Despite the fact that Yellow Branch Cheese in Robbinsville, North Carolina is a smaller farm with a more traditional milking style, they still uphold the same cruel practices that are standard in the dairy industry, on small farms and large.
Female cows are forcibly impregnated through artificial insemination, and after carrying their babies for 9 months, they only get to spend 48 hours with them. Calves are then traumatically taken away for good. If calves are female, they will endure the same distressing cycle as their mothers and be forced to give birth every 14-16 months; their babies will also be forcibly taken from them.
When calves are young, Yellow Branch Creamery removes their horns with hot irons and then begins breeding them anywhere from 18 to 20 months of age. The males and older, less productive cows are sent to a local slaughterhouse, K & B Meat Processing, that looks more like a junk yard than a place of business.
Yellow Branch currently supplies to:
- French Broad Co-op in Asheville, NC
- South Slope Cheese in Asheville, NC.
- The Cheese Store of Asheville in Asheville, NC
- Various restaurants in Asheville, NC
- Leicester Grocery and Garden in Leicester, NC
- 67 Biltmore Downtown Eatery in Asheville, NC
- HomeGrown in Asheville, NC
- Biltmore’s DeerPark Restaurant in Asheville, NC
Asheville Dairy 