Issue link: http://www.insightdigital.biz/i/119013
insight on Economic By Mar yB eth Mat zek development Fond du Lac firms in growth mode LaClare Farms, Alliance Laundry, McNeilus Steel, Mercury Marine among those expanding c o u r t e s y o f L aCla r e Fa r m s F ond du Lac County already boasts the state���s largest cow dairy farm. It will soon be home to one of the state���s largest goat dairy farms as well. By this summer, LaClare Farms will have its new 35,000-squarefoot farmstead dairy plant up and running in the Town of Calumet on the shore of Lake Winnebago. The project includes a state-of-the-art dairy plant, retail store and caf�� and milking parlor with housing for 600 milking goats. The goats��� milk is used in a variety of products, including the 2011 U.S. Championship Evalon goats��� milk cheese. While the City of Fond du Lac provides a strong manufacturing base for the county, most of the county is deeply tied to agriculture. LaClare Farms owner Larry Hedrich says the project was years in the making and is an expansion of his current operations near Chilton in neighboring Calumet County. Moving to the new site was a natural, he says. ���It all comes down to location, The new LaClare Farms goat dairy farm will include a state-of-the-art dairy plant, retail store, caf�� and milking parlor. This artist rendering depicts the public storefront entrance. location, location. We are off of a main road (US 151) and people will be driving by it and that will serve as good advertising. Once we get them in there they���ll come back,��� Hedrich says. ���It���s also convenient to get to from Appleton, Fond du Lac and Oshkosh.��� To make the project financially possible, Hedrich worked with not ���It all comes down to location, location, location. We are off of a main road (US 151) and people will be driving by it and that will serve as good advertising. Once we get them in there they���ll come back.��� ���L arr y Hedrich, LaClare Farms owner w w w. i n s i g h t o n b u s i n e s s . c o m only his lender, Calumet County Bank, but also Fond du Lac County, the Fond du Lac Economic Development Corporation and the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation. When open, the facility will be able to process milk from cows, goats and sheep and will include a specialty dairy production and aging facility for custom processing. Once Hedrich decided to expand his current operations, he traveled to Europe to see how large goat dairies operate. ���There are not too many resources for goat dairies in the U.S. With cows, you can just contact the (University of Wisconsin) Extension and they will have a lot of information for you. It���s not like that with the goats,��� he says. In addition to crafting [continued] �� A p r i l 2 013 ��� Insight | 37