Blue Ribbon Dairy

In 2017, Michaela Sanders reopened her grandfather’s dairy farm with only five dairy cows. Blue Ribbon Dairy now has a full barn of 32 cows, a bottling operation and over 22 locations to purchase their high-quality milk.

According to Sanders, Blue Ribbon Dairy takes great pride in their milk quality. “I get a lot of satisfaction out of the responses I get from people who drink Blue Ribbon Dairy milk,” Sanders said. “It’s creamier and has a longer shelf-life than most other milks.”

Blue Ribbon Dairy produces grade A milk that is low pasteurized, cream-line milk. “Our milk will go from the cow to the jug in 12 hours,” Sanders said.

Michaela Sanders has exceeded her goal exponentially with a full barn of 32 cows.

The dairy allows visitors 7 days a week to allow consumers to learn about where milk comes from.

After graduating from Auburn University with a degree in Animal Science Production Management, Sanders tried a few other career paths before returning home to reopen her grandfather’s dairy. To this day, she is still operating out of the same barn as her grandfather.

“My great-grandfather actually built the dairy barn in 1946,” Sanders said. “Growing up, I was able to spend a lot of time with my grandfather on the dairy farm.”

Sanders named the dairy after a show cow named Fancy that she owned for 16 years because Fancy won a lot of blue ribbons.

“I also wanted people to associate Blue Ribbon Dairy milk with being a top-quality product,” Sanders said. “What better way to do that than put a blue rosette on my label?”

Sanders said that she was able to meet a lot of people, go a lot of places and learn the meaning of hard work by growing up in the dairy industry. Now with a 1-year-old daughter, Sanders hopes she will follow in her footsteps.

While Sanders has employees to bottle the milk and help from family with the dairy, Sanders does most of the work on her own.

“As far as being a woman in agriculture, I feel like any other farmer,” Sanders said. “I just do what I need to do to get everything taken care of.”

Work starts early at Blue Ribbon Dairy with the first milking starting at 3:30 a.m. followed by chores around the farm.

“After we finish milking and cleaning up, the milk is bottled and loaded on a trailer to be delivered,” Sanders said.

Blue Ribbon Dairy is made up of Holstein, Brown Swiss and Jersey cows.

Sanders milks her cows on a 12-hour rotation which also gives the dairy an opportunity to advocate for agriculture by welcoming guests to learn about her operation.

“I allow visitors seven days a week, and if they come in the afternoon, they can come in the milk parlor while I milk the cows,” Sanders said. “The children that come to the barn have so much joy to be outside and be around the cows.”

You can purchase your own jug of Blue Ribbon Dairy milk by visiting one the featured locations or by stopping by the Dairy, seven days a weeks, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., at 5290 Chana Creek Road, Tallassee, Alabama 36078. For more information, follow the farm on Facebook and Instagram.

Photos in this article were taken by Suzannah’s Photography 334-283-8172 suzy@suzannahsphotography.com www.suzannahspotography.com

Blue Ribbon Dairy produces low pasteurized cream-line milk. The shelf life is longer because of the quality of milk