Our Story
In May of 2002, we moved to Hawkeye, Iowa to pursue a dream of starting our own dairy farm. For Dave it was the evolution of a love for dairy farming discovered at the age of 17. At that time, Dave began working at a neighboring dairy farm. He held that job for 9 years, eagerly learning all he could about the great agricultural tradition of dairy farming. Later Dave became Herdsman and eventually Herd Owner of another dairy farm. These pivotal experiences for Dave combined with Carolee’s background and knowledge of the profession led us to purchase our own dairy farm and begin a homesteading life together. For 19 years, we happily grew our family and our farm. Then, in 2011 with 5 children ages 4-17, we knew that we must start thinking hard about the future of Country View Dairy. With the extreme challenges faced by many dairy farmers, we knew that we would have to create something truly special to build a lasting enterprise. Carolee had been making wonderful homemade yogurt for a couple of years and knew how to create a product that our family enjoyed on a small scale. After discovering that there weren’t any other yogurt producers in Northeast Iowa, and that there was a demand in our community for local, healthy, all natural, cultured foods (like yogurt), we decided to pursue the unique art of making yogurt on a larger scale as well. In September of 2011, we built a brand new, state-certified creamery right on our farm. The creamery pumps farm fresh rBST-free milk less than 200 feet over from the milk house to make our signature product ~ all natural, creamy, and delicious farmstead yogurt. All of Country View Dairy’s yogurt varieties are made from low fat (1%), Grade A pasteurized milk from our own healthy and well-loved cows. Our milk is non-homogenized, allowing the cream to rise to the top the old-fashioned way, with the added benefit of making it easier to digest. Each flavor is made with the highest quality ingredients and cultures, and each is “all natural” in every way ~ containing no preservatives, no gelatin or other thickeners, and no artificial ingredients. Our yogurt is always gluten-free. In 2013 the Rapsons developed a new product, Premium Frozen Yogurt soft-serve mix that will work in any soft-serve machine. Since then we have come up with numerous yummy flavors and this line is constantly being tweaked. By the numerous accolades for milk quality and herd production we have received, and the 365-days-a-year that we spend making our farm and creamery successful, it is clear to see that we love what we do. Thank you for visiting our page and we do hope that you will enjoy our yogurt for many years to come!
