Longmont Dairy Farm Celebrates 60 Years

60 years ago three enterprising Coloradans, Jim Boyd, Reese Boatman and Karl Obluda decided to start an old-fashioned dairy at a time when supermarkets were dramatically changing how American’s shopped. With a modest dairy herd, an old milk truck and a small processing plant behind the Boyd home, Longmont Dairy Farm was born and quickly became a local institution.

Over the years the company has embraced innovation and technology to keep up with a growing customer base, expanding routes and more product offerings. When David and Susan Boyd took over in 1988 as second-generation owners, they began growing Longmont Dairy into a more sophisticated business. The Boyd’s bought a larger farm and expanded the existing barn to milk more cows, launched a website with order forms and created the company’s still-popular holiday eggnog bottle design contest.

In 2008, the dairy continued its technological advancement by implementing systems to help customers manage their accounts more efficiently and moved from paper route books and maps to GPS-led online delivery management systems.

Now in its third generation of ownership, co-owners and siblings, Dan Boyd and Katie Copeland, balance expanding the business’ footprint while continuing their grandfather’s original mission of providing fresh milk in glass bottles from the dairy’s cows directly to customers along the Front Range.

“The greater impact of success isn’t what you change, but rather what you don’t change,” said Boyd. “What we have done best is stay true to who we are and maintain the people, processes and products that have driven the success of the company. The wins and losses are up to God, but you’ve got to put the work in. We are honored every day to have one of the hardest working staff in our industry.”  

Throughout the years, the company has become a part of the community fabric, not just in Longmont but in the surrounding areas. Its Milk Caps for Mooola program, which encourages students to recycle milk caps at their school in exchange for cash, recently hit a milestone of 15 million milk caps collected, resulting in $750,000 donated to more than 400 local schools over the years.

“It means so much that we are part of the community, whether it’s through our Milk Caps program or just knowing that our customers still pop by the office regularly to catch up or phone us the old-fashioned way,” said co-owner Katie Copeland. “When we bought the business from our parents ten years ago, we were committed to carrying forward their values and devotion to their customers.”

In 2018, Longmont Dairy embarked on a plant renovation and expansion, which allowed it to start brewing its own tea and cold brew coffee, which have become staples for their loyal customer base. The events of 2020 saw a dramatic increase in people requesting delivery services due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The company pivoted by adding additional daytime deliveries to accommodate the demand.

To honor Longmont Dairy’s 60^th anniversary the company is celebrating its employees and customers through a variety of recognitions, contests and giveaways that will be shared via their newsletter and social media platforms.