What "Beyond Organic" Means to Us: How Boss Cow Sources Our Dairy
When Kevin and I started Boss Cow, we knew we didn't want to source ingredients based on a label alone. We wanted to know where our food came from: how the cows were raised, how much time they spent on pasture, how the land was cared for, and who the farmers were behind the milk.
That's made sourcing harder and more expensive. It's also the one part of Boss Cow we care about most.
We Know Our Farmers
When we started Boss Cow about three years ago, we didn't sit down with a supplier catalog and order A2/A2 dairy off a spec sheet.
We got in the car.
Kevin and I drove around looking for A2 dairy farms we actually wanted to partner with. We visited farms, met the farmers, walked the land, learned about their A2 cows, and asked a lot of questions about pasture, farming practices, and how they cared for their animals.
It wasn't the easiest way to source dairy, and it definitely wasn't the fastest. But it's the way we love doing it.
Before Boss Cow even existed, we were already driving long distances to buy A2/A2 dairy directly from farms we trusted, so when we started the company, it felt natural to approach sourcing the same way.
We didn't want anonymous dairy from a commodity supply chain just because it was cheaper and way easier. We wanted to know the farms behind our food.
Today, the dairy we use comes from family farms raising A2/A2 cows with practices we believe in.
That milk is then used to make cheese specifically for Boss Cow. We aren't just ordering finished cheese from a big distributor. We start with the milk and the farms behind it, then have our cheese made from there. I'll share more about how our cheese is made in another post, because there's a lot more to that process than most people realize.
What We Mean by "Beyond Organic"
You may hear us describe some of our farmers' practices as going beyond organic.
That isn't another certification, and we don't use the phrase to diminish organic farming. Organic certification has real standards behind it and can be a genuinely useful tool for shoppers.
What we mean is that there are areas where the farming practices we look for go further than the minimum required for organic certification.
Pasture is probably the clearest example.
USDA organic standards require ruminants to graze during a grazing season of at least 120 days per year and to receive at least 30% of their dry matter intake from pasture during that season.
The cows supplying our dairy are rotationally grazed on grass pasture daily when conditions allow. Here in Pennsylvania, that means they're outside grazing most days during the grazing season, except during things like extreme heat, heavy snow, or conditions that aren't safe for the cows or the pasture.
That matters to us. We want cows outside grazing, healthy pastures, and farmers who are actively caring for their soil and land.
Does Organic Mean Spray-Free?
This is something I didn't fully understand until we started spending more time with farmers.
Organic doesn't mean absolutely nothing can ever be applied to the land. Organic rules prohibit most synthetic substances, but certain natural inputs and a limited number of synthetic substances are allowed under specific conditions.
None of that makes organic bad. It's a real standard with real restrictions.
It just isn't always the same as "nothing was ever sprayed on this," which I think is what a lot of us picture when we see the organic seal.
The farmers we source our milk from don't use any synthetic chemical sprays on the pastures where the cows graze. For us, knowing the actual practices behind an ingredient matters just as much as knowing which certification sits next to it.
Why Some of Our A2 Dairy Isn't Certified Organic
Some of the family farms we work with are certified organic. As we grow and add new farm partners, some won't be certified, even though their farming practices align with our standards and, in some areas, go beyond organic requirements.
Maintaining organic certification comes with ongoing paperwork, inspections, record keeping, and expense, and for some small family farms, pursuing or maintaining that certification simply doesn't make sense.
Some of these farmers have been using regenerative, pasture-based practices for generations. Because we know the farms personally, we're able to look directly at how they raise their cows and care for their land rather than relying on a certification alone.
The certification status may be different from farm to farm. Our standard isn't.
We still use certified organic ingredients, including our pasta and arrowroot powder, and our products remain Glyphosate Residue Free certified. Certifications are one part of how we evaluate an ingredient. They're just not the whole picture.
Why We Look Beyond Certification
I understand why people look for certifications. I do too. They're useful, especially when you don't know the farm behind a product.
For us, certification is one part of sourcing. We also want to know the farm, how the cows are raised, how the pasture is managed, and who is producing the milk.
That's why we've chosen to build relationships directly with our A2 dairy farmers. There are cheaper and easier ways to source dairy, but that's never been how we wanted to build Boss Cow.
As we grow, we'll continue adding farm partners whose practices align with what matters to us, whether or not every farm carries the same certifications.
That's how we started Boss Cow, and it's how we plan to keep growing it.
Sam
Co-Founder, Boss Cow
