Photo ©2015 SaratogaPhotographer.com
BY BARBARA PINCKNEY
A Schuylerville dairy plans to expand distribution
of its fresh milk and other products
to homes, restaurants and retailers from
Halfmoon to Queensbury–and possibly beyond–
following the opening of a new bottling
and processing plant.
Jan King, who owns Kings Brothers Dairy
with his brother, Jeff King, said the plant–
the first farm-based bottling operation in
Saratoga County–will open later this spring.
Construction has been completed on the
10,000-square-foot facility, in a former barn
on the family’s Kings Ransom Farm on Bacon
Hill. Sanitary equipment, including the tanks,
cream separators and bottlers, are being
installed.
“We’ll have everything in here in a few
months and at that point we’ll be looking to
sell half-and-half, heavy cream, condensed
milk, skim milk, whole milk, chocolate milk–
they will be the first products we attempt,”
Jan King said. “That is stuff we are doing right
now but it is done off the farm. We are going
to bring it all back here, so we will have all
the control from milking the cow to putting
it right in the bottle.”
The 800-cow Kings Ransom Farm has been
in operation for more than 100 years, and was
in the dairy business, under the brothers’
grandfather, great uncles and father–former
Northumberland Town Supervisor Edgar King
Jr.–until the early 1960s.
But the current, fourth-generation owners
are taking an entrepreneurial approach
to production and distribution that should
mean significant growth and job creation in the coming years. King said at least three new
people will be needed with the plant opens,
and as many as 15 new jobs could be available
within five years.
The goal is to build recognition of the
Kings Brothers Dairy name and make branded
products a bigger part of the business. At the
moment, 90 percent of milk produced on the
farm is sold through the Dairy Farmers of
America Cooperative, and is therefore subject
to the supply and demand of the market.
King said producing and selling more of its
own product will give the dairy better control
over pricing. That will be particularly useful
in a year like this one, when prices are falling
due to oversupply. As of March 30, milk
futures were down nearly 13 percent from a
year earlier.
“Dairy pricing has its ups and downs,” King
said. “Hopefully this will allow us to level our
costs to be able to have better times through
low prices.”
The farm currently delivers milk, beef,
cheese, eggs, yogurt, and about 200 other
products made by itself and other local manufacturers
to 500 homes, from Halfmoon to
Queensbury, every week. King joked that it is
“very much like a farmers market on wheels.”
It also serves restaurants in Saratoga
Springs and Ballston Spa. King said that
once the bottling plant is up and running, the
brothers hope to expand their wholesale business
to include additional restaurants, including
some in the Glens Falls market, as well
as retail stores. Once they have penetrated
their current market, they may expand further north and south.
“We have had requests from Colonie,
Latham,” King said. “But at this point we’ve
decided to try to gain more customers in the
area that we’re in before we spread out further.”
Jan and Jeff King operate the farm with their
wives. Jeff’s wife, Becky, handles the finances
for the farm and dairy. Jan’s wife, Pandora
Davis, is a veterinarian who operates a private
practice while also tending to the animals on
the farm. Between them, the couples have five
children who help out after school, on weekends
and during the summer.
When they were growing up on the farm, the
brothers would hear stories from their father
and grandfather about delivering milk around
Saratoga Springs.
“We had old milk bottles in cases, some in
the garage and some in the barn, and there
was a sense of nostalgia,” Jan King said. “So we
always thought, ‘wouldn’t that be neat to do?'”
They started out selling frozen beef to
friends and neighbors. It was very popular, so
about five years ago they decided to add fresh
milk to their offerings.
“We started out with just home delivery and we got a great response,” King said. “People
loved our product and the fact that it was delivered.
So we were able to grow our business, with
both home delivery and restaurants around
Saratoga and Ballston. That has enabled us to
invest in a place to bottle our own milk and do
everything right here.”
He declined to say how much the business
is investing in the project, which got underway
last summer. It did receive grant support from
both Empire State Development and the U.S.
Department of Agriculture.
Once the processing operation is up and
running, the brothers plan to move the small
retail store that currently sits out in front of the
farm into the new building. Viewing windows
will allow customers to watch products being
made and packaged, driving home the idea of
freshness and quality.
“People have been very receptive to what
we do,” King said. “I think they appreciate
knowing that when they are buying their milk
it comes from our farm, they are supporting
a local business, and they really enjoy doing
that as well as having a great quality, great
tasting product.”