all about being a goat cheese farmer

7/29/2019 All About Being a Goat Cheese Farmer

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The Art of Creating a GoatCheese Business

A North Central Initiative Small FarmProfitability Case Study

By Carol Doeden and Marilyn Schlake

Copyright 2004, UNL Center for Applied Rural Innovation

Farmers Market customer looks over FantomeFarms goat cheese products.


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Contact Information

About the North Central Initiative for Small Farm ProfitabilityThe North Central Initiative for Small Farm Profitability is a four-state, multi-institutional, farm-to-fork effort designed to improve the profitability and competitive-ness of small and mid-size farms in Nebraska and the Midwest. This initiative bringstogether a unique and powerful blend of farmers, food and social scientists, market-ers, extension educators, economists and others who are attempting to identify, adapt

and apply practical, science-based, market-driven strategies that work.

Partners include the University of Nebraskas Center for Applied Rural Innovation(CARI) and Department of Food Science and Technology/Food Processing Center,Iowa State University, University of Missouri, University of Wisconsin, the Center forRural Affairs in Nebraska, Practical Farmers of Iowa, and the Michael Fields Agricul-tural Institute in Wisconsin. The initiative is funded by a three-year grant from theU.S. Department of Agriculture.

For more information, Joan Scheel, Lead Food Consultant, Food Processing Center,University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 62 Filley Hall, Lincoln, NE, 68583, telephone:402.472.8852 or e-mail: [email protected].

About the Case StudiesMore than 40 case studies will be developed in the four-state region, including 26 inNebraska. The case studies will focus on new generation cooperatives, networks formarketing high value crops and livestock, production and cooperative arrangementsthat increase the farmers share of food system profits, community support of smalland mid-size operations, successful capital transfer strategies that benefit both begin-ning and senior farmers, on-farm diversification, and successful use of the Internet byfarmers and small rural businesses to market products.

About the AuthorsCarol Lee Doeden is a freelance writer located in rural Nebraska. She has written forseveral rural newspapers and presently freelances for diverse governmental and non-profit organizations as well as writing and photographing part-time reporter for The

VOICE News, of Hickman, NE. Carol can be reached [email protected] Schlake is the Associate Director for the NebraskaEDGE Program, located atthe Center for Applied Rural Innovation, University of Nebraska. She is co-author andeditor of the Tilling the Soil of Opportunity: NxLeveLTM Guide for Agricultural En-trepreneurs. Marilyn can be reached at [email protected], telephone: 402.472.4138.

UNL Center for Applied Rural Innovation Page 2

Fantome Farm6378 Rosy Lane

Ridgeway, WI 53582

Phone/Fax: 608.924.1266Owners: Anne Topham and Judy Borree

[email protected]://www.fantomefarm.com

Buckwheat Acres7253 Highway 45 NorthThree Lakes, WI 54562

Phone: 715.546.3735Owner: Sara [email protected]


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Table of Contents

Page

Introduction 4

Fantome Farm: Pioneers in Goat Cheese 4

Production 4

Marketing 5

Goals/Philosophy 5

Buckwheat Acres: A Northwoods Goat Haven 5

Milking Parlor 6

Innovative Cheese House 7

Goals/Philosophy 7

Marketing 8

Products 9

Goat Herd Management 9

Organic Goats? 10

Licensing and Inspections 10

Business Roadblocks 11

Conclusion 11

Appendix:

Buckwheat Acres Profit & Loss 12

On-line Resources 14


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Introduction

Raising goats and manufacturinggoat cheese are viable ways to

create a value-added productfrom farming. Profitability fromthe sale of farmstead goat cheesecan be limited by how the opera-tion is equipped and staffed, andwhat the current local or regionalmarket will bear.

The reality ofcheesemakingis that, whilethe craft can bea great deal of

fun, it must beapproachedlike a businessor it will notsupport thefarm. Successdemands par-ticipation byfamily mem-bers or plannedstaff. Theamount oftime, energyand thought devoted to the cheesecan be considerable.

Working with goats can be verydemanding. Does must be milkedtwice a day. The collected milkmust be processed (pasteurized,chilled, fed to pigs or other ani-mals, or discarded) immediately.All the farm animals must be fedand their stalls cleaned on a dailybasis.

Goats often need help birthing

their young. If they are dairygoats they must be handledeasily as their kids are takenfrom their mothers immediately.The kids are then fed -- every fewhours, day and night while

their mothers are milked.When enough milk has been col-lected for the fresh cheese, theamount of time needed to make

the cheese and still accomplishthe daily chores of feeding andmilking is greater than one per-son can do alone.

Two Wisconsin examples follow.One is an odyssey of 21 years,

the other arelativelynew venturein its sixthyear. Whenit comes to

selling alarge volumeof cheesewholesaleversussmaller vol-ume andselling directretail to cus-tomer, retailappears to bemore profit-able. These

two stories and their related is-sues and goals, are representativeof the range of goat-raising andcheese-making efforts on a fam-ily farm.

Fantome Farm:Pioneers in Goat Cheese

Hilly, curving Rosy Lane inlargely rural Ridgeway, Wiscon-sin, winds through trees, besidebright horse pastures, picturesquehouses and past flowing streams.

The valley below Fantome Farmand the layered hills beyondspread out for miles.

The tiny, single-story house hasan attached cheese house. Across

the yard and above the house is ahand-built goat barn with milkingparlor. A fenced pasture containstwo or three horses and a couple

of elderly goats, retirees, whowill live out their remaining timeon the farm, beloved animals ofAnne Topham and Judy Borree.

In 1982, Anne and Judy pur-chased the farm in southwesternWisconsin and acquired their firstdairy goats. Anne visited LauraChanel of California, an Ameri-can pioneer in goat cheese pro-duction, to learn the craft ofmanufacturing French cheese

(chevre). The cheese house andgoat barn were constructed andlicensed. Ann and Judy becamecertified cheesemakers, and did alot of experimenting and testing.

We didnt sell the goat cheeseuntil 1984, Anne explained.We couldnt test it or take it tostores until we were legal.

ProductionIt takes three days for Anne to

make fresh cheese. On the firstday, the goat milk is pasteurized,then blended with cheese cultureand rennet, and allowed to sit for16 to 20 hours, depending on itsmood, Anne said.

Day two, the curdling cheese isdipped or hand ladled into drain-ing cloths and left to drain out thewhey.

The third day, the cheese is readyto divide into several large rec-

tangular pans, have salt and otherassorted flavorings added. It isthen packaged and refrigerateduntil market the immediate Satur-day.

Curious Kids at the Fantome Farm


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By itself, the goats milk cheeseis very light and mild, sweeterthan cows milk cream cheese,less tart than cows milk yogurt.

Anne mixes her cheeses withfreshly chopped chives pickedfrom her garden, with garlic, aspecial pepper or with thyme.Others are treated on the outsidewith a mixture of ash (activatedcharcoal) and salt.

The ash and salt change the pHlevel of the surface of the cheese.Any time you change one thingabout the cheese, you get a differ-ent cheese, Anne explained.

One special way Anne preparescheese is to place a pair of thecarefully shaped, six-ouncerounds of cheese in a glass jarfilled with olive oil and a fewcarefully chosen herbs. Storing

the cheese this way is traditional,from France, Anne said. If re-frigerated, the cheese can last ayear. Over time, the oil penetratesthe cheese a little, adding to theflavor. After the cheese is eaten,the oil makes a great vinaigrette.

Yes, the oil affects the flavor ofthe cheese, Anne said, but its ahappy combination, where thesum is greater than the parts.

MarketingAnne and Judy take the goatcheeses to the Madison FarmersMarket on Saturday mornings.By 6 a.m. they have set up thelarge green and white FantomeFarm tent on the southwest cor-ner of the State Capitol buildingsquare. The Madison FarmersMarket averaged 18,000 visitorseach week.

After a try at making cheeses forvarious stores and restaurantsacross the Midwest, Anne andJudy decided to sell primarily atthe Farmers Market. They foundthey were not making any moremoney, and the demands of thevarious companies were toostressful. Anne will occasionallyship the cheese, or show hercheese at a different event ormarket. A neighbor may make aprivate purchase, but otherwise,

their cheese remains a well-keptsecret. We have no desire to bethe Kraft Foods of the goatcheese world, Anne said.

Goals/PhilosophyAnne & Judys goals for the busi-ness were modest. Originally,they wanted the cheese to supportthem so they could live on thefarm. Rather than go into debt,they substituted their labor forcapital. After about a decade,Judy resumed full-time counsel-ing work but still helps out on thefarm when she can. A local li-censed cheesemaker is availableto help make cheese in thecheeserie, and to do the milkingand clean-up, covering busyweekend days. Anne said the

cheese, at the volume she makesit, supports one person living offthe farm income.

The bottom line, for me, is ex-cellence, Anne said. My prod-uct had to be as excellent as pos-sible. Now, I dont know if it wassmart [financially] for me tothink that way. We essentiallylost money for a long time whilewe were developing our market[and not charging enough moneyfor the product]. Because of the

way we did it, [today] I really cancharge for the cheese what it isworth. I milk 10 goats, focus ex-clusively on the Farmers Market,and make more money than if Ihad a bigger customer base.

Buckwheat Acres:Northwoods Goat Haven

Buckwheat Acres is named forthe nineteenth-century, short-lived village of Buckwheat, for-merly located on some of thesame land as Tom and Sara Bre-desens farm. Buckwheat, thetown, fronted the same Wiscon-sin State Route 45, now headingnorth out of Three Lakes, Wis-consin. The house Tom and Saralive in is the surviving one of apair of houses built in the late1800s for the owners/managers

Anne Topham preparescheese rounds.

Fresh, soft chevre with a touchof dill is one of FantomeFarms best selling cheeses.


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of a lumber company that sprangup briefly to harvest the trees inthe region. The Bredesensbought the current 11-acre farm

in 1985 and have since enlargedand renovated the old house.

Buckwheat Acres is the only li-censed dairy of any type inOneida County. Sara Bredesen,50, is the owner and licensedcheesemaker, while Tom hasnon-stop duties with the schooldistrict, and his own summertimesideline business, raising bees.Tom is not involved in Sarasgoat business. The pair joke

about theirs being the land of(goats) milk and (bees) honey.

Sara raised and showed goats foryears. About 18 years ago, Saraattended a Wisconsin Dairy As-sociation field day at FantomeFarm. She met Anne Topham,and was impressed with Anne

and Judy Borrees work withgoats, as well as with their supe-rior goat cheese.

Anne is the person who gave methe inspiration to make my own

cheese, Sara said. I was veryimpressed that they could do it.

It was the Wisconsin Dairy Arti-

san Network (WDAN), of whichAnne Topham is president, thathelped Sara get started on herdream of a cheesemaking busi-ness. The WDAN has the goal oftrying to help small and mediumsized dairies not reinvent thewheel by providing starting andcontinuing education.

Sara obtained a grant from theWisconsin Department of Agri-cultural Trade and Consumer

Protection. Her ADD(Agriculture Development andDiversity) grant of $32,000helped Sara research potentialgoat milk supplies and cheesefactories in Northern Wisconsin.From her research, Sara discov-ered the region had a potential for64,000 lbs. of goat milk. Grantfunding also helped Sara developa prototype cheese plant, ofwhich plans are available forresearch.

In Feb. 2001, Sara traveled toFrance, sponsored by UniversityExtension Service, Country To-day magazine and The WisconsinDepartment of Agriculture Centerfor Dairy Research. She visiteddairies, and learned about value-added agriculture in France. Shecontinues her ongoing studiesabout the latest in dairy goatsthrough the University of Wis-consins Center for Dairy Re-search.

Milking ParlorSaras large barn is divided intoseveral large pens, floored withclean straw. On the south side isa long, narrow room with a con-

crete floor, washable walls, andtwo waist-high ledges where thegoats are fed and milked. To keepher in place, each goat puts her

head through a stanchion facing aplastic pan filled with specialfeed. The milking system iscalled herringbone, with six goatson one side and four on the other.Milking is done with a bucketsystem with three units.

Sara uses her own special feedmix of pellets that contain 40percent of the dairy ration, addswhole grains such as corn, oats,black sunflower seeds, plus vita-mins, minerals and molasses.Sara milks 34 does. She hiresoccasional help two to four timesa week, during June through Oc-tober, her market season.

Her milking equipment hasenough hoses to milk two orthree goats at a time. All the milkgoes into a big bulk tank unless itis diverted it into a special pail.Goats that are still producing

Nubian goat ready for milkingat Buckwheat Acres

Sara Bredeson will bottle feeda new born kid, every few

hours, day and night.


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colostrums, for instance, wonthave their milk go into the tank.Instead, it is collected in the pail,taken to the house for pasteuriza-

tion and then fed to the babygoat kids. Sara tests every vat ofmilk for antibiotics before mak-ing cheese, even though shedoesnt use any antibiotics.

The milking equipment is mostlyfor dairy cattle and came fromarea auctions. For less than$200, Sara purchased a vacuumwasher, which washes her equip-ment by sloshing soapy waterfollowed by rinse water back and

forth through the tubes. The al-ternative, a Clean in Placesystem, would have cost her$2,000.

Sara designed a way to move themilk from her bulk tank via a 13-ft., $350 sanitary hose to themilk can, then to the pasteurizer.The system is gravity fed, whichis gentler on the milk. Her proc-ess is easy on the milk, sanitaryand approved. The whey (liquidleft over after the cheese solidscome together) leaves the cheesehouse through a new piping sys-tem to a whey tank outside.From there she can move thewhey to the pigs or spread it onthe garden.

Innovative Cheese HouseWhile designing and buildingher prototype cheese house, Sarawas struck by all the knowledgeshe needed that had nothing todo with milking goats. She

learned electronics and electricalwiring, and how a vacuum pumpworks. She designed her ownbatch pasteurizer, an 800 lb. vat,out of special 3A stainless steelto just fit her height and reach,

and it was approved by the Stateof Wisconsin.

Sara said, if you must buy new

cheesemaking equipment, pur-chasing from restaurant supplyhouses is more economical thandairy specialty businesses. Allplastic needs to be food gradeplastic. Wisconsin has very spe-cific rules about what equipmentis approved. Anyone wanting tobegin this kind of business needsto get to know the inspector andstudy the legal requirements.

To obtain her cheesemaking li-cense, Sara traveled back andforth from the Antigo CheeseCompany where she took herapprenticeship a 100-mileround trip. In spite of being a

self-confident person, when itcame to the final weeks beforeshe was to make cheese, Sarapanicked. Her prescription was togo home and start making cheese.

The quick acceptance of hercheeses has been encouraging.People stop her to tell her theytried and liked one of her

cheeses. A very upscale restau-rant in the resort town of EagleLake asked if they could pur-chase her cheese and mention itby name as an ingredient in theirfood.

Goals / PhilosophySara has two goals, and both areequally important to her:1. Educate others about goatmilk and goat products.2. Make a livable income from

her dairy goats doing what dairygoats do best: produce milk.

Her philosophy is As long asany goats are here on this prop-erty, they will get the best lifepossible.

Although she does not share thedetails of her business plan, itsresults are obvious. The barn andfenced-in paddock are filled withhealthy-looking goats. Her

cheese house is immaculate, lightand airy, with humming equip-ment and an air of purpose andorganization. Everyone in herhousehold, especially anyonewho participates in her operationis cheerful, helpful and busy.

On the other hand, Sara has yet toturn a profit in her absorbing goatadventure. We havent hit ourbreak-even point yet, Sara said.

One factor very much on her side

is that her competition is else-where. Some are in the area gro-cery stores, but most are just inother parts of the state. She is theonly one for quite an area whoeven makes goat cheese, muchless as good a cheese as she does.

Sara Bredesen pours goatmilk into the bulk tanking,ready for processing.


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Another factor is the vacationerswho come up to the Eagle Riverregion. They, as well as thetownsfolk who live there year

round, are all informed buyers.The visitors are often financiallymore upscale than the year-round residents, which basicallymeans they are willing to spendthe money to get the excellentfoods they appreciate, such asSaras goat cheese.

MarketingSara always offers tastes of newor different chesses, and asks thecustomer how he or she will use

the cheese. She has a handout ofrecipes using her goat cheeses.

I truly market my product, shesaid. I do direct marketing withan attractive label. I attract cus-tomers with the look, taste andsmell of the cheese. I pay atten-tion to my own appearance, mybehavior to others, always pre-senting information, and I ask forthe sale.

At the Farmers Market booth(she goes to two different ones),Sara gives samples of the goatcheese to the children and an-other for them to give to theirparents.

Public Radio is another market-ing venue for Sara. She sponsorsa day, usually in the second weekin June. She co-hosts fundraisersand the radio station mentions theavailability of her Garden Goldfree manure as a community ser-vice.

Sara also approaches children bygiving educational programs atschools. She invites home-schooled children out to the farm.

One of her programs is a cheeseevaluation for children from ages6 -12. They are given samples ofa number of kinds of cheeses and

use their five senses to evaluateeach cheese.

She also has programs where sheteaches basic cheesemaking toseniors and children.

One of Saras talents is beingable to read people. Some thinkYuck, its goat. At that point,she will offer another product ortry to get a friend of the potentialcustomer to try the cheese. Some-times she will joke, Lookaround! There are no carcasses.People tried the cheese andlived!

Sara has an answer for commonprotests people have:

I am allergic to goat milk.She offers them a handout onlactose intolerance, which is actu-

ally rare. She explained that theproteins in goats milk aresmaller and digest more easily.

I tried goat cheese once,and its nasty. While some peo-ple have sensitive taste buds, this

is really good goat cheese, Sarawill say.

I just ate, dont have anyroom. She tells the customer to

go work up an appetite and re-turn; often, they do.

I just brushed my teeth.Come back in a little while, shesmiles, wed be glad to see you.

Its too expensive. Sara

answers this common complaintby agreeing with the person.

Yes, you can buy cheapercheese, thats true. However, thisis better. It tastes better and youcan come to our farm and seewhere the cheese is from. Youget more value for your dollar,Sara explains. She prices hercheese by what it costs to make itand the quality the customer isreceiving.

She will market an added sale bysaying things such as Youwanted two, right?

Educating the consumer is one ofSaras main goals, and she doesthis while marketing her productat the same time. A nearby win-ery has her bring samples of her

Goats ready for the milking process. Bredeson goats are milkedtwicedaily.


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products for a wine and cheesetasting party. Sara said that some-times she would bring some ofher animals with her, so people

can know where their food comesfrom.

She is also the director for theWisconsin Dairy Goats Producersorganization. This means everyyear for the Wisconsin State Fair,Sara is in Madison, telling peopleabout goats, goat milk and othergoat products. Although she en-joys working at the State Fair,she also loses 5 days of variousFarmers Markets' income.

Products of BuckwheatAcresSara sells everything she can ofthe goats she loves, because sheknows her success depends onthe financial state of her business.

First and foremost are her goatcheeses.

An unexpected big seller is hercheddar curds. I am the only

person who sells goat milk ched-dar curds, she said.

They can be eaten as a snackfood, making them very popularin the bars and clubs of the touristregion in which she lives. Shealso makes large cheddar rounds;

a four-pound wheel of pressedcheddar, and sells either thewhole wheel or half-poundwedges. She has Asiago-type

cheese, aged about 6 weeks ormore, called Maple Lake Myst,and she sells it for $8.00 a pound.

The rest of her cheeses are varia-tions of the chevre, a fresh, softgoat cheese that originated inFrance. The chevre in oil is aconsistent strong seller, at $20 apound. The margin is great,she said, and it has a long shelflife.

She does not sell goat milk topeople as that would require awhole different set-up with addi-tional equipment and training anda special license. She does how-ever dispense plenty of goat milkadvice to people, whether goatowners or consumers of her goatcheese.

I tell them how to do pasteuriz-ing, and generally promote goodfood safety, she said.

The whey from her goat cheese,and the excess goat milk, Sarafeeds to her small herd of pigs.She can sell her milk-fed pork ata premium to that same upscaleEagle River restaurant. She alsosells excess goat milk to a whole-

sale deer farmer who pays $3.00per gallon for pasteurized petfood to give to his trophy fawns.

One item she doesnt sell, butneeds to dispose somehow, isgoat manure. What she does isadvertise Garden Gold, freemanure for anyone who willcome and get it. If the personchooses to make a donation, theproceeds go to a youth groupeach summer. Over the years, Iseem to be in the right place atthe right time, to be able to turneven bad stuff into good experi-ences.

Sara sells goats to cull the herdand to move excess bucks off thefarm. She has a buyer for muchof her goat meat, someone whowants goat kids for Easter andgoat meat for other occasions.She has no trouble selling milk-ing does. The bucks are sold formeat or stud to eliminate intrabreeding.

Another product Sara is hoping tostart this coming winter is mak-ing goat milk soaps. All her ac-tivities have to dovetail aroundthe goats, she explained.

Goat Herd ManagementGoats are normally born two at atime. Most does become mothersin their second year and producekids weighing 8-10 lbs.

Anne said in the Fantome Farmherd, triplets are normal for abouthalf the mothers. A first year goatnamed Thornton gave birth toquads in 2002 and all four ofthem lived. Anne crosses Alpinegoats with Nubians; she saidthese goats are bigger, stronger,and healthier.

Buckwheat Acres CheesePricing Structure

Product Cost Selling PriceCheddar curds $3.70/8 oz $6.50Flavored Fr. St. Chevre $1.85/4 oz $3.00Cheese in oil $2.45/4 oz $5.00Ash on Outside $3.70/8 oz $5.00Ash in layers $3.70/8 oz $6.00Big Rounds (pressed cheese) $7.75/lb $6.50

(4 lb wheel)


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Goats are seasonal animals, be-coming fertile only in the fall.Anne chooses to keep them thatway. The University of Wiscon-

sin at Madison veterinary schoolstudents come out to FantomeFarm to perform ultrasounds onthe goats to verify pregnancy.

Sara explained that kids are takenfrom their mothers and bottle-fedpasteurized colostrum and milkprimarily due to the disease, Ca-prine Arthritis Encephalitis Vi-rus, which can be passed to new-borns through their mothers rawmilk.

CAEV is a debilitating disease,not always clinically apparent,and is similar to the virus thatcauses AIDS in humans. Currentresearch shows NO evidence ofCAE virus of having the potentialto transmit to human.

With all animal diseases, goodcare, testing and prevention prac-tices, such as those practiced atFantome Farm and Buckwheat

Acres, are crucial to the welfareof the herd.

Side benefits of bottle-feeding

include getting the baby doesused to the sensation of beinghandled by humans, even to thepoint of bonding with humans.

When a milking doe becomespregnant, she doesnt producemilk for several months. Onceher kid or kids are born, the co-lostrum is gathered, heated toremove potential viruses and bot-tle-fed to the kids.

Sending the under-performing,misbehaving, elderly or excessgoats to the meat market is one ofthe most difficult aspects of farm-stead goat cheese production. It isthe only practical, financiallysound way to handle this busi-ness, but most people who gointo goat cheese production do soout of their love of the animalsthemselves. Anne said she hasbutchered chickens, pigs andeven veal calves, but she couldnever butcher a goat.

It is excruciatingly hard to cullthe herd, Anne said. But, wemust sell the culled goats in orderfor the herd to improve.

Organic Goats?

Neither Anne nor Sara claim tobe organic. They would haveto change a lot about their opera-tions, especially making sure thegoats had the more expensive,certified organic feed. For Annethat kind of feed is too costly forher operation; for Sara, no onegrows organic feed anywhere

near her.

What they do focus on is not giv-ing the goats hormones forgrowth or anything else. Anneuses antibiotics only for illness,then hold the milk out of thecheese-making process until ittests clear of all traces of antibi-otic. They try to be sure that thefeed has had the least amount ofherbicide or pesticide on it, if anyat all.

I have found that gentle han-dling of the goats means lessstress and better health, Sarasaid. They dont like menmuch, so I keep them (the men)out of the barn.

A saanen goat enjoyed a meal

during milking time. Saanengoats are valued for their high-production rates.

People who want to start their own businessespecially a farm-stead cheese businesshave to develop skills that run the gamutfrom manure management to milk microbiology. Not only that,there is no convenient network in place that will help you reachothers in your area who can offer you advice and counsel basedon experience. It is highly recommended that the goat cheeseentrepreneur develop a list of names and phone numbers gleanedfrom conversations and trips to the Internet, then do as manyvisits to cheese plants and goat farms as possible. See what otheroperations are like. Collect good ideas and make note of things

that might work for you. Ask pointed questions about baddecisions that others have had to live with. Look into your ownpersonality to determine if you are the kind of person who cansurvive and thrive on the rigors of a business start-up.

- Sara BredesenDeveloping the Farmstead Goat Cheese Business in Wisconsin

Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Sept. 2000


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Licensing and Inspec-tionsWisconsin is the only state thatdemands that anyone manufac-turing cheese for sale be licensedand certified by means of acheesemakers test. Similarly,the milking house must be li-censed as a dairy farm, while thelocation where cheese is proc-essed must be licensed as a dairyplant.

Saras advice for anyone startingout in the business is to make theinspector a friend. Help the in-spector understand what you are

trying to accomplish, and he orshe will be very helpful in lettingyou know the correct ways to dothings. If an inspector writes upan operator for something, thegoal is not to hurt or shut downthe operation, it is to make theoperation as safe and efficient aspossible.

Business RoadblocksFor Anne at Fantome Farm, theroadblocks to success came in

several forms over the 21 yearsshe and Judy have raised goatsand sold goat cheese. First, thelack of any kind of market, oreven familiarity with their prod-uct, meant they could not sell thecheese for the cost of production,because no one would havebought it. Second was by tryingto sell wholesale to restaurantsand supermarkets, they furthereroded the price they were re-ceiving for the cheeses. Unex-

pected costs can also be a hin-drance. Just recently, Anne hadto replace the flooring at thecheeserie at a cost of about$1,000 and do renovations for anadditional $2,000, which in-cluded labor and materials. For-

tunately, today, they sell directlyto the consumer at their cost plusa profit, and make no apologiesfor it.

For Sara, most of the roadblockshave also been financial. In thesix years of her operation, shehas spent $3,000 on a newboiler, $500 on a replacementindicating thermometer for pas-teurizing, $450 for a new chartrecorder, and other large sumsfor replacing two pumps and awater pump in the house. Sarasaid that at one point she triedshutting down the gas broiler inthe cheese house to save money,but it cost more to start it upagain in the spring than it wouldhave to keep it running all win-ter.

Both Anne and Sara are at aplace where they are not receiv-ing much support other than fi-nancial from their significantothers. Another person to workmore with the herd would be


nice, Sara admitted. I am theonly one who can make thecheese, she explained. She isalso the only one who touches,

cleans and sanitizes the milkingand cheesemaking equipment.

ConclusionRaising and being around goats isone of the biggest rewards of thisbusiness, both Anne and Sarasaid. Making a profit is necessarybut not always easy. FantomeFarm, with Annes simplifiedbookkeeping, is able to supportone person with making goatcheeses and selling them on the

Farmers Market. BuckwheatAcres is moving from deficitcloser to profitability each year.

Producers looking into goatcheeses would do well to checkout the larger productions aswell, to get a sense of how largean operation they might want,and what size investment theywere willing to make.

With the right levels of marketing

effort and the right location, afinancial success is possible withfarm-produced goat cheese. Theanimals are an easy size, tem-peramentally liable to bond withhumans, entertaining and fun.Anyone contacting either of thegoat cheese makers interviewedwould receive a lot of advice andencouragement.

Sara finishes the milking du-ties with a good thoroughcleaning of all equipment.


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Buckwheat Acres Goat DairyProfit and Loss

January - December 2003*

IncomeBoarding $ 50Cheese $ 9,645Livestock (raised) $ 2,271Milk $ 1,182Misc. Services $ 85Pork $ 1,502

Total Income $14,735

Cost of Goods SoldCost of Goods Sold $ 943

Total COGS $ 943

Gross Profit $13,792

ExpenseAccounting, Tax Service $ 213ADGA Memberships $ 18ADGA Registrations/Transfers $ 164ADGA, total $ 182Breeding Fees $ 100Chevre:

Advertising $ 163DATCP Service Fees $ 50Equipment $ 244Ingredients $ 358Lab Fees $ 66Lab Supplies $ 324License Fees $ 155Packaging $ 923Repairs, Equipment $ 532Shipping $ 12Supplies $ 331Vendor Fees $ 159

Chevre, total $ 3,319Continuing Education $ 197Contract Labor $ 2,829Country Today:

Other $ 42Postage $ 6

Supplies $ 35Country Today, Total $ 83DHI Test $ 247Feed & Grain $ 6,647Miscellaneous, Farm $ 93


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Buckwheat Acres Goat DairyProfit and Loss

January - December 2003*

OfficePostage and Delivery $ 184Supplies $ 191

Office, Total $ 375Repairs, Building $ 973Subscriptions $ 30Supplies, Farm $ 2,192Travel, Meals $ 26Veterinary Fees $ 499Wages, Family member $ 382

WDGA $ 17Total Expenses $18,402

Net Income/(Loss) ($ 4,610)

*Year 4 of operation.


14/14


Appendix

On-Line Dairy Goat Resources

American Dairy Goat Association, www.adga.org

National Goat Handbook, published by the University of Maryland,www.inform.umd.edu/EdRes/Topic/AgrEnv/ndd/goat/

University of Maryland Small Ruminent Page: GoatsNumerous links to meat and dairy goat resourceswww.sheepandgoat.com/goatlnks.html

GoatWorld.com - Production resources and latest information on goat production, dairy andherd management; www.goatworld.com

Langston University, E (Kika) de la Garza Institute for Goat Research, primary research ondairy goats. Includes publications and research results, www.luresext.edu/goats/index.htm

Goat Cheese Production

Missouri Department of Agricultural, Agriculture Innovation Center; Cheese ResourcesPage. Links, suggested books and other resources for cattle and goat cheese production;www.aginnovationcenter.org/resources/cheese.shtml

North Central Initiative for Small Farm Profitability, 4 Ps of Specialty Cheeses: IndustryResearch on marketability and trends of specialty cheeses. On-line publication,

www.farmprofitability.org/research.htm Wisconsin Diary Artisan Network. Information on becoming a cheese maker,

www.wisconsindairyartisan.com/artisan/index.htm

all about being a goat cheese farmer

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