When Oxford’s Brown Family Dairy announced via Facebook in late September that they were shutting down the dairy side of their business, there was an outcry of shock and sorrow.
“This loss will be felt so deeply,” Amy Smoot said in a comment. “Thank you, BFD Family. What you have given our community is priceless.”
Then 10 days later, in another Facebook post, an unexpected announcement came: Brown Family Diary would continue producing milk, just not distributing it.
Owner Billy Ray Brown said that although longtime loyal customers understood their decision to scale back their milk delivery business, they were crestfallen.
“I had over 200 phone calls and texts from families, and I had two grown men cry to me because their children needed the milk for health reasons because of the way it’s processed,” Brown said. “So I thought, dadgummit, maybe we can just do a little bit.”
Initially, they had decided to continue producing beef and pork for the family’s butcher shop but stop dairy production altogether.
“Between the gas and the feed cost rising, it just was not penciling out anymore,” Brown said. “That kind of growth, all the running, all the maintenance, 1,000 miles a week — it wasn’t worth it.”
But after realizing how much the loss of their product would impact the community, they decided to keep milking.
“We made the announcement we were gonna quit, and I thought we were,” Brown said. “Then about two Sunday mornings ago, I had a little bit of an emotional breakdown. Just thinking to myself, ‘Gosh, what can I do to keep doing this.’”
Although they were already in the process of shutting down the dairy, Brown had continued researching several other farms that had scaled back their dairy production and found some ideas worth trying. He decided to milk their now smaller herd of cows once a day instead of twice and only sell the bottled product at the farm store, located at 943 Mississippi Highway 334, and the Hernando Farmers Market.
Heading into the second week of this new approach, Brown says it was a great move for the family.
“I have less stress on me than I’ve ever had,” he said. “And triple the amount of sales in the store. … Thursday, we had the most sales in the store we’ve ever had — the ones that want it are coming out in waves to get it.”
Holly Jubera is one of the loyal customers who plans to head to the farm to purchase the milk, a household staple for her family. Her son Bobby lived the first seven years of his life refusing to drink white milk, but everything changed after a Cub Scout trip to the farm eight years ago.
“(Brown) opened up this jug of milk, gave the boys little Dixie water cups and poured each of them a glass of white milk, just white cow’s milk,” Jubera said. “Bobby gulped that thing down, and then without even blinking an eye, he looked at (Brown) and said, ‘Can I have more please?’ The boy that doesn’t drink regular milk, that refuses to drink anything but chocolate milk … I think Bobby had three or four glasses of milk right there, in that barn.”
From that day forward, Bobby refused to drink any white milk that wasn’t “Farmer Brown’s milk.” Jubera has been buying it from Larson’s Cash Saver for almost 10 years. Though initially heartbroken to imagine a life without Farmer Brown’s milk, Jubera learned during our conversation that she could still buy it at the farm store. Her mind was immediately made up.
“Looks like I’m going to the farm,” she said. “I may go today.”
Billy Ray Brown, son of beloved Oxford literary legend Larry Brown, got the idea to add a dairy to the family beef cattle farm almost 13 years ago. In 2009, the family opened the dairy and has been producing milk ever since. Even though Brown Family Dairy won’t be delivering their dairy products to local stores anymore, there is still one location in Oxford where it can be found: the Luv Shak.
Owner Dennis Van Oostendorp said the Sunday bagel menu just wouldn’t be the same without BFD’s chocolate milk, so he’s making weekly trips to the farm.
“I go out there and get it myself, usually once a week,” Van Oostendorp said. “And if I don’t get out there by the end of the week, I’ll see him Saturday at the farmers market and get it then.”
Van Oostendorp has been selling half gallons of chocolate milk from Brown Family Dairy since the farm started producing it, and it has become a menu staple as the “Best Dang Chocolate Milk.” No matter what bagel someone may order, he said there’s usually always one thing for sure: They’re also asking for a half gallon of chocolate milk.
“They could get a ham, egg and cheese (bagel) or sausage, egg and cheese (bagel), but they always get a chocolate milk,” Van Oostendorp said.
Though they’ve pivoted away from milk delivery, Brown Family Dairy has added a new product to their product menu: ice cream. An idea spearheaded by Shane Brown, Billy Ray Brown’s brother, Brown Family Dairy has started selling the product to local grocers like Larson’s Cash Saver.
Jody Beck opened Common Ground Coffee Bar in 2020 and has used Brown Family Dairy products since the first day of business. Though saddened by the loss of their milk, he’s excited for a new way to continue to work with the Brown family.
“I’m probably going to get another (large cooler) and sell their ice cream,” Beck said. “Their stuff is good and I love supporting them.”
But until then, if you’re still looking to get your Brown Family Dairy fix, you can visit the store on the farm, Larson’s or get a half gallon of chocolate milk with your Sunday bagel at Luv Shak.
