At Aurora Organic Dairy, we believe that organic farming is crucial to the overall health of the planet. We see organic farming as a method to protect and preserve the earth through sustainable methods of farming, animal management and production. We believe that successful organic business models are the key to the expansion of organic acres under cultivation.
Our land and farms are managed with stringent sustainability measures in place. They support one of the most extensive and integrated organic systems in the United States. Our combination of organic pasture and organic feed is designed to provide a nutritionally-superior diet for our healthy, contented cows. We are located in an ideal area for the overall health of our animals. Our farms and farming partners provide valuable organic acreage in the Inter-mountain West and help to create local organic economies.
Ideal Environment for Healthy Cows: Our two locations provide near-ideal climates for healthy cows. Due to the relatively mild seasons, our cows are able to live outdoors all year round. Additionally, the dryness of the climate and the high altitude of our Colorado farm eliminate many common cattle afflictions such as bacterial infections, external and internal parasites, pests and so on. These areas also happen to be ideal for the growing of the supplemental feed crops important to our cows’ nutritionally-balanced diets. Because of this optimal growing environment, the feed crops grown here are often nutritionally-superior to the same crops grown in other areas.
Organic Crops & Pasture: Cows have historically been fed both on pasture and with supplemental feed crops in order to maximize their nutrition and productivity. By optimizing sustainable resources in our arid climates, we are able to provide our cows both pasture to feed upon as well as organic feed to supplement their nutrition. We consider the full range of sustainability measures when balancing our cow’s needs with the needs of the environment. For example, we take recycled water from our milk plant to our dairy farm. Grazing our cattle on organic pasture during the times of the year when that pasture is nutritionally optimal is another important part of our feed plan.
Organic Conversion: We consider the conversion of agricultural land to organic production methods one of the most important elements of our organic mission. As such, we are making a valuable contribution to the total organic acreage conversion happening in the United States today. We work closely with our farmer-partners who have converted farm land to provide organic feed for us. This converted crop land represents over 50,000 organic acres. We manage over 2,900 acres of irrigated organic pasture and over 12,000 acres of native grassland pasture. We have several thousand organic milking cows and, while we integrate all female calves born on our farms into the herd, we continue to work with others to supply us with organic heifers as we continue to grow. Additionally, our conversion of land to organic acreage has helped to create important organic “buffer” zones or organically managed land.
Organic conversion of land is the most important step to creating a sustainable future, to protecting and preserving the earth and our vital resources. Creating successful, organic businesses will result in the continued expansion of organic land.
Local Organic Economies: We see the creation of local organic economies as an important part of our mission. In order to transform American agriculture, all parts of the country need to develop organic economies. Access to fresh, locally-produced organic products is an important element of the long-term organic movement towards a sustainable future. For this reason, locating our dairies in areas that have not traditionally been served by other organic dairies allows us to build an important segment of the local economy. Additionally, we have created over a hundred “organic” jobs. Every element of life is affected by the creation of an organic business.