A bitter wind whips across the open grazing land of the Kamas Valley, but inside the newly erected Ballerina Farm dairy, there’s an almost hushed quiet. It’s broken only by the soft scuff of hoofs on the floor, feed rustling and munching as some enjoy their lunch, and the mechanical whir of the robotic milker. The whole barn has an airy feel despite the sharp stench of cow manure, with its newly constructed wood walls and skylights. The first nine months of this dairy’s existence have gone smoothly, said Jonathan Curley, rancher and contractor-turned dairy expert who serves as Ballerina Farm’s director of agriculture. It helps that he’s been here since day zero. “I came in to do some consulting and some construction work in the past and was approached to help build the dairy. So I helped them with site planning, designing barns, drawing plans, everything,” Curley said. “I was here from the very beginning, from standing in the grass with a can of spray paint. It’s just recently they’ve asked me to help step in and do more.”So, how’d this Wallsburg rancher get into dairy farming in Kamas? He met Daniel Neeleman.Dairy cows eat hay in the barn at Ballerina Farms in Kamas. The dairy is the only operation of its kind in Summit County. Credit: Clayton Steward/Park RecordGrowth and the journey to KamasBallerina Farm was founded by Hannah and Daniel Neeleman, a now-influencer couple who decided to pursue farming and bought their first farm in 2017. Their story has become widely known: The two grew up Mormon, both from entrepreneurial families. Hannah’s family owned a flower shop, and Daniel’s owned JetBlue Airways. They met while Hannah was a ballerina at Juilliard in New York City and went from dating to married in three short months.Eight kids and over 10 million followers (on Instagram alone) later, they’re “city folk turned ranchers,” as Hannah describes it in her Instagram bio.Their first farm was in Spanish Fork Canyon, where they started with a small herd of pigs and steers, and Hannah began posting more on her social media. But soon after, they lost their land and fencing to The Pole Creek fire, a lightning fire that burned over 98,000 acres in the area.“Hannah often says that the fire is one of the things that kick-started her social media,” said Janell Stowe, the farm’s field operations manager. They decided to start over, purchasing their 328 acres in Kamas from Woody and Alta Tull, whose family had owned the land for 100 years before their deaths. On their new property, the Neelemans continued doing pork and beef, renting a freezer in Salt Lake City and basically managing the business on their own for a few years, Stowe said.Janell Stowe, field operations manager at Ballerina Farm, has been with the business for four years. Credit: Clayton Steward/Park Record“Daniel and Hannah used to load all the kids in the car, and boxes and a portable printer and a laptop, and they would go down to Salt Lake. On the dock of the receiving place they used to print the orders and go gather the meat and pack their first, 10, 15, 20 boxes, get the dry ice, pack it right there on the dock and then just drive them straight over and ship them and post them,” she said.Soon they grew too big, and needed to hire a staff. Stowe was one of the first to join the team after moving to Kamas from Alpine to be closer to her in-laws. She’d run restaurants with her husband for most of her life, so when she saw the hiring post for the Ballerina Farm fulfillment process, she decided to give it a try.Since Stowe has been with the business so long, she’s pretty much had a hand in everything they do, simply because there was no one else to do it. And she’s seen their growth first hand.“I remember a day in the kitchen working with their oldest son, Henry, and he said, ‘Gosh, a lot of people follow my mom on Instagram.’ And I said, ‘I know they do.’ And he’s like, ‘How many?’ We looked it up and I’ll never forget it was 249,000 people. And he said to me, ‘How many people follow you, Janell?’ … And I had 102, and Henry goes, ‘You need more people, Janell,’” Stowe laughs. “To think, from August of 2021, until now, it’s pretty quick.”Stowe said she’s probably up by four followers since then. Hannah’s up by almost 10 million.As their social media has grown, so has their business. When Stowe started, they had just built a fulfillment center in a small garage on the Kamas property, then about two years later bought and moved into the old Griffith Foodtown in Coalville. Then that was too small, so they moved down to a warehouse in the Marmalade District of Salt Lake City last June, but they’re already outgrowing that space.Part of the growth is demand, part is their increased range of products, said Stowe. When she started, it was just pork and beef shipped on dry ice, plus a handful of occasional “dry goods” like mugs and sweatshirts. Now their product line includes the meat but also kitchen goods from flour and sourdough starter to cutting boards and bread knives, prepared baked goods, spices and more recently, a line of protein powder.So now they’re planning to move fulfillment down to a property in Springville, which is also where they’re building out an industrial dairy processing facility to have more dairy products made and shipped. The dairy operation sits on 328 acres in Kamas which was purchased from Woody and Alta Tull. Credit: Clayton Steward/Park RecordInspiring an ‘eclectic’ staffA former restaurateur, a former rancher, a former competitive moguls skier, and a former New York publicist — four Ballerina Farm employees make up just a fraction of the staff operating the Kamas-based farm and its now fully operational, 118-cow dairy.“We went from like three employees, and we grew to about 12 of us,” Stowe said, at least on the fulfillment side. “The only way to find staff in a small town is, I was like, ‘Hey, if you’re a mom, drop your kids off at school and then come work and you can leave to be home in time.’ Or we hired the retired postmaster. I think at one point I had four employees over 70 years old just wanting to get out of their house. So it’s been an eclectic vision over time.”Many people, like Stowe and Curley, join the team and just don’t leave.“It’s just the community and the staff. We just created a real close-family feel. Everybody’s worried about everybody,” Stowe said, telling a story about an employee who gave their old car to a coworker who was having car troubles. “A culture like that is pretty amazing, where they’re all watching out for each other.”A lot of that family-spirit comes from Hannah and Daniel, Stowe said, who are often involved in the day-to-day operations along with their kids, which makes it fun, too. Stowe said the couple are down-to-earth, understanding people.After just a month on the job, she accidentally started a literal dumpster fire.“I ended up at the house later on, and Hannah was so calm. She said, ‘Looked like you’re having some fun down there,’” Stowe said with a laugh. “I think that actually helps all of us calm down a little bit, makes it a good environment. I don’t think I’ll leave Ballerina Farm until I’m just done working altogether.”After four years there, Stowe said she’s like the mama bear, especially with most of her staff much younger than her.With all the growth has come plenty of change, Stowe said, the good kind. A lot of that is also because of the couple, the creative dreamer types who have plenty of new ideas for their business. Stowe said as a doer, working with them means her job is never boring.Most recently, Hannah and Daniel decided to temporarily move their family to Ireland in January to attend the 12-week Ballymaloe Cookery program, and already they’ve released new products inspired by their trip. “I think that’s one of the reasons that Ballerina Farm’s been fun, because they’re always innovating,” she said. “The excitement of everybody and the enthusiasm and the change — change is fun, keeps it fresh.”Near the main barn sits another, smaller barn that houses calves. Credit: Clayton Steward/Park RecordBringing a dairy back to Summit CountyOne of the innovations to Ballerina Farm was Hannah and Daniel’s decision to open a medium-scale dairy, a learning experience for pretty much everyone involved. With the help of Curley, they built a 120-cow capacity barn and just nine months in, it’s already home to 118 cows and calves, of course.It’s the first new dairy to scale in Utah in 30 years, Curley said, and the only one in Summit County right now since Brown Dairy closed.When it comes to producing high-quality milk, Curley said it’s all about keeping the cows clean, happy and healthy, and the Neelemans didn’t hold back on that.Everything is state-of-the-art. There’s waterbeds for the cows to rest — which is necessary for them to produce milk — automated back scratchers, automated floor cleaners and two automated shiny red Lely milkers.Jonathan Curley, Ballerina Farm’s director of agriculture, oversees the operations at the dairy. Credit: Clayton Steward/Park Record“There is not much about this facility that is typical dairy standard,” Curley said. He showed the Lely’s milking process, which happens multiple times a day for each cow. These machines are out of Holland, unique for their cloud database that collects and pools data from cows all around the world to optimize its milking process, more data than you could possibly need, Curley said. First, the robotic brush system sets to work sanitizing the cow’s teats, which simultaneously stimulates her milk flow, all while the cow munches on pellets known as “cow candy.” Lulu Shaffer, Ballerina Farm’s marketing coordinator, stepped closer to record a video.“It’s like a cow manicure!” she joked. “She’s getting her cuticles done.” Shaffer joined the team in January almost immediately after retiring from competitive moguls skiing. Never in a million years would she have guessed a marketing gig would land her on a dairy farm. “I’m from Connecticut,” she said by way of explanation.  The two goals with the dairy are to produce raw milk for sale in Utah, and to produce other sellable products like butter, ice cream, yogurt or cheese, said Curley.Raw milk is available for purchase at the farm stand in Kamas. Credit: Clayton Steward/Park RecordRaw milk is the milk straight from the cow, a product that has a somewhat controversial following. One camp argues that milk must be pasteurized in order to be safe, and the other says raw milk comes with health benefits like increased enzymes and better digestibility.Most milk available for purchase, like in grocery stores, is either pasteurized — heated to around 180 degrees to kill off some bacteria — or pasteurized and homogenized. Homogenizing is the process that prevents milk fat from separating from the rest of the milk by forcing the fat into the other proteins. “Some people say that process is what causes some issues with gut digestion and health,” Stowe said. “But it does come down to an individual preference, taste, purpose.”From what the staff has heard from the community, having a local dairy again has people excited.“Brown Dairy, they sold out all their land, and it’s being all developed into homes,” Stowe said. “I’m excited to bring a dairy back to this area, and our Park City community will be a big part. I go to Mountain Life Church in Kimball Junction, and every single week, (people ask) ‘Can I come buy raw milk?’”In the state of Utah, raw milk has a shelf life of nine days and must be sold on land owned by the dairy, Stowe said, which is a main reason Ballerina Farm recently announced their new farm stand in Kamas. Farm stands and beyondA small white shed off the side of Spring Meadow Drive in Kamas is all rustic charm, a “BF” and a little goose painted in green on the front, with a red bistro set under the front window. The building is from Hannah’s brother’s company Bright Sheds, Stowe said.“We just bought it from her brother and keep it in the family,” she said. “She has a lot of brothers, and they’re all very helpful. And Daniel has a lot of sisters, and they’re all very helpful.”Until now, Ballerina Farm products were only available for purchase online, but with the farm stand they now have a freezer with meat and baked goods, plus some shelves of their dry goods items available. This means Utahns can save on the shipping costs. They make up one of their largest customer bases, said Marketing Director Ellie Ix.Janell Stowe closes up the farm stand earlier in the month. Credit: Clayton Steward/Park RecordIx, originally from Philadelphia and who worked in New York City before moving to Utah, said the farm stands are inspired by the Main Street in Hudson, New York. Once the Kamas location is dialed in, they plan to open one in Springville, where they already purchased the land, and then keep finding new neighborhoods to expand. “Something that Hannah talks about a lot, that she’s wanting the farm stand (to be) — in terms of getting your milk, getting your eggs, getting whatever — is a closeness to your product,” said Ix. “Versus going to the grocery store, there’s 15 different brands you can choose from. This is a little bit more of a close and slower process for people in Utah, which is what we’re trying to offer.” The Ballerina Farm Stand, 1476 West 200 South in Kamas, is scheduled to open for business on April 8, slowed by miscellaneous logistics like a sales tax ID number and a missing part for their internet connection. It’ll be open 11 a.m.-6 p.m. on Tuesdays through Fridays and 9 a.m.-3 p.m. on Saturdays. Also soon to open is the first-ever Ballerina Farm Store, their flagship market that will be located on 101 W. Main Street.And this is all just the beginning. Last August, the Kamas City Council voted to annex 129 acres that included a 14-acre portion of Ballerina Farm on the south side of S.R. 248. This vote also changed the zoning on the parcel from Agriculture to Agricultural Tourism, a newly created designation that will allow the Neelemans to build their proposed development contingent on an agreement with the city on financing for water and sewer line improvements.The couple’s plans for the land include livestock pastures, orchards, gardens, a farm store, a café, an event center, a barn and chicken coops. The Neeleman family is headed back from Ireland soon, and Stowe said she’s excited to see what Hannah has in store.“I love that they took this time to go to the cookery because they have all these ideas, but executing them can be harder than just coming up with the ideas,” Stowe said. “They used to say, ‘Our world wants to be food. Our world wants to be food.’ And so now they’re going to understand how. … It’s going to help all of us that are helping them.”To learn more or keep up with Ballerina Farm, follow them on Instagram @ballerinafarm and @ballerinafarmstore and visit their website, ballerinafarm.com.Janell Stowe says she has taken on the “mama bear” role at Ballerina Farms with the staff. Credit: Clayton Steward/Park RecordThe post Ever-evolving Ballerina Farm brings dairy back to Summit County appeared first on Park Record. ...read more read less