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John F. Oncken: Cheese, cows and cubes: an update

John F. Oncken  —  8/29/2008 12:20 pm

Readers of this column continue to be curious, especially about the people, businesses and plans written about last month, last year, years ago. So, again we look back and revisit people who told us their stories.

In November 2006, we met Josh and Carla Erickson, who manage Silver-Lewis Cheese Co-op in Green County. The cheese factory had only 12 dairy farmers sending milk to the tiny operation and those farmers were small in size, with 25 to 110 cows in their herds. (The biggest dairy cooperative in the U.S. claims over 18,000 farmer members, who produce 34 percent of the nation's milk.)

Silver-Lewis Co-op has been around since 1897, making it the second-oldest farmer cooperative in Wisconsin. As a "true" cooperative, the dairy farmer patrons own the building and the cheesemaker owns the milk processing equipment and makes and markets the cheese and by-products.

Unlike most dairy processing operations, the business owners are full-time cheesemakers working long days in the factory making cheese and cleaning the equipment to get ready for the next vat of milk that will become muenster, brick or farmers cheese that ultimately finds its way to customers on the east coast.

There are no fancy offices, big computers or executive perks at Silver-Lewis, just hard work, satisfaction in producing a quality product and pride in turning a profit in a very competitive business.

A big change is taking place at this tiny cheese factory nestled into a steep hill east of Monticello. A major building addition has been built that will soon provide a bigger "make room," more cold storage and two 7,000-gallon whey storage tanks.

The building part was easy -- once the process of carving away a hundred feet or so of a solid limestone hill was completed. A new 18,000-pound cheese vat is being made at Darlington Dairy Supply and when it comes it will join two 10,000 pound vats already in use. Having the added capacity will allow them to make more cheese in a shorter span of time and to take Sundays off.

Why did they decide to do it?

"So maybe our family can have a life," Erickson says. "We recently added three farmers as members and our market for the old fashioned muenster, brick, cheddar and farmer cheeses is growing. "

Oh yes, another move is being planned: The Ericksons are working with the Dairy Business Innovation Center to fashion a label for their cheese that is sold locally and at the factory (Call 608-938-4813 for cheese).

Silver-Lewis Cheese Co-op will stay small; its members and the Ericksons want it that way. The building addition was probably due -- the last major remodeling was in 1948. And the cheese will continue to be in demand as it has for 111 years.

Edelweiss Creamery

Another cheese factory that dates back to the late 1800s, long known as Town Hall Cheese, then as Prima Kase, is located a few miles west of Monticello. The then-vacant facility underwent a major remodeling change two years ago when it was sold and assumed a new name.

On June 10, 2006, three dairy farmers who yearned to market the milk from their pasture-grazed cows formed Edelweiss Graziers Co-op and purchased the little cheese factory and renamed it Edelweiss Creamery.

They hooked up with master cheesemaker Bruce Workman and marketers Jeff Wideman and Shirley Knox of Monroe to get their milk from pastured cows to the public.

Two years later, one of the original farmer members has left the co-op and three new farms were added. Bert Paris of Belleville remains president of the cooperative and is pleased with the decision to purchase the factory. Workman has earned Master Cheesemaker certification for two additional varieties, Emmental and Specialty Swiss, and Wideman is optimistic about cheese sales as consumers learn more about the benefits of cheese made from the milk of rotationally grazed cows. (For cheese, call 608-938-4094).

Voegli Farms

Three years ago, Voegli Farms of Monticello hosted a Green County dairy modernization tour to show off the new freestall barn that had been built on this internationally known Brown Swiss dairy. Bryan Voegli admitted it took a lot of thinking and planning to make the move away from the historic tie stall barn to a freestall building where the cows run free.

He said to visitors during the tour that "it wasn't easy to make the change but since the change, everything is better including herd health, cow comfort, breeding and milk production."

The logical follow-up to the new barn was a milking parlor, as the cows were still being milked in the old dairy barn meaning that considerable labor was involved. Voegli admitted he was considering the parlor idea but that he was "taking one step at a time."

That next big step came to fruition this week on Tuesday evening when the 150 Brown Swiss cows were milked for the first time in the new BouMatic Double 8 milking parlor.

Bryan and Jim Voegli and a host of employees admit they "learned a lot" from that first milking. By Wednesday evening, things had gotten a bit better, but there were as many as a dozen people in the milking pit and holding area guiding the cows into the parlor and out.

"There is so much for all of us -- the cows and the people -- to learn," Bryan Voegli says. "But we'll get there and I'm sure in a few weeks we'll be happy with the new set up."

Interestingly, one of the people working (and getting real dirty from moving cows) at the third milking was David Kammel, a University of Wisconsin-Madison biological systems engineer who had worked with the Voeglis in planning the project.

"I took vacation and came down to help," Kammel says. "I just had to see the project through."

The Voeglis old, white dairy barn looks the same from the highway but instead of tie stalls, dividers and gutters there is a very modern milking parlor. Things do change over time!

PFC Company

In September 2005, you read about beef farmer Mike Sulzer of Monticello, and his pet food processing plant. Sulzer was packaging two-inch hay cubes from Montana into little plastic bags for pet food (gerbils, hamsters, rabbits and other small animals) for Kaytee Products of Chilton.

Three years later, Sulzer's PFC Company continues to package a variety of timothy and alfalfa hay cubes for Kaytee.

"I was looking for a slowdown in sales because of the slow economy, " he says. "So far that hasn't happened. "

Instead of using hay from Montana, Sulzer now purchases hay cubes from Idaho because the quality is better. And his dozen part-time employees continue to convert hay to pet food thereby keeping a lot of pets and their owners happy.

For people who perceive agriculture as staid, routine and never changing, think again. Agriculture and farming is a very dynamic world. You just have to take a close-up look.

John Oncken is owner of Oncken Communications, a Madison-based agricultural information and consulting company. He can be reached at 608-222-0624.

John F. Oncken  —  8/29/2008 12:20 pm