Dairy farm opens doors to community, wildlife

Living in a small rural town, Kellee Peeples is always looking for ways to keep her young daughters active. So when she heard about a dairy inviting children to learn about and care for calves in her coastal home of Crescent City, Peeples thought it would be a great antidote to childhood boredom.

What she found was more than just an outlet for her girls. She built a connection to the dairy, the cows and the family behind it all: the Alexandres.

Blake and Stephanie Alexandre and their five children—Joseph, Christian, Vanessa, Savanna and Dalton—own and operate Alexandre Family EcoDairy Farms. Dairy cows, beef cattle, chickens and bison make their home alongside the Alexandres, a few miles from the Oregon border.

The family business includes raising 3,500 dairy cows for milk production at four locations—two in Humboldt County and two in Del Norte County—as well as producing organic eggs through the Alexandre Kids Eggs label. The family also raises organic, grassfed beef and grows hay on a Modoc County ranch.

The Alexandre home ranch in Crescent City sits on the California coast, with the cool coastal fog often resting on the farm's fields. Bald eagles, Aleutian geese and Roosevelt elk have been known to frequent the property.

The setting is one of the reasons Blake Alexandre cites for adopting sustainable and organic farming practices. He said he farms the same way his great-grandfather and grandfather did, with a focus on sustaining the land for future generations.

"It's important to me to teach not only my kids, but all of our employees, that we need to have a very respectful relationship with the environment," he said.

The ranch is also something the family seeks to share with the public. The dairy opens its doors to tours, 4-H meetings and anyone who wants to learn about farming and conservation.

"We love it when the public comes around," Stephanie Alexandre said. "We think it is important that, as a family business, we show them what we do."

Part of that education comes through the Alexandres' "bucket calf" program, which Stephanie Alexandre began 20 years ago. The program provides local children the opportunity to "adopt" one of the Alexandres' calves for the summer. Most of the calves are a few months old when the children meet them, and are called bucket calves because they can be fed out of buckets at their young age.

During the summer, children meet at the farm once a week, for eight weeks, to care for and learn about their adopted calf. At the end of that time, the children can show their calves at the Del Norte County Fair during a special competition solely for program participants.

Peeples and her school-aged daughters, Hope and Hollee, are among the families that have taken part in the program. Peeples said the experience made an impact on her children.

"They learned about responsibility. They learned commitment. They learned about following through," she said.

Peeples, who knew little about agriculture before connecting with the Alexandres, says she gained insight as well.

"I definitely look at milk in the grocery store differently," she said. "If you just think about the number of people they have to employ to take care of the cows, feed them, everything, every day, it's incredible."

Throughout the years, at least 1,000 families have participated in the bucket calf program and even more have visited the dairy.

Stephanie Alexandre described the visits as a way for the family to give back. Open doors and a willingness to teach others about the dairy also helps sustain a strong future for the farm, making the public a partner in ensuring its perpetuity.

The Alexandres have lived and worked on the land for more than 20 years, with their children representing the fifth generation to farm. Blake and Stephanie were both raised in farming families—Blake also served as a California State FFA officer—and wanted their children to learn the same lessons they did growing up.

"We just knew it was a great way to raise a family and be a family," Stephanie Alexandre said. "The learning opportunities are endless. Our kids don't remember the time we've taken vacations, but they remember the time when we were all together and made hay."

Joseph, Christian and Vanessa have graduated from college and are active in the day-to-day dairy operations. Savanna, who is still in high school, and Dalton, who is in college, plan to return to the dairy after earning their degrees.

The legacy of carrying on the family business is one that 23-year-old Christian Alexandre said he's honored to be a part of. He oversees the family's egg business—started by his brother Joseph when Joseph was a young teenager—in addition to contributing to tasks on the dairy.

"It's always meant long hours and hard work," Christian Alexandre said, "but there's pride in everything we do."

Much of that pride comes not only from building a successful business, but also from fostering environmental stewardship in their farming practices.

The dairy transitioned to producing organic milk in the late 1990s. The Alexandres raise their dairy and beef cattle on grassy pastures near the natural environment that surrounds the farm.

As a result, Alexandre Family EcoDairy Farms is a regular stop among local birdwatchers. At various times, its pond offers views of sandhill cranes, golden eagles, Aleutian geese and other birds. The dairy has also taken an integral role in rebuilding and preserving habitat for wildlife and waterfowl.

Vanessa Alexandre, who works primarily with the dairy's calves and young cows, said even where the cows graze is a decision made with purpose toward preservation. When cows eat certain grasses in a particular field, it can make room for the growth of other grasses and plants that birds and wildlife feed on or use for habitat.

"It's a blessing to have all this nature around, and it's something we're always working at," she said. "The cows actually promote more wildlife in the area and we manage our grazing patterns to encourage that."

It's a lasting connection to both the farm and the natural habitat that the Alexandres hope to foster for generations to come.

"We hope that as we keep doing what we're doing, our kids will think like we do and make their own mark, but continue to carry on our philosophy," Blake Alexandre said. "The community is our partner in the process as we learn and continue forward, and we learn from them just as they learn from us."

(Adapted from a story in the September/October edition of California Bountiful magazine.)