The Field Guideby Moss & MarrowThe Field Guideby Moss & Marrow
Rauwe melk: de Nederlandse pagina met melktappen per provincie →
This page is The Field Guide's list of dairy farms in the Netherlands selling their own raw milk, farm cheese, butter and yoghurt, each one checked by us and grouped by province. Milk, cream, butter, yoghurt and farm cheese are on this page when the farm is certified organic or Demeter, or its cows, goats or sheep graze, shown by Weidemelk or a specific statement on the farm's own website. Raw, low-pasteurised and pasteurised milk all qualify, and farm cheese has to be made from the farm's own milk. Herds kept indoors all year aren't included, and we check each animal species separately.
Grazing changes the milk itself: butter and cheese from cows on pasture carry more unsaturated and omega-3 fat than those from cows kept indoors.
105 producers · every one checked against our inclusion criteria
Open on the map →105 producers across 5 provinces, most of them in Utrecht (52), Gelderland (23) and Noord-Holland (18). Each entry opens the producer's own page with what we checked, when we checked it, opening hours and how to buy; the names are listed by province, town by town, and the map lets you search the same list by postcode.
visited by moss & marrowFarm · DoorwerthBeef · cow's milk, butter, cheese · bones & organ meats · veg & fruit · bread & grainYes. Dutch rules allow a dairy farmer to sell raw milk (rauwe melk) directly to the consumer at the farm, with the legally required notice "rauwe melk, voor gebruik koken" (raw milk, boil before use). Raw milk is unpasteurised, which means it has not been heated after milking. We mark it on a listing only when the producer states the milk is raw, and you can find those farms with the raw milk filter.
Raw milk is sold at the farm, usually from a farm shop or a melktap (a farm's self-service milk vending machine). The raw milk filter on our map shows the farms whose own website or packaging states that the milk is raw, and each listing gives the opening hours and how to buy where the farm publishes them. Bring your own bottle if the listing says the farm allows it.
A melktap is a farm's self-service milk vending machine, usually in a shed or farm shop, where you fill a bottle with fresh milk from the farm's own cows and pay by card or coin. A melktap can sell raw, low-pasteurised or pasteurised milk, so check the sign on the machine or the listing. Many let you bring your own bottle, and some sell refill bottles next to the tap.
Raw milk (rauwe melk) has not been heated after milking. Pasteurised milk has been heated to kill bacteria, and low-pasteurised milk (laag gepasteuriseerd) has been heated at the lower end of that range. All three are included in the Field Guide when the cows graze or the farm is certified organic, because our criteria for milk are about how the animals are kept, not how the milk is treated. How we mark raw milk.
Yes. Boerenkaas (farmhouse cheese) is a protected traditional speciality in the EU: it must be made on the farm from raw milk, mostly the farm's own. Raw milk alone doesn't get a cheese into the Field Guide, though. Farm cheese is included when it is made from the farm's own milk and the cows graze or the farm is certified organic, and cheese bought in from elsewhere isn't included. Browse farm milk and dairy.
Cow's milk contains a protein called beta-casein, which comes in two main types, A1 and A2. Most cow's milk contains both; A2 milk comes from cows that produce only the A2 type, which a farm establishes by testing its herd. Goat's and sheep's milk contain no A1 beta-casein, so they are A2 by nature. We mark cow's milk as A2 only when the farm states its herd is A2, and never infer it from the breed.
Some Dutch dairy farms keep an A2 herd and sell the milk at the farm, often from a melktap (a farm's self-service milk vending machine). Our A2 cow's milk filter shows farms that state their herd is A2. A second filter, All A2 milk, adds goat's and sheep's milk, which are A2 by nature, and each listing names the animal so you know what you will find there.
Weidemelk (pasture milk) is milk from cows that graze outdoors for part of the year, under a standard set by Stichting Weidegang: at least 120 days a year for at least six hours a day. In the Field Guide, the Weidemelk mark or a specific statement from the farm about grazing is enough for its milk to be included, whether or not the farm is certified organic. Our criteria for milk.
SKAL is the Dutch inspection body for organic farming, and an organic (biologisch) farm must hold an EU organic certificate checked by SKAL. EKO is a Dutch organic label, and Demeter is the international biodynamic standard, which asks more than organic, for example that the whole farm is converted. We check every organic claim in the EU organic register and Demeter's register, and the register decides when it disagrees with a website. How we check organic status.
Beter Leven is the animal welfare label of the Dierenbescherming (the Dutch society for the protection of animals), with one to three stars. For dairy, 2 stars requires the cows to be outside at least 150 days a year. Most farms that sell direct don't have the label, so it isn't a filter on our map; where a producer has it, the listing shows the stars. Beter Leven in the Field Guide.
Milk, butter, cream and yoghurt are included when the farm is certified organic or Demeter, carries the Weidemelk mark, or states specifically that its animals graze. Farms whose cows are kept indoors all year aren't included. We check each animal species separately, so a farm can be listed for its cow's milk and not yet for its goat's milk. The full criteria are on our inclusion criteria page.
Growth hormones are banned for all farm animals in the EU, and since January 2022 EU law (Regulation 2019/6) bans preventive antibiotics for groups of animals, so every Dutch dairy farm complies. Treating a sick animal is still allowed, organic farms included. Because the law already covers both, they aren't part of our criteria; we look at grazing and outdoor access instead. Farm milk and dairy on the map.