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The final stretch of road leading to Sassy Cow Creamery‘s production facility outside of Madison, WI is long and flanked by rolling farm fields and the occasional rural home. The few businesses along the way are a tavern, a used car lot and a gentleman’s club. To jaded city slickers and coastal residents (Midwesterners like to call them “Coasties”), this is textbook flyover territory — but if you love cheese on your eggs, butter on your pancakes or cream in your coffee, the region serves a distinctively noble purpose.
Wisconsin’s epithet — “America’s Dairyland” — is well deserved. The state produces a quarter of the United States’ cheese supply and 14 percent of the country’s milk supply, making it number one in cheese production in the US and number two in milk production behind California. The state is home to 11,490 dairy farms and 1.27 million dairy cows. In a state that prides itself on its glowing dairy industry, it takes something special to stand out above the rest.
Brothers James and Robert Baerwolf started Sassy Cow Creamery in 2008. The two had an extensive background in dairy framing: They were third-generation dairy farmers, working the land their grandfather bought in 1946. Adding a creamery to the business seemed like the logical next step. “We looked at it as another way to grow the business besides just adding cattle numbers,” says James. “We were at a good point in our farming careers to do so.” $1.5 million dollars later, the Baerwolf’s had their new milk-processing and bottling facility.
The shift from simply farming to farming and production came with its share of difficulties. “The biggest challenge to starting was the lack of information we had going into it,” says James. “We had considerable experience in dairying but no knowledge of processing.” Working out a successful business and distribution strategy was a challenge, as well. “The second-biggest challenge was just making people aware of who you are and what you do,” he adds.
But there are some serious benefits to small, family-owned operations like Sassy Cow. Traditionally, milk production facilities and dairy farms are separate entities. The production companies pick up the raw milk from these farms before actual processing begins. But Sassy Cow’s production facilities and farms are under the same ownership and are within spitting distance of each other. “We try to focus on bottling the freshest milk we can,” says James. “Since we own our own cows and they are right next to the creamery, many times we can be bottling the morning milking from the cows that afternoon.”