Douglas Falls Creamery

Douglas Falls Creamery We offer raw whole milk from our Jersey cows and Alpine goats. When not on pasture, they are fed the

03/26/2026

Three little pigs wearing and drinking their milk. 😅

02/17/2026

Betty's two lambs are frisky today and since Polka doesn't like to get up because her old back injury has flared up, they think it is okay to climb on her.

We have two cows due any day now. This is Mindy and she's had two heifers so far....she's due today. Cocoa (not pictur...
02/17/2026

We have two cows due any day now. This is Mindy and she's had two heifers so far....she's due today. Cocoa (not pictured) was due over a week ago which makes us question whether we wrote down the dates right on her breeding but Blossom that calved back in the late fall also was after her due date (10 days). She's at about 292 days now.

Due dates are calculated on the average gestation of 283 days. Jerseys can calve a little earlier than other breeds and generally bull calves go a little over and heifer calves can be a little under. This seems to have run true here with exceptions of course.

Meanwhile we keep on checking for signs of calving (tail up, restless behavior like getting up and down, pawing the ground, straining, clear discharge, switching her feet back and forth on her back feet, going off and laying by herself and not chewing her cud, coming up to eat when fed but then going back to lay down besides the filling up of the udder and even dripping milk).

We take the calf as soon as it's born and bring it in the house to get completely dry and then milk the cow to get the first bottle for the baby. Once the calf is dry and fed, it will go out to the barn in one of the clean stalls where it will stay for the first few days before moving its own calf hut and pen.

The cow goes into the milking herd, right back into her old routine. Taking the calf before the cow and calf bond helps this process go pretty uneventful for them. Bonding doesn't end up happening even though the cow is drawn to lick the fluids off the calf and even the ground where she delivered the calf. We don't let that bonding process happen so we can bottle raise the baby and milk the cow.

Dairy cows can give much more milk than the calf needs and the most efficient way we have experienced to get the milk and tame the calf is to do it this way. Cows settle down with their herd mates and the calf does fine getting the bottle from us from the start.

Some of our top Jerseys give 8 gallons a day and a calf gets 1 gallon a day at first (and then works up to almost 2 by 4-8 weeks old, depending on size). We continue to bottle feed up to 6 months as long as we have plenty of milk (they really don't need milk past 4 months as long as they have grain and hay, some even wean at 2 months).

Lambs born this morning!! I had pulled Betty out of the flock and had her in front of the barn because she was limping....
02/11/2026

Lambs born this morning!! I had pulled Betty out of the flock and had her in front of the barn because she was limping. I checked and trimmed her feet and then noticed she she looked close to lambing (but it still could have been a week or so). I am glad I left her where she could get access to the barn because we discovered these lambs first thing! There was a third little ram lamb that didn't make it but the other ram and ewe lambs are doing good!

I (Angie) went down to a hay baler clinic near Rearden last week and then headed back to Spokane via Airway Heights and ...
02/03/2026

I (Angie) went down to a hay baler clinic near Rearden last week and then headed back to Spokane via Airway Heights and stopped to take a photo of these angus at sunset.

The Hutterite Brethern hosted the baler clinic and I was able to talk with one of the young men. He said that they have about 1k head of angus cattle and they raise potatoes for seed, canola, hay and grains (oats, barley and wheat) on about 10,000 acres just west of Spokane.

They (about 167 altogether in this colony) live in apartment-style buildings near the huge facility that the class was held in and they eat about 1 beef a month. The women prepare the food and they eat three meals a day in a cafteria as they live "commune style".

Our lunch was prepared and served by the Hutterite women with homemade cinnamon rolls offered at break.

What a unique and interesting way of life!

12/23/2025

This video was taken back in November when we only had two calves. Now we have 4 calves, two bulls and two heifers, with no one due until February.

These two were just getting their legs under them and were quite frisky and a little kicky! 😂

11/30/2025

Zody yak loves the cold weather and some good scratches! And she likes using her very rough tongue to lick my overalls..I think it is her way of "you scratch me, I will scratch (lick with my rough tongue) you".

We need another yak to add to our farm! I guess I better write to Santa for one.

We have two cows due to freshen (have their next calf) in the next couple of weeks. Blossom (full Jersey) and Hershey (...
11/10/2025

We have two cows due to freshen (have their next calf) in the next couple of weeks. Blossom (full Jersey) and Hershey (1/2 Holstein, 1/4 Jersey and 1/4 angus) are out in the dry cow pasture (we found that feeding mature grass, not alfalfa, helps to prevent milk fever (metabolic disorder where too much potassium can interfere with calcium absorption--alfalfa is high in potassium).

Two first calf heifers (Honey and Maple) will calve in December so we will probably have quite a little group of calves for our small dairy in the next month or so. We are going to be putting up pens and shelters in the round pen so these calves will have their own space (they can end up sucking on each others' ears which can cause frostbite and other issues so they have to be separated, which is what big dairies do too).

Now that it's November and most of the fields have stopped growing and the animals have grazed them down, we are back to feeding hay full time for all of the large animals. The milk cows always get high quality alfalfa even when on pasture through the summer because alfalfa has more nutrition than the grasses we have but we are feeding more now that the grasses are pretty much done for the year.

The horses and ponies and donkeys get a mature lower feed value grassy hay or grass/alfalfa because they aren't growing or milking and tend to be "easy-keepers" but they still need a good feed to keep warm and maintain body condition.

We do chores (feeding and watering) twice a day every day and as the days get colder, their consumption of hay (and grain for the poultry and fowl) will go up. I usually adjust as I see how much they clean up so hay isn't wasted (by feeding too much) or not enough (so they don't lose weight).

Time to use that hay we put up and stored all summer!!

I turned the two dry cows out on this grass pasture the other morning. The grass was laced with frost and the cottonwoo...
11/06/2025

I turned the two dry cows out on this grass pasture the other morning. The grass was laced with frost and the cottonwood and aspen trees made a beautiful autumn backdrop.

These girls will calve (freshen) later this month and go back to being milked twice a day. Right now they are in their 2-month dry period.

We will also have two first calf heifers freshen in December so we will have quite a few calves to take care of and lots of milk!

Maple! What a looooong tongue you have! 👅🤣. She was begging for more of the treats I brought to feed her and the other...
10/25/2025

Maple! What a looooong tongue you have! 👅🤣. She was begging for more of the treats I brought to feed her and the other heifer and two steers who are pastured over at the creek. She is due in December with her first calf, as is Honey, the other heifer.

10/23/2025

Miss Bonnie Pony had an itch!

Toby puppy had to check out the goat stanchion while I, Claire, got things ready for the goats this morning. Earlier, h...
09/24/2025

Toby puppy had to check out the goat stanchion while I, Claire, got things ready for the goats this morning. Earlier, he helped me milk the cows, and lapped up the milk for the barn cat. He followed me around while I fed the pigs and took care of the cows. He chewed on my muck boots as he waited for me outside the milk house while I washed the milk machine. He is such a helpful puppy.

Address

493 Larsen Road
Colville, WA
99114

Opening Hours

Monday 6am - 9pm
Tuesday 6am - 9pm
Wednesday 6am - 9pm
Thursday 6am - 9pm
Friday 6am - 9pm
Saturday 6am - 9pm
Sunday 7am - 9pm

Telephone

+15096845773

Website

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