The sheep dairy industry in the upper Midwest began in the mid 1980's with a small group of Minnesota and Wisconsin sheep producers who began supplying sheep milk to a small cheese plant (La Paysanne) in east central Minnesota that specialized in sheep milk cheeses. By the early 1990's, a second cheese plant (Bass Lake Cheese Factory) in northwestern Wisconsin had also began producing specialty cheeses from sheep milk. During these early days, sheep milk was sold as a food product and did not fall under MN and WI requirements for milk. By the mid 1990's, sheep milk was reclassified as milk and became subject to the stricter state dairy regulations. Through the mid-1990's, all milk sales were direct sales from the farmers to the cheese plants. Each cheese plant was responsible for inspecting, licensing, and paying the individual farmers who they bought milk from. This led to a very management intensive situation for the cheese plants that required licensing and re-licensing of farms each time the individual farms shipped milk to a different cheese plant. This situation was complicated by the extremely volatile market for domestically produced sheep milk cheeses which led to alternating periods of high demand for sheep milk followed by periods of no demand for sheep milk. The volatility of the sheep cheese market and milk supply led to the demise of La Paysanne in 1995.

In 1996, a third cheese plant (Montchevre), located in southwestern WI, expressed an interest in sheep milk. They indicated, however, that they were only interested in working with a single supply source for sheep milk that would handle all of the licensing, annual inspections, monthly milk sampling, inventory management and payment to individual farmers. This request led to a meeting in the spring of 1996 of existing and potential sheep dairy producers in the Midwest and the subsequent formation of a steering committee to determine the feasibility of establishing a sheep dairy cooperative. By September of 1997, the WSDC had been formed and registered as a cooperative in the state of WI.

During the 1996 and 1997 milking seasons, the WSDC functioned as a Producer Agent for Monchevre. This meant that the co-op functioned under the dairy plant license of the cheese processor and performed all the required inspections, testing and payments to individual farmers. In the spring of 1998, the WSDC became licensed as a Dairy Plant in the state of Wisconsin . This provided autonomy for the cooperative and allowed the co-op to begin marketing milk to additional customers.

The original goals of WSDC were to: 1) market sheep milk produced by its members. 2) establish a stable market for sheep milk, 3) establish a stable supply of sheep milk and 4) provide the highest quality sheep milk available. In 1998, the WSDC received a grant from the State of Wisconsin 's Agricultural Development and Diversification Program to develop marketing strategies for the co-op. As part of the effort, and with the help of the University of Wisconsin Center for Cooperatives, the WSDC established a Three year Strategic Plan that incorporated the original goals of the cooperative.

The philosophy behind the three year plan was to build the base of the cooperative on milk sales. These sales would then provide operating income that would allow us to pursue partnerships and joint ventures. Revenues from these pursuits would then provide the funding needed to develop and market branded products. With each step the cooperative would take on higher levels of risk and, at the same time, realize greater profit per pound of milk as we added value to the milk.

The co-op has met and continues to pursue all objectives related to milk sales and establishment of the infrastructure needed to support it. We have established business relationships that we expect will result in both mutually beneficial results for the co-op and our partners as well as additional income for the members of the cooperative.

Current Status of WSDC

The co-op currently consists of 14 member farms with flocks ranging in size from about 100 to 400 ewes. All flocks are using seasonal dairying, with milking beginning in some flocks in January and ending in others in October. The potential for year round milk production will continue to be evaluated as market needs grow. Initial milk production for dairy sheep in the cooperative began at about 120 lbs in 90 days. Through introduction of improved dairy genetics and heavy selection for higher yielding animals, production levels for many animals now exceeds 500 lbs in 180 days.

The milking equipment used by co-op members has shifted from bucket milking (e.g. Surge buckets) and freezing in chest freezers, which was used in the early years of the co-op, to pipelines and the use of commercial walk-in freezers. The changes have resulted in a much higher quality of milk with much longer shelf life.

Milk is supplied in two major forms, fluid and frozen. 2001 was the first year the WSDC shipped fluid milk to cheese processors. These shipments have continued and in 2003 some of the WSDC's largest customers received large fluid milk shipments throughout the season. The capability to ship fluid milk greatly reduces the amount of labor on the farm as well as at the cheese plant. All frozen milk is placed in milk bags (40 lbs per bag) prior to freezing and then frozen to -10C within 12 hours by placing bags in commercial walk-in freezers. While frozen milk requires more labor and equipment, it does make use of sheep milk's “unfair advantage” over other types of milk because it can be stored frozen for at least 12 months without appreciable chemical or biological degradation. This property allows the co-op to supply milk on a year round basis while still operating seasonal dairies.

In 2003 WSDC realized the goal of producing a branded, value added product, through the production of the first batches of sheep milk cheeses. The 100% sheep milk “Dante” cheese and the 50% sheep milk “Mona” have been tremendously successful and are comparable in quality to the finest sheep milk cheeses in the world. These are now available at select retail locations in Nationwide.

The 2006 season has been very successful for the WSDC. Membership has continued to grow and production on existing farms has also grown. A production level approaching 1.2 million lbs is expected in 2007, with expanded fluid milk and branded product sales.

Future Opportunities for the WSDC

  While the actual number of sheep dairies in the U.S. and Canada is unknown, estimates range from 100-150 farms. Sheep milk produced on many of these farms is used to produce farmstead products that are sold through a variety of outlets. Milk produced on other farms is produced specifically for sale to off-farm processors. The WSDC is currently the only sheep dairy cooperative in the U.S. and the largest sheep dairy cooperative in North America . The WSDC sees a major opportunity for continuing to facilitate the introduction of sheep milk and sheep milk products on a large-scale, (inter) national basis. This can be accomplished by increasing the membership in the WSDC to increase the milk available to our customers as well as by working cooperatively with other cooperatives to help manage the constant challenge of matching supply with demand. By effectively managing the supply of sheep milk, sheep dairy farmers can insure themselves a fair price that allows them to realize a reasonable profit as well. With current estimates for U.S. imports of sheep milk products at more than 72 million pounds annually (equivalent to 360 million pounds of milk), there is a great deal of room for cooperative growth between producer and processors. The WSDC would like to be a central participant in making this dream come true.