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It’s safe to say the Alexandre family in California has a passion for animals. Beyond their 4,000-cow organic crossbred herd, EcoDairy Farms is home to 40,000 pasture-raised hens, 250 species of birds and a free-roaming herd of nearly 200 elk.

Bosscher Dairy in McBain, Michigan, earned the top spot in Northstar Cooperative’s Performance Summary report, achieving an average somatic cell count of 55,000.

Chrissy Meyer has roots on a small Wisconsin dairy farm, but her career has taken her overseas, where she has visited dairies in countries like the Netherlands, Italy and Wales. See how dairying in these places is not so different from the U.S. in these photos.

The Kastenschmidts used the same facility to upgrade from stanchions to a parlor and then from a parlor to two robotic milkers. See photos of the operation below. Click here to read the article from our Jan. 1, 2017 print issue.

In the early 1980s, Bob and Beth Kennett opened a B&B on their dairy as a way to make ends meet. Today, they welcome 1,000 guests every year from all over the world to visit Liberty Hill Farm and experience life on a dairy.