By Chris Aldridge

Kentucky Ag News

FRANKFORT - The Goode Family dairy farm opened an ice cream shop to add value to its milk. Now Goode’s Riverside Creamery hopes to do the same for eight other dairies in Casey County.

“We started processing our own milk in April and making ice cream,” said owner/operator Greg Goode, who said the creamery produced 800-1,000 gallons of ice cream during the past two months.

“Everything made there is coming from our cows,” he added. “The goal is to use all the milk from our dairy and help some other dairy farmers in the county use some of theirs.”

The inspiration for the creamery came from Goode’s wife, Joy, who grew up on a dairy farm in LaRue County that’s in its third generation of operation.

“She’s the reason we’re doing it,” Greg said. “She was born into it. She loves dairy, and our three daughters really enjoy the cows. They milk the cows, feed the cows, and even show them at the (Kentucky) State Fair and North American (International Livestock Exposition in Louisville).

“We didn’t want to be big and milk 500 cows. So, we visited other small dairy farms in other states that were making a pretty good living staying on the farm milking 50-60 cows to see what they were doing. We usually milk about 50, and we do it all ourselves.”

The creamery is a true family business. Oldest daughter Emily, 19, makes 95 percent of the ice cream, which has gotten rave reviews from the community. On the creamery’s Facebook page, a woman posted: “Best ice cream I’ve ever eaten.”

“Everybody wants to know what we do to it,” Greg said. “Commercial ice cream is 12-percent milk fat. We try to run 15 percent. It makes a big difference.

“Our milk is Pasteurized, but it’s not homogenized. So, it’s less processed and about as close to natural as it can legally be.

“Plus, it’s fresh. Yesterday, we milked cows in the morning and were making ice cream last night. That’s about as fresh as you can get.”

The creamery has retail space for jugs and bottles of its milk, including chocolate, and quarts and half gallons of assorted flavors of its ice cream, as well as a selection of locally-raised meats and other Kentucky Proud products.

“We sell everything Kentucky Proud – beef, lamb, chicken, all sourced right here in Casey County from neighboring farms,” Greg said. “Alisha Morris (from the Kentucky Department of Agriculture’s Office of Agricultural Marketing) came down and connected us to other farm products made in Kentucky, everything from popcorn to cheese. We pride ourselves as a Kentucky Proud destination.

“Everybody wants to support local farmers. People are interested in where their food comes from and how their food is made. Family farms are getting more support now than they have in the last 10-15 years.”

In 2023, the Kentucky Agricultural Development Board approved the creamery to receive up to $71,000 in multi-county funds matched by state funds for construction at 6160 U.S. Highway 127 in Liberty, Ky., with the option to pursue a loan up to $250,000. 

“That was a big help to get us up and going,” Greg said. “(Kentucky Office of Agricultural Policy Executive Director) Brandon Reed, (KOAP Deputy Executive Director) Bill McCloskey, and (Deputy Agriculture Commissioner) Warren Beeler have been a big help for folks like me diversifying away from the tobacco business.”

While the number of Kentucky dairy farms and dairy cows have shrunk to half of what they were just two decades ago, the Goode Family is resisting that trend.

“We diversified into dairy,” Greg said, noting he used to grow burley tobacco like many Kentuckians. “People have taken to our milk and ice cream real well. We’ve been blessed.”