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Mt. Sterling
Cheese Cooperative is one of this country’s
largest goat milk co-ops, incorporating numerous
exclusive member goat farms throughout Wisconsin,
Iowa and Minnesota. Incorporated in 1976 as
the Southwestern Wisconsin Dairy Goat Products
Cooperative, we market our goat products under
the name of Mt. Sterling Cheese Coop,
which we acquired in 1983.
The facilities
of every goat milk producer are inspected by
each state's Department of Agriculture and also
by the Co-op. The cheese factory is also routinely
inspected by the State of Wisconsin. Each time
milk is picked up from a farm, it is sampled
and tested for quality. All of this is done
to ensure that the products we sell are fresh,
wholesome and delicious. Instead of profits
being distributed to the shareholders/investors,
as with the corporate model, member-owned cooperatives
such as ours distribute profits back to the
individual farmers who milk goats. We
subscribe to the seven cooperative principles:
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1.
Voluntary and open membership
2.
Democratic member control
3.
Member economic participation
4.
Autonomy and independence
5.
Education, training and information
6.
Cooperation among cooperatives
7.
Concern for community
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Located in the
small burg of Mt. Sterling, Wisconsin, (population
217) The Mt. Sterling Cheese Co-op manufactures
its award-winning cheeses in one of the loveliest
settings in the nation. The beautiful hill country
of southwestern Wisconsin is often spoken of
as "God's County" with a landscape
of rolling wooded hills interspersed with the
pastoral scene of dairy farms. Located just
5 miles from Mt. Sterling are the Gays Mills
apple orchards, a popular tourist destination
in the spring during blossoming and in the fall
during harvest. Many visitors have established
an annual tradition of stopping by our plant
to stock up on goat and cow cheese before returning
home. We have put this small town on the map
by proving that combining American family-scale
farms with Wisconsin's heritage for truly exceptional
handcrafted cheese can successfully compete
in international competition. We have defeated
some of the most renowned European cheese makers,
winning awards from the American Cheese Society,
the World Championship of Cheese, the Wisconsin
State Fair and the American Dairy Goat Products
Association.
Our small cheese
factory is the last working cheese plant in
Crawford County. Come and see cheese being made
the old fashioned way through our viewing window.
Call us for cheese making times and store hours
at 1-608-734-3151
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