Skip to content

About
- Media
Books

Facebook
Instagram
LinkedIn

About
- Media
Books

- Media
Books

Facebook
Instagram
LinkedIn

Subscribe

Meeting cute critters and learning farm lore at the Whatcom This Whey dairy farm tour

By

Alex Hodson

Photos by Alex O’Connell

June 16, 2026

Square Share is a monthly photo feature that takes you to non-profit celebrations, fund-raisers and events around Whatcom County that support agriculture and local farmers.

This Square Square visits two farms from the 2025 Whatcom This Whey dairy tour: Ferndale Farmstead and Grace Harbor Farms in Custer.

The 2026 fifth annual Whatcom This Whey dairy tour of seven Whatcom County dairy farms and creameries is set for 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, June 20. Admission is free; dairy products and ice cream are available for purchase at some locations.

Info and tour map: https://www.wadairy.org/whatcomthiswhey/

Grace Harbor Farms

Click on photos for more information!

Grace Harbor’s Farms director of sales and marketing Tana Hope explained that the company’s milk may have a slight orange hue due to the beta-carotene the cows consume in their diet of hay and corn silage. Photo by Alex O’Connell for BlueRibbonStories.com

Three goats stand in a pen at Grace Harbor Farms during the Whatcom This Whey dairy tour on June 21, 2025. Grace Harbor’s Farms director of sales and marketing Tana Hope explained that Grace Harbor Farms is a second-generation family farm in Custer, Washington, that now operates a dairy plant that meets the sanitation, testing and handling standards of a Grade A facility. Photo by Alex O’Connell for BlueRibbonStories.com

According to Grace Harbor Farms director of sales and marketing Tana Hope, the bottle-filling station at Grace Harbor Farms fills a milk bottle in one second. Photo by Alex O’Connell

A white goat looks out on Grace Harbor Farms’ visitors during the Whatcom This Whey Dairy Tours on June 21, 2025. Photo by Alex O’Connell for BlueRibbonStories.com

Olga Suttorp of Lynden visited Grace Harbor Farms with her family as part of the Whatcom This Whey Dairy Tours on June 21, 2025. Suttorp said she was glad to expose her young son to local farming. “It’s important for the next generation to learn about farming.” Photo by Alex O’Connell for BlueRibbonStories.com

Tana Hope, director of sales and marketing at the farm, explained that goat milk is easier for humans to digest than cow milk because it is closer to human breast milk in terms of protein and nutritional composition. Photo by Alex O’Connell for BlueRibbonStories.com

Stainless-steel vats at Grace Harbor Farms are used for pasteurization. Milk is kept at 145 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes to kill off any bacteria. Tana Hope, the farm’s director of sales and marketing, explained that Grace Harbor prefers vat pasteurization because it retains the milk’s natural flavor and beneficial enzymes. Photo by Alex O’Connell for BlueRibbonStories.com

A brown bearded goat prances around a pen at Grace Harbor Farms during the Whatcom This Whey Dairy Tour on June 21, 2025. Photo by Alex O’Connell for BlueRibbonStories.com

Conveyor belts at Grace Harbor Farms are used in the production of dairy products such as milk, kefir, smoothies and yogurt. Whatcom This Whey Dairy Tour visitors were able to taste prospective or newly released products, such as lemon yogurt. Photo by Alex O’Connell for BlueRibbonStories.com

Ferndale Farmstead

Click on photos for more information!

At the 2025 Whatcom This Whey dairy tour, Ferndale Farmstead manager Kevin Dougherty explained that the milking parlor is where the farm’s 700 cows are milked twice daily. Dougherty says each cow produces 70 to 75 pounds of milk every day. Photo by Alex O’Connell for BlueRibbonStories.com

Ferndale Farmstead manager Kevin Dougherty explained to visitors on the Whatcom This Whey dairy tour that the holding area is where cows are kept right before they enter the milking parlor. Dougherty says the farm’s cows have an average of 2.7 years of lactation. Photo by Alex O’Connell for BlueRibbonStories.com

Cattle relax in a field at Ferndale Farmstead at the June 21, 2025, Whatcom This Whey Dairy Tour.  According to a 2022 census from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, there are 56 dairy farms in Whatcom County with 35,507 cows total. Western Washington’s temperate climate is ideal for raising dairy cows. Photo by Alex O’Connell for BlueRibbonStories.com

Automated milking equipment at Ferndale Farmstead streamlines milking cows, which is important when managing a herd of hundreds. Farm manager Kevin Dougherty says each cow takes 20 to 30 minutes per milking. Photo by Alex O’Connell for BlueRibbonStories.com

See-Mong Tan of Bellingham, a computer science professor at Western Washington University, wears a souvenir cow hat. He says he enjoyed seeing the cows at Ferndale Farmstead as part of the Whatcom This Whey Dairy Tour on June 21, 2025. He was surprised by how big the “baby cows” were. Photo by Alex O’Connell for BlueRibbonStories.com

Some of the farm equipment used at Ferndale Farmstead was stored inside a barn during the Whatcom This Whey Dairy Tours. According to the Ferndale Farmstead website, the farm grows its own cattle feed. Photo by Alex O’Connell for BlueRibbonStories.com

These pregnant cows in the maternity pen at Ferndale Farmstead are within days of giving birth.  During the last 60 to 90 days of their pregnancies, they are in a “drying off” phase where they do not produce milk. Photo by Alex O’Connell for BlueRibbonStories.com

Cows have to be milked at least twice a day, every day of the year. Ferndale Farmstead manager Kevin Dougherty says each cow takes 20 to 30 minutes per milking. Photo by Alex O’Connell for BlueRibbonStories.com

Blue Ribbon Stories ag-reporting intern Alex Hodson, a third-year Western Washington University journalism major, tries to pet a cow on his first dairy farm visit at Ferndale Farmstead, as part of the Whatcom This Whey Dairy Tour, June 21, 2025. Photo by Alex O’Connell for BlueRibbonStories.com

←Showing beef cattle at the fair can be nerveracking but ‘every year, you’ll get better’

Army veteran’s painting wins grand prize at the fair – and changes his life’s course.→

More posts

Rabbit barn volunteer brings big heart to tending bunnies and helping kids show at the fair

September 24, 2026
Whatcom County Farm Tour connects community to local farms and farmers

September 9, 2026
Heritage, history and heart ride together in the eight-horse hitch at the fair

August 17, 2026
Protected: Farm tech turns manure and muck into energy and fertilizer – and keeps a lot of yuck out of local landfills

About
- Media
Books

Connect With Us

We’d love to hear your stories, comments and memories – and recipes!

Learn more about the Northwest
Washington Fair!