Riverbend Creamery

& Piedmont Jerseys Lincolnton,NC

Piedmont Jerseys and Riverbend Creamery are owned by Corey Lutz. The farm milks

240 cows twice a day in a double-eight herringbone parlor, and farms 400 acres. The farm uses a grazing system, housing all cows on pasture. Family involved on the farm includes Corey, his wife Bridgette (who does the bookwork), daughter Olivia (who handles creamery orders), and son James (who works on the dairy farm).

Q&A WITH COREY LUTZ

What made you decide to diversify?

My kids were interested in coming back to the farm, and we knew the farm wasn’t big enough to sustain us all. Instead of increasing in size, we began researching the idea of processing our own milk. Our grazing system provides the majority of our protein, and we thought up front that the grazing system, and the fact that we’re 100 percent A2A2 would be great for a creamery. There is a good population surrounding us as well. We opened Riverbend Creamery in August of 2021. We currently use 40 percent of our milk, with the remaining 60 percent going to our milk cooperative. We are set up to use 100 percent of our milk and plan to work towards that in the future.

What products do you offer, and how do you sell them?

We offer skim, low fat, whole, and whole chocolate milk, as well as half and half, heavy cream, and eggnog. We have 24 “routine” flavors of ice cream, but a total of 35 flavors including seasonal options. We have our farm store here at the dairy, and also are in about 25 grocery stores, convenience stores, and farmers markets.

How has the community responded to your operation?

The community’s response has been phenomenal. I’ve been blown away by the support we’ve received. We host farm tours April through November, and we do some festivals on the weekends, and it is exciting to see so many people show up.

How does Premier help you reach your goals?

Piedmont Jerseys is always a stop that I look forward to making. The folks there are second to none. Each month I stop in and drop off any semen or calf products they may need. I’m thankful for the relationship I have with Corey…often we start off talking about bulls and end up talking about crops and tractors too.

Servicing Piedmont has helped expand my knowledge on Jersey genetics. Each month when new bulls come out, I quickly start researching to see if any of them will work at Piedmont. Often, finding bulls to suit Piedmont’s preferences helps me identify sires that make great options for other farms as well. Piedmont is known for their high-type show genetics and looking across their cow herd, it is loaded with consistency!

- Henry Mitchell, Area Sales Manager for Piedmont Jerseys

I let the team at Premier Select Sires know what I want, and they show me the bulls that fit my criteria so I can choose the ones I want to use. We’re a little different since we’re not a large, commercial-type dairy. Volume is not quite as important. We look for type, added strength and stature, udder indexes, and longevity. All sires must be A2A2, and we want good butterfat. Cow families are important to us too, and we look at the dam and granddam scores. We prefer at least an 85-point dam or granddam. We want our five- and six-year-old cows to score well, and a lot of those in our herd are Excellent. I enjoy looking at good cows, and Premier certainly helps with that! LEARN