Ri’s Farm Made Dairy
Ri’s Farm Made Dairy is a MYERS CENTURY FARM PRODUCT. WELCOME! We are a genuine multi-generational, family-run farm located in beautiful Western Sullivan County, NY.
We take pride in our robust and healthy cattle herd which has kept our treasured land productive and beautiful since 1837.
OUR PROMISE TO YOU: NATURAL ~ WHOLESOME ~ HORMONE FREE ~ ETHICAL
Some of the oldest dates recorded here on our family’s farm deeds are 1837 and 1842. According to family folklore, when our great-great-great-grandmother Elizabeth (Glasser) Myers arrived to Jeffersonville, she actually sat down on a rock and cried. Back then this farm was nothing but trees and rocks. The Myers Family had sold their farm in Manhattan near 110th Street, due to industrialization and overcrowding. Her husband, our first generation grandfather, Henry Myers, would take his wheelbarrow 55 miles to Newburgh, New York several times a year to obtain supplies like sugar, salt and whatever else was needed. He would be gone for approximately a week depending on weather conditions along the dirt trail. It has been said that he was once chased up tree by wolves and had to spend the night there.
Since that time, stonewalls and buildings have been built up and taken down depending on their usefulness. Improvements and additions have been made by every generation. The 4th generation experienced the heartbreak of the barn burning down on a hot July evening in 1954. Grandparents Wilbur and Ethel Myers asked their oldest child, Earl Myers, who was 13 at the time, if he had the desire to continue the family farm. If he did they would rebuild, otherwise they would look into other ways to make a living. He said he wanted to farm, so the barn was rebuilt. That was the only time since 1837, that cows were not milked every morning and every night by someone in this family. Three months later, they were at it again, and have been every day since.
The 6th generation (Peter and Dawn (Myers) Erlwein) added the largest, most comfortable and efficient farm building for their cows starting in the year 2000. We called it our ‘cow mansion’ and it was working well up until around 2015. Five years ago milk prices plummeted to the same price that farmers were paid in the 1970s. In the spring of 2018, we received abrupt notification that our milk market was being canceled. We weren’t the only ones, as small farms all around the Northeast also received “pink slips”. It was obvious that in order to survive we had to make a big change and think outside the box.
The saying goes that when God closes a door, He opens a window. Rianne Erlwein (7th generation) has courageously decided to set up her very own and brand new milk processing plant right here on the farm: Ri’s Farm Made Dairy. Now Rianne is able to provide our consumers with a farm-to-table quality dairy product that delivers the quality you desire at a reasonable price. We will always produce a wholesome, natural, hormone-free and ethical product – that is our continued promise to you and to our cherished herd.
