaw Farm Ice Cream while taking in some “on the farm” sites.
The Shaw Farm Ice Cream stand has a fenced in pen where from time to time you will see a baby cow or two. You can also have a look at an antique tractor which was used on Shaw Farm back in the day. All of this while enjoying the freshest ice cream that you can get your hands on.
No Artificial Growth Hormones Used
Because the use of artificial hormones have become so commonplace in the dairy industry and because of the fact that the FDA does not require artificial hormones to be listed on the ingredients label of dairy products, Shaw Farm is often asked by their customers whether or not they use artificial growth hormones.
The answer is No, Shaw Farm does not use artificial grown hormones as a way of getting their cows to produce more milk. Since this had became such an issue with consumers, Shaw Farm had started putting on their dairy product labels “No Artificial Growth Hormones Used”.
It seems that the FDA took issue with this as they felt that Shaw Farm was trying to speak out against the use of artificial growth hormones by other companies. This isn’t what Shaw Farm had intended at all. What they did intend was to be upfront with their customers about exactly what they would be consuming when drinking and eating Shaw Farm dairy products.
So although it may not say it on the label, you can be sure that Shaw Farm Dairy Products contain no artificial growth hormones. This practice fits in very well with the Shaw Farm logo:
“If they say it’s homemade, ask to see their cows…”
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