Cortez Creamery

Cortez Creamery We are a Small Family Run Dairy Located in Cortez Colorado.

Miss Claire would like to introduce you to her new baby bull calf. 🥰
09/14/2026

Miss Claire would like to introduce you to her new baby bull calf. 🥰

09/09/2026

There is nothing that will quite make your stomach sink as a small dairy farmer like walking up to your bulk tank and realizing it isn't running.

You find the tripped breaker, flip it back on, and hope maybe you caught it in time.

Then you see the temperature.

60 degrees.

And your heart sinks because you know that entire tank can't go to your customers. When you're producing food for other families, there's no “maybe it's okay.” We don't gamble with food safety.

Thankfully, we have pigs. 🐷 They're currently fat, full, and VERY appreciative of our misfortune. 😂 So the milk isn't totally wasted, but that doesn't change the financial hit to the dairy. The cows still ate, they still got milked, and all the time and expense of producing that milk is already spent.

We don't know yet why the breaker tripped. We're on an older property with some questionable electrical history, and our electrical service has been less than reliable this year. We've had frequent flickers and outage notices, and even received a request to reduce usage to help prevent blackouts.

A properly sized propane backup generator is absolutely on the wish list, but that's an expensive project for another day.

For today, we'll take the loss, figure out what happened, milk the cows again, and keep going.

I am so very thankful for our customers who understand when farm life doesn't go according to plan.

Sometimes we turn hay into milk.

Today, apparently, we're turning milk into pork. 🥛➡️🐷

🥛 Quick Farm Update!No cream or butter available this week, but we’ve got some good news!🐄 Natty officially joined the m...
09/06/2026

🥛 Quick Farm Update!

No cream or butter available this week, but we’ve got some good news!

🐄 Natty officially joined the milk line on Thursday, and Zara and Pixie’s calves will be weaned on Monday. That should give us a nice boost in production.

🥛 Milk & Cream: We should finally have plenty of both available again next week!

🧈 Butter: Once the cream supply is back up, I’ll start making butter again and will post when it’s available.

Thank you all so much for your patience and understanding while we’ve worked through the ups and downs of milk production. We truly appreciate you sticking with our little dairy through it all. ❤️

Barring any last-minute opinions from the cows, things are finally looking up! 🤞🐄

Well this is how our morning is going. The belt is going out on the van again. So we are delivering in the truck. This i...
08/30/2026

Well this is how our morning is going. The belt is going out on the van again. So we are delivering in the truck. This is going to hurt with diesel prices.

The chickens have officially won 2026. 🏳️🐔I actually posted a farm update about some of this on our blog, but who am I k...
08/30/2026

The chickens have officially won 2026. 🏳️🐔
I actually posted a farm update about some of this on our blog, but who am I kidding?

It's 2026. Nobody reads blogs anymore. 😂
I know I need to jump on the video bandwagon, but as your resident introvert farmer, I'm really not there yet. 😂📱

So, for now, you get the written version of what in the world has been going on around here.
And the short answer is...
2026 has been a year. 😂

I don't know what we did to offend the chicken gods, but eggs have been one long disaster.

We started with aging hens who apparently decided they'd contributed enough to society. So we brought in younger hens and REALLY planned ahead by buying 50 baby chicks this spring.

The predators appreciated our thoughtfulness.
They ate them. 🤦‍♀️🐥

Then came the week when town was reporting 98–100° while our porch thermometer was reading 110–115°. 🥵🔥

Apparently our particular piece of Colorado had relocated to the surface of the sun.
The remaining chickens took one look around and said, absolutely not.
Egg production tanked. 🥚📉

And because 2026 apparently has a sense of humor, right about the time our chickens stopped laying, everyone decided they wanted eggs.
We've had a huge influx of new orders while still trying to catch up with existing customers.

Apparently the best marketing strategy for selling eggs is not having any. 😂

We're incredibly grateful. Especially with the recent Salmonella concerns and egg recalls, we understand why so many people are looking for local eggs from a farm they know.

But some of our newest customers have been waiting and haven't even received their first dozen yet. That's not a waiting list I'm comfortable continuing to grow.

So we're calling it. 🏳️

Starting next week, we'll begin canceling and refunding outstanding egg orders. We'll reopen regular ordering when the hens are reliably producing enough to fill them.

And believe me, we WANT to fill them.
I haven't had a whole dozen eggs for my own household in a year. If we had a secret stash somewhere, trust me...

I'd be eating breakfast. 🍳😂

And the chickens aren't the only ones who have kept us humble.

The milk cows have been their own adventure. 🐄🥛
We had finally gotten production up enough that cream and butter were starting to make an appearance again. Some of you have gotten them, some have been waiting, and availability has been anything but consistent.

We were so close to getting back to filling those extras reliably.

Naturally, 2026 couldn't allow that. 😂

Daisy, our cream cow, came down with mastitis and had to come off the milk line. Then it was time to dry Claire off so she could rest and prepare for her September calf.

Just like that, we were down two cows.
Then the relentless heat arrived and knocked production back even further. 🥵

So the priority has been simple: regular milk orders get filled first. Cream and butter come from whatever surplus we have afterward, which is why they've been more like surprise appearances than regularly scheduled programming lately. 😂🧈

And when I say milk has been tight, I mean tight.
Anyone who knows me knows I'm an avid milk drinker, and I've been rationing our own household to about half a gallon a week to make sure I have enough to fill our members' orders.

Half a gallon.
For the dairy farmer. 😂🥛

Cream?
I vaguely remember cream.

Between the cows, the chickens, the predators, the drought and the heat, I'm pretty sure 2026 has personally added a few new streaks of grey to my hair. 😂

At this point, I'm not sure whether to call them stress highlights or just start telling people they're part of my new farm-girl balayage. 💁‍♀️🐄

Mostly, though, I've just been doing my best.
Keeping everyone fed, watered, milked, cooled off and protected from predators, filling as many orders as we possibly can, and dealing with the next problem when it arrives.

Our customers come first. The eggs go out the door before they come into my kitchen, and the milk goes into member bottles before it goes into my refrigerator. Sometimes that means we go without.

That's not meant to make anyone feel bad. It's simply an honest look at what this year has been like behind the scenes.

But finally...
we have some genuinely good news. ❤️🐮
We have a new calf!

And after the year we've had, this little arrival feels especially sweet.

We also have two more cows due to freshen in September and October, which means fresh cows coming onto the milk line and, hopefully, a whole lot more milk over the next couple of months. 🥛🐄❤️

Add in some cooler fall weather, and we're optimistic that we're finally headed toward a much more comfortable milk supply and hopefully cream and butter that don't feel like limited-edition releases. 😂🧈

I'm still not making promises on Mother Nature's behalf.

She has lost that privilege. 😂

As for the chickens...
Apparently I don't know how to admit defeat properly, because my solution to the Great Egg Debacle of 2026 is:

Buy 100 baby chicks this fall. 🐥🐥🐥
And build the Chickie Taj Mahal. 👑🐔

A safe little chicken paradise for days when it's too hot or too cold to comfortably free range — and somewhere the neighborhood predators can't browse the buffet.

Apparently the solution to 50 chickens not working out is 100 chickens and a chicken resort.
This is farming math. 🤷‍♀️

At this point, these chickens are going to have nicer accommodations than I do.

Also...
I haven't told Jeremy about the Chickie Taj Mahal yet.
So everybody just act surprised when he finds out. 😂🤫

Here's hoping the rest of 2026 brings cooler weather, fresh cows, fuller bulk tanks, more eggs and maybe enough of all of it that the farmer gets to eat too. 😂❤️

And here's hoping 2027 is officially the year of the egg. 🥚🤞

If our old girls decide retirement is boring and pick production back up, we'll let you know if we have enough eggs for the holiday season. 🎄🥚
No promises.

We've learned better than to negotiate with chickens. 🐔

Thank you for wanting what we produce, for being patient when farming refuses to cooperate with the plan, and for continuing to support our little farm through a year that has tested us in just about every possible way. ❤️

Survival mode is on for the dog days of summer. Between the heat and the current drought, it is a busy time making sure ...
08/26/2026

Survival mode is on for the dog days of summer. Between the heat and the current drought, it is a busy time making sure all our animals stay cool and well-watered. 🚜 We are all dreaming of a bit of rain and cooler temperatures right now. How is the weather treating you in your neck of the woods?

Check out our newest blog post!

https://wix.to/A64JDUl

Today I was talking with another farmer about what it's like to raise food for your community. He shared some of the hur...
07/28/2026

Today I was talking with another farmer about what it's like to raise food for your community. He shared some of the hurtful comments and criticism he receives simply because of what he charges for the food he works so hard to produce. My heart broke for him.

As I filling water tanks for the livestock, I couldn't stop thinking about how blessed we are.

Over the years, not once have I felt shamed by the families who trust us to feed them. Instead, you've offered grace on the hard days, encouragement when I needed it most, and gratitude that has carried me through seasons when I wasn't sure how we were going to keep going.

You may not realize it, but you've become part of this farm just as much as the cows, the pastures, and the early mornings.

This little farm wasn't handed to us. There wasn't an inheritance or someone writing checks behind the scenes. Every fence, every piece of equipment, every improvement, every bottle we fill has come from years of hard work, sacrifice, and a belief that good food and the relationships built around it, still matter.

Some days are exhausting. Some days I wonder if I have anything left to give. Then one of you sends a message telling me your little one asks for "farm milk," or that your husband is feeling better, or that your family gathered around a meal we raised. Suddenly the long days make sense again.

Because I know where this food is going.

I know that every gallon of milk is helping nourish a growing child. I know it's helping a mother grow a healthy baby. I know that somewhere a father or a grandmother is trying to heal, regain strength, or simply feel a little better. When I pour milk into a bottle or box up cuts of meat, I don't see a product. I see the people who will gather around that table. I see families.

And that's why I've never been able to think of the people who buy from us as customers.

Customers come and go.

Family stays.

When you invite our farm onto your table each week, you're inviting us into some of the most meaningful moments of your life. Birthday breakfasts. Sunday dinners. Lunches packed for school. Meals shared after long days. That trust is something I will never take lightly.

Thank you for believing in this little farm. Thank you for walking this journey with us. Thank you for celebrating the victories, extending grace during the hard seasons, and reminding me that what we're building together is about so much more than milk or meat.

From the bottom of my heart...

Thank you for being part of our family.

One of the things most people never see at Cortez Creamery is the mountain of empty glass bottles that comes back home e...
07/15/2026

One of the things most people never see at Cortez Creamery is the mountain of empty glass bottles that comes back home every week.

For years, my mom has quietly taken on the job of washing every single one by hand. It isn't glamorous, but it's become her role on the farm. She takes pride in knowing that every bottle going back out to your family is clean, sanitized, and ready to be filled with fresh milk. More than that, it gives her a way to contribute and be an important part of the dairy.

This year has been different.
As her health has become more challenging, she's had more doctor's appointments than ever before, and some days she simply doesn't have the energy to stand at the sink for hours. On those days, the bottles begin to pile up. And when the bottles aren't ready, we can't bottle milk.

When that happens, the job falls to me. It adds another task to an already full milking day between caring for the cows, milking, bottling, feeding animals, and everything else that goes into running a small family dairy. Sometimes there simply aren't enough hours in the day, and we end up having to push deliveries back by a day.

It's never the plan, and it certainly isn't because we don't care. In fact, it's the opposite. We refuse to cut corners when it comes to properly cleaning and sanitizing every bottle that goes back into your home.

People have asked why we don't just buy a bottle washer. The truth is, a commercial bottle washer isn't a small appliance it's a major investment. A machine capable of properly washing and sanitizing dairy bottles costs around $8,000.

For a small family dairy, that's a big purchase, but it's one we're working toward. It would take one of the most physically demanding jobs off my mom's shoulders while freeing me up to focus on the many other jobs that keep the dairy running.
Until then, we'll keep washing bottles the old-fashioned way, one at a time.

Thank you for your patience, your grace, and for supporting a real family dairy. Every bottle you return, every gallon you purchase, and every bit of understanding helps keep this little creamery going.

We couldn't do it without you. ❤️

07/12/2026

Hey guys we are short on bottles.

I know everyone's life has been crazy with the summer vacations and holidays but the last 2-3 weeks we haven't had many bottles returned.

As a result we came up short on milk and cream bottles to fill this weekend for our Durango and Pagosa customers. So some of our customers will not be getting their full deliveries.

This puts an added strain on the dairy. Your help keeping bottles in rotation helps us stay a float.

07/01/2026

Cortez, Dolores and Mancos! Milk delivery is delayed till tomorrow. We had a pipe burst.

Address

21617 Road C
Cortez, CO
81321

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Cortez Creamery posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to Cortez Creamery:

Shortcuts

Share

Category