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    Farm Name Sassy Cow Creamery
    Rating (5)           Sassy Cow Creamery

    Location Columbus, WI
    Products Fluid milk products
    Market Area Primarily Wisconsin
    Web Site http://www.sassycowcreamery.com‎

    This dairy, a split operation with both conventional and organic herds, bottles their own milk in a modern facility near Madison, Wisconsin. They write:

    Both the farms are owned and operated by brothers, James and Robert Baerwolf along with our families. We are the third generation to farm this land that our grandfather purchased in 1946. Our parents have farmed here their entire lives and are still actively involved with the family operation even in their retirement years.

    We are brothers in the truest sense, we both graduated from UW-Madison and began dairying immediately after college. We both also have wives named Jenny with three children in each of our families. We have all worked with dairy cattle since the time we were old enough to follow our parents around on the farm and this is where our great love for cows started. It is because of this background that we place the highest value on the well being of our animals and every farm-related decision must be good for the cows. The success of the families’ farm is directly related to how well the dairy cattle are taken care of. Our families have always farmed “with the cows taking center stage.” We feel strongly that all aspects of Sassy Cow Creamery should be no different…even the brand name conveys the attitude that it all starts with superior cows.

    Our love for all dairying led us to a unique situation of having two distinct herds, traditional and organic. Our conventional herd has grown from 50 cows in the nineties to the current herd of 400 cows. These cattle live on a new farm site built in 1999 and expanded in 2003. They are milked in a parlor and housed in a sand bedded freestall barn. During the nice times of the year, cattle are allowed to go out on grass pastures to exercise or lay in the sun.

    In 2000, we recognized the growing consumer trend of interest in organic foods so we took and grew a portion of our herd using organic practices. This herd consists of 100 cows and they live just one half mile north of the Sassy Cow Creamery location. The organic cows eat a considerable part of their diet from grass on the organic pastures located on this farm.

    Each milking cow is tested monthly for milk quality so we can offer the safest and highest quality products to you. Prior to the creation of our creamery, our milk was put on a truck and pooled with other farms and that was the last we ever saw of it. But having such great pride in what we produce, we decided to bring our great milk all the way to the consumer themselves, and therefore, Sassy Cow Creamery was built.

     

    Criteria Points Comments
    Ownership Structure 100 Family Farm
    Milk Supply 100 Single Farm
    Disclosure of Information for Verification 100 Full and open disclosure
    Certifier farms 100 MOSA
    Certifier processing 100 MOSA
    Cows on pasture time/acreage provided 100 120/ac of pasture for 100 cows
    Health and longevity of cows 100 Low
    Replacement animals only from organic farms 100 Closed Herd
    Antibiotics used on young cattle 100 Never
    Reproductive hormones used 100 Never
    Farm support oversight 100 "We live on the farm."
    Outside dairy ingredients purchased 100 None
    TOTAL SCORE 1200 FIVE COWS (Outstanding)