(Le Mars) — June is designated as Dairy Month and no where else is the economic value of dairy products more evident than in Le Mars and throughout northwest Iowa. With Wells Enterprises, the maker of several ice cream labels, including the signature brand of Blue Bunny, and DFA which stands for Dairy Farms of America, a milk processor which markets milk under the brand
label of Kemp’s, formerly Dean Foods with Land O Lakes milk and other dairy products, you can easily see Le Mars’ local economy heavily depends on the dairy industry. With several thousand people employed at Wells and at DFA, it is easy to see why each dairy cow is responsible for contributing nearly
$23,500 to the local economy. When you widen the scope to include all of northwest Iowa and look at AgroPur in Hull, the makers of cheese, as well as AMPI in Sanborn who markets milk, cheese, and butter, and consider Sioux County ranks first in the state with the number of dairy cows and dairy farms, you can see the importance of the dairy industry. Each year the Western Iowa Dairy Alliance, which is made of both dairy producers and dairy processors, host an open house allowing the public to see up close the operations of an active dairy farm. This year, Perry Creek Dairy Farm located west of Le Mars will be hosting the open house to acknowledge the importance of June Dairy
Month. Perry Creek Dairy Farm is owned by Alan Feuerhelm family with sons Brad and Scott. Together, with their other diary farm, Plymouth Dairy, more than 6,000 cows are milked three times a day. Scott Thoms serves as the Herdsman for both dairy farms. Thoms says the milk produced from Plymouth Dairy is transported to Wells Enterprises, and the milk produced at Perry
Creek Dairy is designated to AgroPur at Hull. Thoms says Perry Creek Dairy, which was finished in 2019, offers an unique style of milking.
Thoms says Perry Creek Dairy will first host the Chamber coffee event from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, then the open house will be from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Thoms explains what will happen during the dairy farm open house.
Thoms says Lt. Governor Adam Gregg is scheduled to visit the dairy farm located in western Plymouth County on Wednesday afternoon.
Thoms says the dairy month open house will provide a free meal to all visitors.
Perry Creek Dairy farm is located approximately ten miles west of Le Mars.
Visitors can travel on Highway 3 until county road K-22 then turn south for two miles. Perry Creek Dairy farm is on the west side of the county road K-22.
