Erin Nutcher is the co-owner of Hidden Valley Dairy farm located in Gustine, Calif. Together with her husband, four children and farm team, they milk 2,100 cows three times a day. That produces about 7,665,000 gallons of milk per year. 

Erin comes from a long line of family farmers and believes in her farm’s responsibility to properly care for the cows and environment. Read how this mega milk-producing family sustainably runs their business with a commitment to her future-farming kids, leaving the land a better place. And in the process, delivering quality milk for them to drink today.  

Erin Nutcher
Co-owner Hidden Valley Dairy farm

Growing up on a dairy farm is truly a treasure. I got to learn day-in and day-out how to care for our land and animals from my parents and now I am fortunate enough to raise my kids the same way I was raised. 

We are a 4th generation dairy farming family, raising the 5th generation on our farm. Both my husband and I grew up with generations of dairy farming family members who passed their passion for cow care down to us. 

Cows are the ultimate recyclers and fit naturally into a sustainability cycle. They digest food and fiber that we cannot (many of which would have ended up in a landfill) and turn those products into a superfood – milk! Their manure is used to help replenish the soil we grow our crops on and that we harvest to feed our cows. It's a beautiful and natural cycle. 

Water is a valuable resource on our farm and is recycled up to 4 times. The excess water collected from cleaning the milking equipment, cattle drinking troughs, and barn lanes and water collected from rainwater drainage and irrigation water runoff, is stored in our lagoon to be reused again. Most often it is used as nutrient-rich water for irrigation. 

Manure is also recycled and repurposed. We have a manure separation system that separates manure solids from the liquids. The solids are composted and used as a bedding source for our cows and the liquid is used for irrigation. 

We also installed a 975-kilowatt solar power system that runs our entire dairy operation including the milking equipment, lighting our free stall barns, and powering our irrigation pumps and homes. We are currently in the process of installing a methane digester to help further our sustainability efforts. Another name for methane digester is anaerobic digestion and it takes place in a sealed vessel that contains microbial communities that break down or digest waste and produce biogas and digestate (the solid and liquid end-products of the process). These products can be repurposed into electricity, vehicle fuel, organic fertilizer, animal bedding and bioplastics. 

High-quality cow care is of utmost importance to us. If we do not care for our cows in the best possible way, they will not produce lots of high-quality milk. The cows are kept in a free stall barn where they can move around in a communal area while having their stalls for resting. The composted bedding in the stalls ensures a comfortable and dry place to rest and is maintained daily. The cows also have fans and soakers for added comfort in the summer months alongside a well-balanced diet formulated by a professional dairy nutritionist. These efforts ensure our animals are getting exactly what they need to thrive and produce lots of milk. 

We truly have a passion for caring for our dairy cows using the highest standards possible. We live on the land and drink the same water as our cows, and we are not going to sell a product we are not proud of and believe is safe for you and your family. We want our farm to be able to be passed down for generations to come.