On-Farm Cheese Plant Turns Milk Into Money

On-Farm Cheese Plant Turns Milk Into Money 29-5-7 Mike Gingrich, his partner Dan Patenaude, and their wives knew the milk from their 160-cow grass-fed dairy was an excellent product. They just needed to find a premium market for it. Today, the 2-family partnership sells about 30 percent of their milk as specialty cheese and grosses at least five times what they make selling it as milk. "I remembered old cheese makers talking about the best milk for cheese was in the spring when cows were first on pasture," says Gingrich. "With intensive grazing, we are giving cows the equivalent of spring grass throughout much of the season. I thought we might have an opportunity to sell our milk as a specialty product instead of as a commodity product." Going from selling milk to selling cheese is not for everyone, nor can it be done overnight. Gingrich started out by researching types of cheese. He then ordered samples and, with the help of friends, they selected a French cheese called Beaufort. He then turned to the Center for Dairy Research at the University of Wisconsin and to Cedar Grove, a local cheese plant. With their help, he developed "make" procedures or recipes to try and duplicate the Beaufort. He made 8 variations at Cedar Grove, aged them in his basement for about four months and then picked the best tasting one. At the same time, Gingrich was working at Cedar Grove full time. Wisconsin requires a cheese maker have an 18-month apprenticeship before selling cheese. In 2000, Uplands Cheese Company (the farm's cheese company name) made 6,000 lbs. of cheese. Gingrich began selling the cheese, which the partners had named Pleasant Ridge Reserve. "I went to a few farmer's markets and took samples to stores for tasting sessions," he says. "I figured the best way to learn the market was to get out and work with customers." Gingrich was able to dedicate the needed time to making and selling cheese only because his wife and partners were working with the cows. He admits they had no idea how much time it would take. "If you haven't marketed a product to the public before, don't underestimate the time it takes to do the selling and customer service," says Gingrich. "You can have someone else make the cheese and sell it, but then you lose control of quality." The cheese is made in rounds and has to be aged in a cave-like environment. Each round is rubbed with salt for two days and then turned by hand and washed with brine at intervals of one to five days. "It takes a lot of hard work to get it to age right," explains Gingrich. The partners decided to retail it at around $20/lb., comparable to similar handcrafted cheeses. This meant finding stores and restaurants with clients who would pay the relatively higher price. Hard work and good fortune paid off when Gingrich entered a wheel of cheese in the 2001 American Cheese Society Contest (ACSC), one of two major national cheese judging events. Pleasant Ridge Reserve was judged the best cheese. In 2003, the cheese won top honors at the other top national show, the U.S. Cheese Championship. That made Pleasant Ridge Reserve the only cheese to ever capture both titles. This year, it again captured top honors at the ACSC. Each year for the past five years, Uplands Cheese has expanded production of the cheese to an expected 60,000 lbs. this year. Most of the cheese is made in the spring and the fall. Cheese sales start in October. Cheese unsold by spring is held over and sold as premium 18-month "aged" cheese. "It is too hot to ship the cheese in the summer by UPS, so we take orders for fall delivery," explains Gingrich. "I always give past customers for the aged cheese first opportunity, and for the past three years, I haven't taken on a new account. Past customers take all we have." With the confidence built from gradual expansion and selling out every year's increased production, the partners made a major investment by building a cheese plant on the farm. Instead of hauling milk to Cedar Grove, raw milk is pumped through a pipe from the milk house to the cheese plant a

To read the rest of this story, download this issue below or click here to register with your account number.