{"id":3699,"date":"2024-03-14T03:08:14","date_gmt":"2024-03-14T03:08:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/small-is-beautiful-at-st-isidores-dairy\/"},"modified":"2024-03-14T03:08:14","modified_gmt":"2024-03-14T03:08:14","slug":"small-is-beautiful-at-st-isidores-dairy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/small-is-beautiful-at-st-isidores-dairy\/","title":{"rendered":"Small is Beautiful at St Isidore’s Dairy"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Inga Witscher photo credit Scott Streble Photographer<\/a><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Making cheese has changed the way fourth-generation dairy farmer Inga Witscher-Orth thinks about dairy farming. \u201cIt\u2019s made me more excited about milking cows,\u201d she says. \u201cI see everything from the cow biting the grass to selling the cheese. I\u2019ve been milking cows my whole life, and it\u2019s exciting to now be part of all of the steps.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Arka plan<\/h2>\n

Witscher-Orth grew up on her parents\u2019 dairy farm near Seattle; the family eventually relocated to Wisconsin. In 2006, Witscher-Orth started St. Isidore\u2019s Dairy<\/a> in Osseo, Wisconsin with 40 cows. \u201cI was certified organic and sold milk to Organic Valley and another organic co-op,\u201d she says. \u201cBut I was watching the dairy farms around us disappear, and I had to think about what to do if I wanted to continue farming. I downsized to 6 cows and started to make cheese in 2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

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St. Isidore Cheddar<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Over the past several years, cheesemaking has helped Witscher-Orth thrive as a dairy farmer\u2014her 6 cow farm and creamery is more profitable than her 40-50 cow operation was. \u201cI see more and more micro creameries popping up,\u201d she says, noting that she receives one or two email inquiries each week from other dairy farmers who are interested in learning more about her business. \u201cThis could be a model: folks can have micro dairies and make one or two cheeses or sell fluid milk. It\u2019s a way to maintain and support family farms, and it\u2019s a more sustainable way to farm.\u201d She adds, \u201cI think every community in a dairy state could sustain small creameries\u2014consumers are looking for quality, healthy food directly from farmers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Witscher-Orth chose to focus on farmstead clothbound Cheddar made from raw milk, since she had previous cheesemaking experience with that style. It remains the only type of cheese that St. Isidore\u2019s Dairy produces and is deeply informed by the sustainable way that Witscher-Orth operates her dairy farm.<\/p>\n

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The Cows<\/h2>\n
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Jersey cows at St. Isidore<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWhen we talk about cheese, I hope we can talk more about what the animals are eating and how they\u2019re being raised,\u201d she says. \u201cA huge part of the flavor of our cheese is that it\u2019s grass- based\u2026The grass-based focus is very important to me, taking care of the environment by rotational grazing. I move the cows every 12 hours.\u201d<\/p>\n

The cows themselves are also different from the black and white Holsteins that are a staple of larger dairy operations. Witscher-Orth raises Jerseys, a smaller breed with distinctive brown coats. \u201cJerseys are suited for a farm like mine,\u201d she explains. \u201cThey\u2019re the most sustainable breed of dairy cows because they need less land and less water, and they produce less manure. They\u2019re well-suited for pasture grazing since they do well in the heat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jersey milk also contains more butterfat than other dairy breeds, and Witscher-Orth handles the milk carefully to keep the fat globules intact. Instead of relying on a typical pipeline system, she milks the cows into bucket milkers and then pours the milk by hand into a bulk tank until it is ready to make into cheese. \u201cI want to handle the milk gently so I can have high-quality cheese,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

She also appreciates the intangible benefits of raising Jerseys. \u201cWhat I like about Jerseys is that they each have their own personalities. They\u2019re each so loving. They\u2019re more like dogs than cows, they\u2019re curious. Agnes is our spoiled little girl, she greets me on the front porch some mornings when she gets out!\u201d<\/p>\n

The cows\u2019 seasonally-changing diet of native Wisconsin grasses, clover, and wildflowers impacts the color and flavor of the cheese, which is only produced during the mid-April to Christmas grazing season. (In the winter, the cows eat dry hay baled from the farm.) Witscher-Orth describes her cheese as a classic European-style cheddar. \u201cIt\u2019s extra-creamy because of the Jersey milk. There\u2019s a bit of mustard to it, and a little sweetness from the grass.\u201d<\/p>\n

St. Isidore Dairy\u2019s clothbound Cheddar is currently available at Wisconsin cheese shops, Fromagination<\/a> in Madison (read more about<\/em> Fromagination<\/a>); The Milk Merchant<\/a> in Wausau, and The Village Cheese Shop<\/a> in Wauwatosa. The dairy also sells cheese directly to customers at the Eau Claire Downtown Farmers Market<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Looking Ahead<\/h2>\n

Witscher-Orth\u2019s expansion plans for her business are focused on quality over quantity. She\u2019s planning to add a cut flower farm and is looking forward to helping people from the city experience rural Wisconsin farm life, building on the work she\u2019s done as the host of PBS television show Around the Farm Table<\/em><\/a>,<\/em> a program that connects consumers with small farmers through wonderful short segments featuring stories, recipes and more including an episode on Inga\u2019s own Jersey cows<\/a>. She\u2019s also considering experimenting with another cheese style made with fall and early winter milk.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Inga Witscher photo credit Scott Streble Photographer Making cheese has changed the way fourth-generation dairy farmer Inga Witscher-Orth thinks about dairy farming. \u201cIt\u2019s made me more excited about milking cows,\u201d she says. \u201cI see everything from the cow biting the grass to selling the cheese. I\u2019ve been milking cows my whole life, and it\u2019s exciting … Okumaya devam et “Small is Beautiful at St Isidore’s Dairy”<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1271,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[395],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-milk-and-diary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1271"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3699\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}