By Deborah R. Huso
Progressive Farmer Contributor
There is much about the life of Nick and Celeste Nolan that would seem idyllic. The young couple resides on rolling acreage near Cora, Ohio. They are continuing the dairy started by Nick's grandparents in 1947, while raising young children close to the land on 110 acres of pasture and woods. But the rapturous landscape, particularly lovely in early-morning fog, belies the challenges of modern dairy farming. The Nolans' operation was long a conventional commercial dairy, with Nick's grandfather selling milk wholesale until ill health led him to stop milking and sell off his herd in 1992. He died two years later, and the family farm fell into decline.
Then, serendipity intervened. Nick lost his job as an engineer at General Mills when his position was outsourced. He and Celeste decided to make a bold move and go back to the family farm and restart the old dairy. "We purchased a herd of Jersey cattle and some Normandy, and started crossbreeding," Nick says. The idea was to create the perfect cow for cheese. Currently, the Nolans have 55 head of cattle, 22 of them milking cows. Most Normandy cattle carry genes that have been shown to increase curdling quality of milk for cheese manufacturing, so an increasing number of producers interested in cheesemaking are crossbreeding them with Jerseys and Holsteins.
UPHILL CLIMB
"I had cheesemaking in the back of my mind but started out as a commercial dairy, selling milk wholesale to United Dairy Inc.," Nick says. Profits were slim, if they existed at all, those first five years back on the farm. "It was like giving the milk away for the cost of production," Nick adds. In their best year, the Nolans received $28 in revenue for 100 pounds of milk.
The Nolans eventually faced the reality that they couldn't make it as full-time farmers unless they made some changes. So, five years ago, they decided to start making cheese. They bought used equipment to keep costs down, refurbished it, built their own cheesemaking facility in about four months and, along the way, sought guidance from the USDA and Ohio Department of Agriculture to avoid any snafus that might prevent them from being operational in short order.
"The Ohio Department of Ag has been really easy to work with and accommodating," Celeste says, noting the license to operate a cheesemaking facility was only $15. The Department of Agriculture inspects the facility quarterly with the option to do unannounced inspections anytime.
"We underwent antibiotic checks, provided raw milk samples and took training for a milk-transporting license," Nick says. Four months later, they were, remarkably, in business as Laurel Valley Creamery. "We had to fast-track or go out of business," he remarks.
Meanwhile, Celeste was practicing the art of cheesemaking, making 2-pound wheels at a time in the farm kitchen. After a lot of studying and experimenting, she found her way and today produces more than a dozen different varieties of cheese.
NO EASY JOB
Nick is the first to admit, however, the cheesemaking isn't even half the challenge. "A third of our work is producing milk," he says. "Another third is making cheese, and another third is marketing. What most people miss out on is marketing."
"You make it one customer at a time," Nick continues, attributing some of his marketing savvy to his career at General Mills, where he regularly observed what created a successful sale and what didn't. "I'm a people person, and I go to the farmers' market in Athens, one of the country's largest, every Saturday. You have to build relationships with customers so you don't have to go out and find a new customer every day."
Nick says Celeste regularly uses Instagram and Facebook to talk about the farm's cheese, too. "It's the backstory people are interested in," he says. "People want a connection to the farm where the cheese comes from. They know the cows, the guy that milked them, the woman who makes the cheese."
While the bulk of the Nolans' market is no longer area farmers' markets, the markets are a big part of what has driven their success in a risky operation. "If I can get people to try our cheese, then it's sold," he says.
Nick marketed to restaurants near the farmers' market that were popular with his customers and, pretty soon, found the bulk of his market in the restaurant world.
"We now sell 10 times the cheese to restaurants than we do at farmers' markets," he says. His restaurant customers will buy anywhere from 10 to 200 pounds of cheese a week each, with many using Laurel Valley's varieties on everything from salads to sandwiches.
STABLE INCOME
"We went from making anywhere from $2,000 to $10,000 per month milking with our costs staying the same, regardless, to bringing in a predictable $8,000 to $10,000 per month with the cheese," Nick says. "The cheese saved our business. In commodity marketing, you make money a couple of months, then lose it a couple of months."
And the great thing about cheese, he explains, is that Celeste can make aged cheeses and save them for when times are busy. "We can make cheese now and wait, and sell it nine months from now."
Nick will be the last person to say cheesemaking is the salvation point for a dairy operation, though. "You have to be disciplined to do it yourself," he says. "It takes five or six years before you'll have enough money to hire help, and I haven't had a vacation in 12 years. The reason I don't have competition is because this is hard work."
He advises any dairy operator wanting to create value-added income from cheese or switch over completely, as the Nolans have, to give it some serious thought first. "Find your market," he advises. "Get out ahead of it. Don't produce it before you know you can sell it."
(AG)
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