Lynn Dairy recipe for success starts with building farmer relationships

MANDEE ELLIS

REPORTER

Lynn Dairy is a large operation. It was purchased by Walter Schwantes in 1949, and they’re working on integrating their fourth generation into the enterprise. Lynn Dairy brings in 1.7 million pounds of milk a day and contracts with 320 farms locally — 33 of those farms reside right here in Taylor County.

“The cows work every day,” said quality assurance manager Kaylee Steponik. So Lynn Dairy does too.

Most of the farms that ship to Lynn have done it for generations. Field representative Karla Peterson believes that farmers partner with Lynn because they know that each farm matters. Whether it be a farm with 1,000 cows or the Amish operation that ships in milk cans, they all make an impact at Lynn.

“They feel like they don’t matter,” Peterson said of small dairy operations. “It doesn’t matter if you ship 200 pounds or 2,000 pounds, you matter.”

Lynn spends time cultivating relationships with their farmers, noting that changes in technology make a difference in their communications with methods like texting and emailing helping to keep things more convenient for everyone.

“That’s our bread and butter,” said Peterson, stating that their average farm milks about 75 cows. They’re ready to come out and help the farmers when needed as it’s important to Lynn Dairy that each farm feels supported. It starts from the ground up with the milk haulers, who have all been with Lynn for a significant amount of time. They know their routes and the people responsible for getting milk in the silos inside and out.

Efficiencies in other areas have also helped to streamline the entire process. Steponik and Peterson note that they’re bringing in more milk than ever, which means more cheese. They credit farmers for utilizing genetics in combination with higher quality feed to help their cows have better production, stating that some holsteins are now able to produce richer milk like that of a jersey, higher in butterfat and protein while still putting out the pounds.

Lynn has increased their own production in response with Steponik stating that they were making 30 vats a day when she started six years ago. Today, Lynn Dairy is pumping out 42 vats a day or more. They’ve brought on more trucks and more employees and have installed a better optimized, more automated air-activated system to handle what their farmers are churning out.

Production supervisor Andy Follen remembers doing a good chunk of the work manually. Instead there now stands a four-story mass of gleaming steel connected by belts that drop cheese from one level to the next, one of the only designs of its kind.

“It’s definitely different,” Follen said. Peterson said of their production, “It’s the best that the owners have ever seen.”

And what do they do with that milk? They transform it, and then they sell it.

Lynn Dairy produces 200,000 pounds of cheese per day. There isn’t much that they won’t do with it as they make cheddar, Colby, Monterey jack, pepper jack, mozzarella, farmers cheese and cheese curds. Most of this is sold in their retail store, but they’ll ship it globally as long as they can do it safely and responsibly.

Their retail store, located directly at the plant in Granton, boasts fun and delicious options for everyone. There you can try chunks and hunks which are snack packs of cubed cheese and beef sticks, or their parmesan pizza. And of course they have a steady supply of cheese curds in a variety of different flavors courtesy of Lynn Dairy’s chief flavor officer who simply goes by Killer. Steponik recommends the killer pepper cheddar, christened so for its namesake.

“I like to joke that we put a lot of love in our cheese,” she said of their curds which recently took second place in a nationwide competition.

They state that the retail store is more popular than ever with visitors coming from all over, most of them equipped with coolers and ice to be sure their treasures make it home, wherever that may be.

“We’ll have people come out from Canada, three hours, they make a trip here just for us,” said Steponik.

“Hunting season is insane,” said Peterson. “It’s rural Wisconsin.”

They stock precut cheese trays for the convenient gettogether snack, and make cheese boxes for Christmas. Whatever the occasion, the perfect savory treat is available at Lynn.

They also make whey protein concentrate, deproteinized whey and lactose with Lynn Proteins, a sibling venture to Lynn Dairy which was established in 1971. Lactose is used to bake, make candy and even craft beer. They try to use as much byproducts as they can and find that their farmers and customers appreciate that and Mullins’ whey is all-natural, with very few hands touching the product. With only eight ingredients, Mullins wants to make sure that their consumers can read and pronounce each one so they know that it’s been made with their health and safety in mind.

And many of those whey products can be purchased right in Taylor County at the REC Center, located in Medford.

“It’s the easiest sale I ever had to make in my life,” Gilles said. “They know where that milk came from, they’re supporting dairy farmers, it’s coming right back to them,” he said of the milk’s roundtrip ticket back to Taylor County.

And who could forget the cheese? Meyer states that their cheese curds are one of their fastest selling items and they’ve branched out with different flavors in addition to the classic, such as buffalo, parmesan garlic, dill garlic and truffle butter. You won’t be hard-pressed to find a variety of cheese inside the retail store, conveniently located across the street from the factory in Mosinee, since Mullins Cheese makes their own cheddar, provolone, Romano, gouda, asiago, mozzarella, Monterey jack, Colby jack, and of course, parmesan.

Meyer’s personal favorite is an emerald cheddar made by Mullins. “You can’t find it anywhere else,” she said. It’s an Irish-style farmhouse cheddar. “It’s drier, but creamy.”

Meyer also stated that their aged cheeses are nothing short of phenomenal. She enjoys putting out two to three samples for the team to try at a time and says that it doesn’t take long for her tray to clear out.

She tries to help customers in the retail store find the profile that suits them best, dispensing wisdom such as encouraging people to try cheese at room temperature as it brings out the flavor.

“It depends on the palate,” Meyer said. “Everybody has different taste buds.”

They also collaborate with other retailers, carrying meat from Nueske’s in their gift boxes and selling cheese from other manufacturers in the retail store. It seems to be a common theme among dairy retailers; if one organization benefits, they all benefit.

The Mullins boys and their team are big on giving back, getting involved in fundraisers and sponsoring events. They donate cheese boxes and raffle boxes, making the effort to keep a strong connection with their neighbors.

“Not everyone is happy seeing 30 milk trucks driving

MANDEE ELLIS/THE STAR NEWS

down the road every day,” said Gilles. “We try to give back and show support.”

The leap from local dairy farm to grocery store shelf seems like a long one, but when Mullins is taking milk and turning it into a valuable product 12 and 24 hours later, the turnaround is shorter than one might think, while the impact is so much larger. The success of these retailers relies on the success of their farmers, and they know it.

“They do a majority of the legwork from planting the crops to taking care of the cows, breeding, genetics. All we do is take the milk after they do all that,” said Gilles.