Rolling hills and fog from nearby Tomales Bay support the pasture management and grazing strategies at Bivalve Dairy. Farmers John and Karen Taylor are raising their children, from left below, Camilla, William and Eva, at the ranch.
Portugal ’s lush Azores islands, where dairy cows have grazed on similarly fog-shrouded pastures for decades. Karen was a junior high school teacher in the San Francisco Bay Area before returning to the ranch. John was an industrial engineer for General Electric Co. before he and Karen began managing the dairy, named for an old train station located on the ranch site in the early 1900s. These days, you’ll find Karen tending to the couple’s herd of 500 Holsteins or selling Bivalve Dairy handcrafted cheeses and cultured butter at local stores and farmers markets. John applies his technology background and “what if ” sense of curiosity to develop and manage innovative
farming practices used throughout the operation. “Everything we do is based on technology to ensure quality. It controls all aspects of our business, from pasture to consumer,” John said. “As an engineer, my mind is always going.” A zero-waste goal The Taylors’ current project is upgrading the dairy’s manure management system to reduce water use and greenhouse gas emissions. The new system will convert a current freshwater flush system used to clean the cows’ barn and replace it with a scraping system (John compares it to
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