Insight on Business

June 2014

Issue link: http://www.insightdigital.biz/i/320427

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 46 of 62

40 | I nsIgh t • J u n e 2 0 14 w w w . i n s i g h t o n b u s i n e s s . c o m W hen Clara and Larry hedrich bought Larry's grandfather's Chilton farm in 1978, it came with two milking goats. "We looked very seriously at what we could do with the goats," recalls Clara, who grew up on a dairy farm; Larry's family raised beef cattle and mink. Once they decided to go whole hog, so to speak, with goat farming, they didn't look back. today, the hedrichs – along with 10 full-time staff, including four of their five children – work the 160-acre farm, raising and milking 600 dairy goats. LaClare Farms uses most of its own milk and some from the Quality Dairy goat Producers Cooperative of Wisconsin, which the hedrichs founded, to produce dairy, cheese, soap and other products. e company's fresh chevre and award-winning Evalon are both used in the restaurants run by the Kohler Company. "We've been with LaClare for three to four years," says Rick Boyer, executive chef for Kohler, who supervises 12 outlets with nine restaurants. "e chef- farmer relationship is one we thrive on. I know every time I get (the cheese) the quality is going to be top notch." Freshness is one of the benefits of buying local, as is supporting local farms. "We try to support them, and they support us," Boyer adds. "It makes good economic sense." LaClare Farms' goats are part of growing niche in the state's dairy industry MOO-ve over, cows! in focus { s m a l l b u s i n e s s } B y S h a r o n Ve r b e t e n C o u r t e s y o F L a C L a r e Fa r m s A growing industry Larry hedrich says the state leads the nation in dairy goats, with about 200 farms and 46,000 goats. "e industry has (now) only begun to be viable," he says. By the 1990s, the hedrichs had several children in 4-h and had connected with a farmer with registered goats, and their future was cemented. In the beginning, Larry, who worked full- time in construction, was just looking to sell the milk from what was at that time a herd of 45 goats. ey soon found a plant in Watertown to process their milk. e hedrichs worked with the now- defunct Dairy Business Innovation Center to help launch their goat business. "It really helped," Larry says. "We knew they were good at what they did." soon, they doubled their herd to 80, invested in milking units and built a milk house. Around 2000, Larry quit his job to work full time on the farm. "I absolutely wanted to," Larry says. "When you farm, you have to be an optimist. And, by that time, the consumer was truly beginning to appreciate the (goat) products." shortly aer, the hedrichs founded the Quality Dairy goat Producers Cooperative of Wisconsin, which now has seven members, including LaClare Farms. While there is a growing recognition of goat milk and cheese, farming remains a challenging business, he says. "e margins are not huge. You have to pay attention to where every dollar goes," he says. During the past decade, LaClare has focused on expansion. In 2008, the company began producing cheese from its milk, visiting the netherlands to learn more about goat cheese making. "ey're about 25 to 30 years ahead of us in technology," says Clara, who also teaches agriculture at West De Pere high school. "e things we picked up you will see reflected in our business." e hedrichs' daughter, Katie hedrich Fuhrmann, is their master cheese maker. her Evalon cheese, named aer Larry's grandmother, took top honors out of 1,604 entries from 30 states in the 2011 U.s. Champion Cheese maker Katie Hedrich Fuhrmann holds one of the prized goats at LaClare Farms near Chilton.

Articles in this issue

Archives of this issue

view archives of Insight on Business - June 2014