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Recently, students from MIU’s Physiology and Health department made a visit to local dairy farm Radiance Dairy. This field trip was a part of ‘MAV Diet, Digestion and Nutrition‘ class, where the students are learning how the food we eat can be used to keep the body in balance or bring it back in to balance. There are several products that are considered Sattvic (i.e. promoting purity of mind and body and giving more life energy) in AyurVeda. Cow’s milk and purified butter (ghee) are among them.

A staple of Fairfield, IA, Radiance Dairy provides amazingly rich and delicious milk and cheese products to its residents. They sell whole milk, non-fat milk, 2% milk, cream, pepperjack cheese, paneer cheese, yogurt, ghee and ice-cream (in summer), all of which truly are some of the best tasting dairy products you’ll come across.

The farm originally started out with only two cows in 1980, but since then they’ve grown their ranks to the point of milking around 90 Jersey cows, twice a day. This produces up to four gallons of milk per cow, per day. The farm, which sits on 730 acres, has sustainable elements in place such as their wind turbine and solar panels which powers a pump that provides water to the cows.

Francis Thicke, owner of Radiance dairy, went into great detail in explaining the farm’s processes to our students. During the milking process the cows listen to Maharishi Gandarva Veda, a form of ancient Indian music that produces harmony within the physiology and has different effects depending on the time of day. Essentially what this does is create happier cows and tastier milk. The milk is then vat pasteurized, which means that it is pasteurized at a lower temperature for a long period of time. This removes unwanted bacteria but preserves some of the helpful enzymes that are naturally found in cow milk. Radiance bottles their milk twice per week.

During the day Radiance moves their cows through their pastures, moving them between pastures every 20-40 days. They harvest hay from the fields to feed the cows in winter, when the pasture is covered with snow.

Though their commitment to sustainability and raising the happiest dairy cows on the planet, Radiance Dairy shows us how to do dairy farming right. Thanks to Francis Thicke for welcoming us to his farm and for showing us around, and thanks to Ty Brodale for contributing to this article! Moo on!