Since 1950, Plainfield, NH, has been the home to a unique family farm called McNamara Dairy. Founded by William and Hazel McNamara, with three generations of the family living and working on the farm today, this farm is their legacy. As their name states, one of their main focuses is on their dairy cattle.
Their farm has a total of 220 milking Holsteins, each milking an average of 80 – 85 pounds a day. Jason McNamara, one of the co-owners of the farm, said they “bottle 85% of their milk in-house, as well as make chocolate milk, half-and-half and more.”
Although they are constantly expanding and changing with the demand in milk products, the foundation of their production line has remained the same. Most of their milking equipment is from the 1960s. Jason mentioned his family “built things to last.”
The farm sells its milk using glass bottles. According to their website, “Milk tastes better in glass. By using glass, we are able to preserve the true taste of our milk. We also choose to bottle our milk in glass bottles because we value the small impact on the environment produced by reusable packaging. Glass bottles allow us to reduce our carbon footprint, help you reduce your carbon footprint and create less waste to our landfills.”
Jason McNamara, one of the co-owners of the farm, said they bottle 85% of their milk in-house, as well as make chocolate milk, half-and-half and more. Photo by Kelsi Devolve
They focus on reusing their materials by offering a glass bottle deposit, and they do their best to ensure the safety and comfort of their animals. One example Jason provided was how McNamara Dairy provides sand bedding and fans for their cows. Overall, Jason believes that to ensure cow comfort, “just do as much right as you can.”
They raise all of their own feed for their herds in addition to their diversified sales outlets, enumerated below. They sell their products to several local retail outfits as well as a number of nearby restaurants.
Although their dairy production is a large portion of their business, there are a wide variety of other animals and products made at the farm. This includes beef cattle, chickens, maple syrup, maple ice cream and more, sold in their farm store. They offer ordering online as well as normal in-store shopping.
Mac’s Maple is their maple syrup company that makes an average of 80 gallons of syrup an hour in season using a wood-fired boiler. Their eggs are sold under the brand name Mac’s Happy Hens.
Having this wide variety of products and projects ensures that the customers and the farmworkers never get bored at McNamara Dairy.
by Kelsi Devolve
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