by Kelli Boylen

Country View Dairy is not only consistently gaining new customers, they are also now helping to feed the hungry in Northeast Iowa.

County View provides yogurt to the Northeast Iowa Food Bank in Waterloo that is sent out weekly to the 16 counties they serve in Northeast Iowa. Their partnership with the Food Bank ensures a fresh, continuous supply of yogurt to many people who may not otherwise have a source of this nutrient-filled food. Country View provides the yogurt to the food bank at the lowest price possible, just slightly above cost.

They also donate additional yogurt to food pantries if it is getting too close to the expiration date to send out for retail sale.

“Country View products are now available in more than 120 stores in seven states, 20 public schools, 11 colleges, several health care institutions and restaurants,” says Bob Howard, director of marketing and sales. “And it’s available to Google Headquarters and the O’Hare Airport.”

He added, “We are also expanding markets into Wisconsin, concentrating on Madison and Milwaukee. That is new for us in the last year. Another small yogurt producer went out of business there and we have been able to step in and fill that niche of artisan small batch farmstead yogurt for many of their former customers.”

In Rochester, Country View yogurt can be found for purchase at People's Food Co-op, and as an ingredient at both Nupa locations and Tonic Local Kitchen & Juice Bar.

County View yogurt has a very clean label—it simply contains non-Homogenized Grade A pasteurized milk, nonfat dried milk, pure cane sugar, natural flavor and natural color, and includes live and active cultures with probiotics. They use no stabilizers, gelatins or preservatives in their yogurt, and the cows are not given hormones.

The Rapson Family, owners of Country View, milks about 200 cows and has been crafting quality yogurt in their on-farm processing plant for six years. They are looking forward to sharing their products at Feast! again this year.  

Country View Dairy offers a variety of sizes and flavors of their yogurt products, including a Greek line. Their flavors include vanilla, plain, blueberry, black cherry, strawberry, peach and raspberry, and the Greek line features “fruit on the bottom.” They sell their products in a variety of sizes, ranging from four ounces to 20 pound bags.

In the past year, Country View was awarded third place at the United States Cheese Championship Competition for their vanilla original style and first place at the Iowa State Fair, earning the honor of being on display right next to the famous Butter Cow during the fair.

Country View Dairy is located on Highway 18 between West Union and Hawkeye, Iowa. “We invite folks out to our farm store located in the front of the creamery where there is a viewing window where folks can watch the yogurt making process on days we make yogurt and we have also added a few more local products to sell in our farm store,” said Howard.

You can learn more, sample and purchase Country View Dairy yogurt at Feast! Saturday, Dec. 2, 2017 at the Mayo Civic Center in Rochester, Minn., from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The day will be well spent with more than 100 different food businesses exhibiting in addition to chef demos, workshops and  kids’ activities. Or, visit their webpage at http://www.countryviewdairy.com/.

 Related: 

Country View Dairy 2016