Dairy Processing - November/December 2024 - 22

Jesus Hurtado (left) and
Dirk Reitsma, owners of
Suntado LLC.
Reitsma has continued to build upon the legacy
established by his father. He remains the owner
and manager of Sunrise Organic Dairy.
Under Reitsma's leadership, Sunrise Organic
Dairy is one of the country's largest organic
milk-producing farms, yielding approximately
400,000 lbs of organic milk daily. The farm
encompasses two state-of-the-art milking barns,
5,500 acres and a herd of 5,500 cows.
Sunrise Organic Dairy is home to a team
of 100 employees and Reitsma's approach to
dairy farming has earned him certifications in
Organic, non-GMO and Validus, for producing
milk to the highest standards.
Big-D Construction
began building the
Burley, Idaho, plant in
August 2022.
Hurtado came to the US from Mexico as a
teenager and began milking on dairy farms in
Idaho. In his 20s, he found work as a milker on
one of John Reitsma's dairy farms. John helped
Hurtado buy his first dozen milking cows and
housed them with the farm's dairy herd. John
saw potential in Hurtado and moved him to a
herd manager on the farm before eventually
encouraging him to start his own dairy. John
was an early investor in Hurtado when he struck
out on his own.
Today, he manages his own dairy, Hurtado
Dairy, which produces 2 million lbs of
conventional milk daily. The operation has eight
advanced milking barns and houses a herd of
28,000 cows. Spanning 5,000 acres, the dairy has
more than 300 employees.
With a commitment to maintaining high
standards, Hurtado is FARMS Certified,
signifying a dedication to responsible and
ethical practices.
When John passed away in 2019 at the age
of 71, the two dairymen took over where he left
off. Now Hurtado, Dirk and their dairy futures
are intertwined through their co-investment in
Suntado.
BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE
Suntado officially registered as an LLC in
January 2022 and the planning and design of the
Suntado plant began 15 months before the team
broke ground.
In January 2023, the foundation was poured,
and framing began in June 2023. Construction
was completed in April 2024. However, the work
didn't stop there, as commissioning, certification
and initial production runs still needed to
be completed.
Suntado hired architecture and design
firm E.A. Bonelli, RSP Design and Big-D
Construction, among other partners,
to design, engineer and build the
state-of-the-art facility.
Like many other food and
beverage facilities built after
the pandemic, Suntado faced
significant supply chain challenges
during the construction process.
However, with the help of Big-D
Construction, they successfully
overcame these obstacles and
22 NOV-DEC 2024 | DAIRYPROCESSING.COM
Suntafo, Big-D Construction

http://www.DAIRYPROCESSING.COM

Dairy Processing - November/December 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Dairy Processing - November/December 2024

Dairy Processing - November/December 2024 - Intro
Dairy Processing - November/December 2024 - 1
Dairy Processing - November/December 2024 - 2
Dairy Processing - November/December 2024 - 3
Dairy Processing - November/December 2024 - 4
Dairy Processing - November/December 2024 - 5
Dairy Processing - November/December 2024 - 6
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