About Us

Our Farm Story

The idea of milking a small heard of Jerseys and doing on-farm processing had been a dream of the Graybill family for many years. After years of research, planning, building and many, many inspections, we sold our first container of yogurt at the Stephenson County Farmer’s Market, in Freeport, IL in July 2019.
Deerland Dairy is owned and operated by the Graybill family. Doug and Kris reside on the farm in rural Freeport, IL and two of their three children, Paul and Kayla, live nearby with their families. Every family member plays a part in the day-to-day activities on the farm and in the dairy processing plant. Doug and Paul have built the processing plant from the ground up. They have spent many hours researching and studying to ensure that all state and federal requirement are met. Kris manages many of our store and restaurant deliveries and can be found every Saturday at the Woodstock Farmer’s Market. Kayla, along with her sister, Shelly, who lives in Florida, manages the social media accounts and handles emails and pretty much anything online. Toby, Kayla’s husband, helps out in the processing plant and ensures that everything is cleaned and sanitized before it’s time to make yogurt. And while we all have our preferred jobs, we all jump in and help wherever needed.
Doug and Kris’s four grandchildren also enjoy helping out on the farm. They can often be found helping in the barn, feeding calves or just riding their bikes in the driveway. They are also great taste-testers for any new flavors of yogurt!