This week on the podcast, Lancaster Farming talks to Blake Alexandre from Alexandre Family Farm in northern California, America’s first certified regenerative dairy.

“We’ve got a phenomenal growing season out here, that is our winter temperatures and our summer temperatures are only 11 degrees apart,” Alexandre said. “So we literally have grass growing all year long and, you know, just very productive soil.”

“We milk about a total of 5,000 cows, including the drys, and get another 4,000 young stock of heifers that are growing up to become milk cows,” he said.

He started off with a Holstein herd but has been introducing other breeds and crossbreeding with Jerseys. Several years ago, the farm introduced a breed called Fleckvieh, a dual-purpose milk and meat breed from Europe.

Alexandre said the Fleckviehs “just literally take care of themselves better out there on forage, and we lean on grass just as much as any dairy in the country in terms of how many days we graze and what percentage of the diet our cows eat.”

Alexandre is also a proponent of A2 milk and explains what that is and why it’s important.

Much of the interview focuses on soil health and regenerative ag practices, and there is very little discussion of hemp, but Alexandre is active in local government and was on the team that wrote the policy for hemp in the county. Alexandre Family Farm https://alexandrefamilyfarm.com/ Savory Institute https://savory.global/ Regenerative Organic Alliance https://regenorganic.org/ The Pennsylvania Hemp Summit, April 26 & 27 https://pahempsummit.com/ The Midwest iHemp Expo https://ihempmichigan.com/midwest-ihemp-expo/ Thanks to our Sponsors New Holland Agriculture https://agriculture.newholland.com/nar/en-us IND HEMP https://www.indhemp.com/