Pure Country

“Most people would never know that there’s a working farm in Peabody,” says Ted Dunajski from his office on an overcast June day — a working dairy farm, that is.

Dunajski Dairy lies at the end of Buxton Lane, a small, uphill road jutting out of Pulaski Street. Save for the delivery trucks parked adjacent to a barn, the farm would be perfectly concealed by the surrounding, residential neighborhood. And it should. It’s been there for almost a century.

Ted Dunajski’s grandfather founded the Dunajski Dairy around 1915. Starting with just one cow, he was able to slowly build the business by making door-to-door deliveries, a practice which the dairy continued until 1978. According to Dunajski, they were one of several dairies in the area, but were the only one with their own cows.

When his grandfather died, operation of the dairy fell to Dunajski’s father and grandmother, but Dunajski started helping as soon as possible.

“As soon as I could, I started helping out. I remember helping out on deliveries when I was ten,” says Dunajski. “It’s something that I’ve been around all my life and something that I very much wanted to be a part of.”

He got his chance, and eventually took over from his father and grandmother. He’s grown the dairy, but is cautious about over expansion.

“Now it’s a lot more than what my grandfather had, but it’s still small by today’s standard, and that’s the way we want to keep it,” says Dunajski.

The dairy now consists of 10 employees and 170 head of cattle, 100 of which are milking cows. In addition to milk production, the facility has one day set aside for the production of other beverages, including lemonade, iced tea, fruit punch, orange juice and water. In total, they produce roughly 10,000 gallons per week.

Once bottled, products are delivered under the “Pure Country” brand to customers from Beverly to Boston, with the largest concentration in Salem, Lynn and Peabody. Having these loyal, local customers has greatly helped the dairy in these economic times.

“The milk is here, the cows are here, the customers are here,” says Dunajski. “Margins are smaller now, but we manage.”

Farm operation continues normally in the winter. Feed is grown at several fields in Massachusetts owned by Dunajski. Once harvested it is processed with other grains they purchased and stored in the summer to be used up in the winter, with production from the cows remaining relatively unchanged.

“It’s all about cow comfort,” laughs Dunajski. “Cows are cold weather animals, so it’s easy to keep them comfortable and healthy year-round.”

In keeping with family tradition, Dunajski’s son, Mike, and daughter, Christine, play integral rolls in the operation of the dairy. Christine oversees the handling of the cows, while Mike heads up operation of the processing and bottling plant, leaving their father in charge of the deliveries.

“We make a good team,” says Dunajski. “If I had one wish, it’d be that my grandmother could see this. She’d probably yell at me for making it so big, but she’d be happy that my kids and are carrying it on.”

Dunajski admits that most of the profit made from the dairy goes right back into maintaining the business. For him, though, his work means far more to him than money.

“We take pride in our product,” says Dunajski. “Whenever people go out of their way to compliment us, that’s the best feeling in the world.”