Holy cow! Hahn's Dairy in Palmerton is 45 years old.

The founders, Hahn brothers Roger (Rocky) and Dean are going to party till the cows come home. Well, they do that every day. That's because they love what they do and can't imagine doing anything else.They grew up on the farm that their parents, Mary and Alvin Hahn bought in 1947. Mary loved cows and milked them before she got her six children ready for school and then drove school bus, which she did for 42 years. She instilled her love of cows in sons Rocky and Dean.They became full-time farmers after they graduated from Palmerton High School, opening Hahn's Dairy Store on Sept. 17, 1969, selling their own milk, bottling it themselves in returnable glass jugs, which they still do today.They own 38 cows and bottle on-site about 475 half gallons of homogenized and pasteurized milk three times a week.The Hahns sell their half gallons of milk for $1.85. They make whole and skim milk."And we make the best chocolate milk," says Dean of their own extra creamy recipe, developed by the brothers' partner, Roger Jr.Other items the Hahns make are orange juice, orange drink and iced tea. They sell their own sweet corn in season, locally made apple cider, locally grown potatoes, eggs, fresh baked goods and Leiby's ice cream, along with some other items."All our products are quality. That's why we went to glass bottles," says Dean. "Not all milk tastes the same. You have to taste ours to know it's the best."CustomersDean says he notices that many of their customers are younger families."They are interested in giving their families good-tasting milk, and the kids love coming to see the cows," he says."We've had parents say they have children who are lactose intolerant but can drink our milk," says full-time store employee Vicki Koch."There are no hormones in our cows. We never used them and never will," says Dean of the Bovine Somatotropin hormone that many other dairy farms use to stimulate milk production.Some of their customers have been coming to the store for years."My husband won't drink store-bought milk so we come every week. It's the best milk around," says Debbie Green of Palmerton.Lois Haydt of Kunkletown agrees."It's so good. You can't buy anything in the store that's as good as fresh dairy milk," she says.And that's moo-sic to the Hahns' ears.Changes over timeThe Hahns have seen many changes in dairy farming over the past 45 years."Well, it got harder. We're getting older," says Dean, 63. Rocky is 68."Bigger farms have gone to robots to milking their cows. We have a milking parlor where we milk our cows twice a day, at 3 a.m. and 3 p.m. After every milking, the cows go out to pasture because people look for grass-fed cows. Plus we do it for their health. And it's cooler. In the summer time, they like to lay in a nice shady area to chew their cud," says Dean.The Hahns grow their own corn, 36 acres of it. Another change they've seen over the years is 10 years ago, farmers used a four-row planter, and today it has gone up to a 12-row planter."We plant corn for silage, and this year is one of our best corn crops in 45 years. At a corn meeting last week, we learned that this will be a bumper crop for Pennsylvania," says Dean.There have been changes in the hay crop."Everyone used to make small bales of hay. But it has gotten harder to get workers to help bale it so they've gone to larger bales, approximately 600-700 pounds per bale. They're picked up with a front loader. We still make small bales of hay," says Dean.Computers are a part of the farm. It's used to tabulate daily how much feed each cow receives based on the amount of pounds of milk it gives a day. It lets the Ration Master II System know which cow is at the station by a microchip in its collar.Dean says 35 years ago dairy farmers got about $10-$11 per 100 pounds of milk. Today they get $28 per 100.A sign of the times is the closing of dairies due to the economy and young people who don't want to take on the 24/7, 365-days-a-year job.There are only four dairies in Carbon County and one in Monroe County."You have to love what you do. To run a dairy farm, you have to be here every day. Cows don't take a day off," says Dean.But they appear to be a contented lot, maybe due to the brothers' keen sense of humor and the serenading Dean does while milking.The futureWhat does the future hold for Hahn's Dairy?"We'll keep it going. I'm looking forward to our 50th anniversary," says Rocky.Roger Jr. works with his dad and uncle, doing what he can even though he suffered a massive left hemisphere stroke in 2008. His sons, Justin, 15, and Ty, 13, both love the farm as much as their dad, grandfather and uncle and plan to become farmers, too."I think it would be wonderful if Hahn's Dairy made it to 100 years old," says Rocky.Dean nods his head and grins in agreement.Got milk?No?Well then maybe you better make a trip to Hahn's Dairy Store today, because, milk "does a body good."The store and farm is located at 1770 Hahn's Dairy Road. The hours are 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday-Friday and 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. The phone number is 610-826-3720.