Copetown's Loewith family to open Summit Station Dairy and Creamery

The Loewith family is planning to bring back the milkman to deliver local farm-fresh milk right to your door.

Summit Station Dairy and Creamery, which will be located on Powerline Road West at the Joe Loewith and Sons dairy farm, is under construction and co-owner Ben Loewith said they plan to sell and deliver glass bottles of milk fresh from the farm to Hamilton-centric homes within a roughly 30-minute distance.

We're nervous, but extremely excited," Loewith said of the business. It's a decision that the family made together and it's something that we've been talking about seriously for probably five years.

So, for us to see it coming together is incredibly exciting."

The facility - a red building visible to those driving along Highway 52 between Ancaster and Copetown - is roughly 10,000 square feet and is designed to incorporate elements of the former Summit Station on the Toronto, Hamilton and Buffalo Railway (TH&B) - including the board and batten siding and look of the windows. The former station was located across Highway 52 to the east and where the business gets its name.

Loewith said they hope to open in June - with home delivery being the first part of the business to get up and running in early June. He said they plan to start with a couple of delivery trucks, before expanding based on demand.

It will all be our milk," he said. It will be bottled the same day that the cows are milked."

While the business will start with milk delivery, down the road Loewith said they intend to add cheese curds and yogurt.

On the business side of the farm, Loewith said the dairy sales and creamery won't change much, as they are still under the quota system, which only allows farmers to produce so much milk - even if they are processing it themselves.

It doesn't allow us to increase production at the farm, it's just that instead of the milk going to a different processor we're allowed to bottle it ourselves."

The farm, which began in 1947 when Joe and Minna Loewith bought a parcel of land and began milking 15 cows, now has a herd of close to 1,000 and milks 480 dairy cows. Recognized as one of the most respected and best-managed dairy farms in Canada, the farm is now run by four primary family members - Ben, his wife Jennifer, his father Carl and his uncle Dave.

Loewith said the family likes the idea of being able to serve the local community.

We have no aspirations to be growing and becoming a national distributor of milk," he said. On our logo, on our store, it is promoting the fact that we've been in Hamilton for almost 75 years, we're serving the Hamilton community with a product that is local."

He said when the store opens they plan to promote other local products, such as produce from other local farmers.

The hope down the road is that we can incorporate some level of agri-tourism between the bottling facility and the farm," he said. We want people to be able to come see the cows, see the calves and then see the milk being made into cheese all within 100 metres of each other."

For more information, visit summitstationdairy.com.