LaFayette Creamery
First named Brunkow Cheese Co-op in
1899 after the farmer who donated the land for the factory. Local
dairy farmers in Wisconsin were looking for a market for there milk.
A cheese factory was the perfect plan but it needed a good location.
They needed it close to the farms and to the market so it would be
easy on them and their horses. It started as a Co-op with each farmer
pledging an amount of money or the labor that would be necessary for
the building of the factory.
They had hired a Cheese maker who provided the machinery, tools and the production of the cheese. He received a percentage of the money once the cheese was sold. Another small amount of that money would be put aside to take care of the upkeep and other needs of the building. Then after that whatever money was left over was split up between all of the farmers for every hundred pounds of milk that he had provided to the factory that month.
In 1929 the Geissbuhler family started running the Brunkow Co-op and has been ever sense. A lot of the factory is the same as it used to be. Its location has stayed the same as well as its status of being a cooperative. The cheese maker still gets a percentage of the gross income, as well as the 30 dairy farmers who are a part of its membership today. There have been changes that were inevitable with the changing of time. Horses are no longer used for the transportation, automotive's have made the operation grow in ways horse transportation never could. They can distribute to a much larger area and they can receive much larger amounts of milk. More milk does mean more cheese though, sense the early 1900's much more varieties of cheese have been created. This recently has included artisan cheeses.
Artisan cheeses have been made in
America sense the pilgims landed here bringing their goats with them.
It is being produced the same way that is has been for thousands of
years. That is by hand in small batches. Cheese had provided much
needed protein for families trying to survive through the harsh
winters in the New World. Farmers started creating more cheese then
their families could eat. Thankfully with the growing economy, and
settlements the farmers were able to find a market for all of their
extra cheese. Farmers close to the market could create cheeses that
were fresher, and needed to be sold faster. But farmers away from the
market had to make aged cheeses that could withhold travel by horse
to the markets.
After World War II farmers were selling their land and farms to move onto bigger and better jobs. It seemed that American Artisan cheese would be done forever. When it came to food by the 1950's it was all about mass production and convenience. Processed cheese was overshadowing small farm cheese.
Then the 60's and 70's came and it was all about tradition, this included the tradition of small batch cheesemaking. The first artisian cheese makers of this generation were able to do so because of land, and the animals needed for production were still in their family. This allowed them to start production for a very small price. This brought back farmstead cheese, cheese created from milk to cheese all on the farm.
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