The 4 Best Things About Visiting Hansen’s Dairy

When I asked the boys if they were up for an adventure to Hansen’s Dairy , they immediately jumped on the opportunity strictly due to chocolate milk and ice cream! What we found was so much more!

I spent 4-5 years of my childhood growing up on a dairy farm!  My dad worked for a local farmer and so I was raised helping feed the bottle calves, herding the cows into the milking barn, and playing in the feed bunkers!  It was a great way to be raised!  As I was searching for something to do with the boys that was close to home, I came across Hansen’s Dairy just outside Hudson, IA.  This seemed like the perfect opportunity for us.  I love cows and the boys love dairy products, so it’s a win-win!

What was awesome about Hansen’s Dairy?  Well, we’ve summed it up into our 4 favorite things about Hansen’s Dairy.

Being On A Farm

A lot of production companies give tours, but you’re not right on their farms!  This isn’t the case with Hansen’s family dairy!  When you partake in their Hands-On Tour, you are right on their farm!  Jump on their trolley for a ride around their farm!  Stops will involve visiting the bottle calves, the heifer’s about to give birth, the milking barn, plus the production facility.  You see their employees working with the cows and farming the ground around their property!

There’s More Than Just Cows

Yup, it’s a dairy farm with 500 head of cattle (from calves to cows) but they have other animals you get to explore!  They have a couple fainting goats, which are just for fun.  The goats are so tame, you can pet them and therefore they don’t faint that often, but they are fun to see and pet! The farm also has 3 kangaroos!  Yup, you heard that right…kangaroos!

Blake, one of the Hansen’s sons, was trying to come up with a logo or mascot of sorts when they decided to make their dairy products and they knew they needed something other than a predictable cow.  He had visited Australia previously and decided that a kangaroo was just the ticket.  Of course, once they made that decision, they need one or two on the farm!  Now, they have three and one is pregnant!  They are tame and came to us for snacks of bread.  When I asked about their ability to handle Iowa winters, Blake told us that they actually do better with that weather versus the heat and humidity of the Iowa summers!

Bottle Calves

My favorite part of the tour was the bottle calves!  Not only are calves cuter than a full-grown cow, but also because you get to help feed them!  When a calf is born, they allow it to bond with the mom for a very brief time and then they take the momma to be milked which they then use to feed the calve with a bottle.  They stay in their small huts for 50 days and then they are moved on!  While we were there, Blake’s son (who is only 6) was working on giving them their feed and bottles!  He graciously let us feed a couple of them!  I fell in love with one little calf completely.  Wonder if T would have noticed if I had brought him home!

Quality Products

After touring the farm, we got to the best part of the tour (at least in the boys’ opinion), the taste testing!  The family really pulls out all the stops when it comes time to taste test!  Cheese curds, milk, chocolate milk are all passed around.  Then, you’re given a small jar of cream!  By shaking the jar, you eventually create butter!  Once the butter is made, you wash it, salt it, and spread it on crackers to enjoy!  It is delicious!

Finally, each participant gets to select one small cup of ice cream!  Selecting from the list of about 10 flavors was very difficult, but eventually our group settled on key lime pie, brownie batter, mint chip, & cookie dough!  It was delicious!  Of course, picking was so difficult, we had to purchase 6 more flavors to bring home!  We also stocked up on cheese curds and milk!

Not only are their product delicious, they are the highest quality!  Each product with their label on it is produced right on their farm!  They follow strict inspections to make sure their milk follows nationwide standards!  Once a month a tester comes to the farm and tests the milk from every single cow that they are currently milking!  Their milk is not homogenized.  They believe that the milk is in it’s more natural form than milk that is homogenized.  One thing to remember when purchasing their milk is that you need to shake it before drinking it due to it being non-homogenized. They also study the genetics of their cows and the milk they are producing so they make sure it’s top notch.

Things to Keep in Mind When Visiting

We do have a couple things to keep in mind when visiting Hansen’s Dairy!

• You’re on a farm!  Please remember that you’re on a farm and around someone and an animals home.  Please be respsectful of their space, follow the tour, and don’t feed the animals things that don’t come from your tour guide. Dress to maybe get dirty and smell like cows!
• If you’re visiting on a cooler day, dress warm!  The majority of the farm tour is outside, so plan accordingly with your attire!
• Try something new!  You have the opportunity to feed a calf a bottle of milk and milk a cow, take the opportunity!  It is very safe and the farm tour is close by with help!
• Take a cooler!  You’ll want to go home with one of their many products like milk, butter, cheese curds, ice cream, and even ground beef, so take a large cooler!  If you forget like we do, they do have soft sided coolers available for purchase! 
• Be ready for fun!  Kids of all ages, adults, and everyone will enjoy a tour!  They lead tours from April 1st until October 31st and reservations are recommended for the walking tour and required for the hands on tour.
• If you can’t make it to the actual farm for your products, you can purchase them at their two retail stores: one in Waterloo & one in Cedar Falls!  Or, you can pick them up at one of the retailers listed HERE!

Visiting Hansen’s Dairy was a great way to spend an afternoon this fall!  There’s still time to sneak a tour in before the season is over, so give Hansen’s Dairy a call!

Hansen’s Dairy, 8617 Lincoln Road, Hudson, Iowa – – – www.hansendairy.com

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Phone for Tours: 319-988-9834 or email at tours@hansendairy.com

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Thank you to Hansen’s Dairy for hosting our visit.  All thoughts & opinions are 100% truthful and authentic.  Please see Disclosure Tab for full details!