(Herndon, VA) March 7, 2011 – Humane Farm Animal Care (HFAC) announces today that Summerhill Goat Dairy Farm located in Hanford, CA has been awarded the Certified Humane® – label for its goat milk.
Summerhill Goat Dairy farm, founded by John and Anneke de Jong in 1999, was originally located in Southern California. At the end of 2009, Summerhill Dairy relocated to Central California to a larger farm as it outgrew its former, rented facility. Today Summerhill Dairy’s 1,000 goats live on 100+ acres of land having access to indoor facilities as well as outdoor areas at all times.
Owners John and Anneke de Jong grew up on dairy farms and are experienced humane animal handlers. Anneke says that becoming a Certified Humane® – operation was particularly important to them: “We have always been committed to the humane care and welfare of our goats. Our customers are very interested in how our animals are cared for and we wanted them to have an additional assurance that we were providing humane care.” In accordance with Certified Humane® – standards, Summerhill’s goat milk is free of antibiotics, rBST and any other growth hormones.
Goats are milked twice daily on the farm with an 84-goat rotary milking system originating from The Netherlands. The rotary parlour ensures a less stressful milking process as goats are comfortably moved to the location one by one. Their European rotary milking parlour releases the goats as soon as they are finished milking.
“We work hard to be good stewards of our resources. Our new dairy was built with an emphasis on animal comfort and care, energy efficiency and providing quality, natural goat milk for our customers,” John explains about his family run farm.
HFAC is the leading non-profit certification organization improving the lives of farm animals in food production. The Certified Humane® – designation assures consumers that meat, poultry, egg, or dairy products they purchase have been produced according to HFAC’s precise standards for humane farm animal treatment. Animals must receive a nutritious diet without antibiotics or hormones and must be raised with shelter, resting areas and space sufficient to support natural behavior. Since the HFAC program was unveiled in May 2003, more than 65 companies, representing thousands of farms and millions of farm animals, have been certified.
Endorsed by more than 36 humane organizations, the Certified Humane Raised and Handled® – program is nationally recognized as the Gold Standard for certifying animal welfare from birth through slaughter. HFAC’s Animal Care Standards were developed by a veritable “Who -s Who” of national and international animal scientists and farm-animal welfare experts. Producer compliance with the HFAC standards is verified through annual on-site visits by HFAC’s third-party inspectors.
For information on where to find Summerhill Dairy goat milk, visit the “Where to Buy” page of HFAC’s website at www.certifiedhumane.org/index.php?page=where-to-buy. To learn more about Summerhill Goat Dairy Farm, visit their website at: www.SummerhillDairy.com
http://www.opednews.com/articles/SUMMERHILL-GOAT-DAIRY-FARM-by-Press-Release-110308-881.html
OpEd News.com
Posted: March 8, 2011 by Certified Humane
(Herndon, VA) March 7, 2011 – Humane Farm Animal Care (HFAC) announces today that Summerhill Goat Dairy Farm located in Hanford, CA has been awarded the Certified Humane® – label for its goat milk.
Summerhill Goat Dairy farm, founded by John and Anneke de Jong in 1999, was originally located in Southern California. At the end of 2009, Summerhill Dairy relocated to Central California to a larger farm as it outgrew its former, rented facility. Today Summerhill Dairy’s 1,000 goats live on 100+ acres of land having access to indoor facilities as well as outdoor areas at all times.
Owners John and Anneke de Jong grew up on dairy farms and are experienced humane animal handlers. Anneke says that becoming a Certified Humane® – operation was particularly important to them: “We have always been committed to the humane care and welfare of our goats. Our customers are very interested in how our animals are cared for and we wanted them to have an additional assurance that we were providing humane care.” In accordance with Certified Humane® – standards, Summerhill’s goat milk is free of antibiotics, rBST and any other growth hormones.
Goats are milked twice daily on the farm with an 84-goat rotary milking system originating from The Netherlands. The rotary parlour ensures a less stressful milking process as goats are comfortably moved to the location one by one. Their European rotary milking parlour releases the goats as soon as they are finished milking.
“We work hard to be good stewards of our resources. Our new dairy was built with an emphasis on animal comfort and care, energy efficiency and providing quality, natural goat milk for our customers,” John explains about his family run farm.
HFAC is the leading non-profit certification organization improving the lives of farm animals in food production. The Certified Humane® – designation assures consumers that meat, poultry, egg, or dairy products they purchase have been produced according to HFAC’s precise standards for humane farm animal treatment. Animals must receive a nutritious diet without antibiotics or hormones and must be raised with shelter, resting areas and space sufficient to support natural behavior. Since the HFAC program was unveiled in May 2003, more than 65 companies, representing thousands of farms and millions of farm animals, have been certified.
Endorsed by more than 36 humane organizations, the Certified Humane Raised and Handled® – program is nationally recognized as the Gold Standard for certifying animal welfare from birth through slaughter. HFAC’s Animal Care Standards were developed by a veritable “Who -s Who” of national and international animal scientists and farm-animal welfare experts. Producer compliance with the HFAC standards is verified through annual on-site visits by HFAC’s third-party inspectors.
For information on where to find Summerhill Dairy goat milk, visit the “Where to Buy” page of HFAC’s website at www.certifiedhumane.org/index.php?page=where-to-buy. To learn more about Summerhill Goat Dairy Farm, visit their website at: www.SummerhillDairy.com
http://www.opednews.com/articles/SUMMERHILL-GOAT-DAIRY-FARM-by-Press-Release-110308-881.html
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