Cheese in the works for historic dairy farm

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Cheese in the works for historic dairy farm

English Dairy Farm has been in the milking business for nearly a century.

Since 1927, the farm’s Holstein cows are milked twice a day, every day, at 5 a.m. and 4 p.m. And they haven’t missed one since.

Terry English, farm owner, has business logs dating back to its first dairy shipment on June 6, 1927.

“My granddad was a very meticulous record keeper,” he said. “He kept up with everything.

The farm started out selling sour cream. Leftovers (skim milk) were used for fattening hogs.

“The milk was mixed in with their feed, and this is what put the weight on them,” said Terry. “My granddad sold the hogs to make a living as well.”

English Dairy Farm is one of only a few cow dairies left in Western North Carolina. It has spanned three generations.

The dairy requires Terry’s constant attention, along with two employees, one full time, and one part time. Terry’s dad, John, and brother, Alan, are also partners in the operation.

“To milk 75 cows takes around two-and-a-half hours and that’s with machines,” said Terry. “Then we have feeding, cleaning, fixing fence and anything else that needs to be done.”

One bovine produces an average of 80 pounds of milk per day; 75 of them – 10,000 pounds. The milk truck comes to collect every other night and transports the shipment to Dairy Farmers of America, a marketing cooperative. It is then dispersed to supermarkets.

While English Dairy Farm has faired well for two generations, the third is feeling the effects of a smaller operation up against many larger ones.

“It’s getting harder to make a living this way because the dairy industry has changed so much in the last several years,” Terry said. “If you’re not producing a very high volume, there’s just not enough money in it.”

To help see the farm to a fourth generation, Terry’s wife, Susan, has decided to try her hand at making cheese.

“We need to capture more of our value,” she said. “I’ve played with the idea for a long time and finally decided we’d better try it before we get too old.”

The new prospect will not only help the farm with extra income but also assist in Susan’s retirement from a 34-year career in nursing.

Since the couple’s decision, Susan has spent many hours in her kitchen perfecting recipes for soft cheese spreads and hard varieties. Family and friends have assisted with tastings and feedback.

“Right now I’m experimenting with Havarti,” Susan continued. “This is a good money-making cheese because of the time it takes to age, and space it eats up sitting on the shelf.”

The farm’s recent approval of a $6,000 WNC Agricultural Grant will help Terry and Susan with launching English Farmstead Cheese, the name they will sell their product under.

“We’ve hired a consultant from Wisconsin who’ll help us with bulk production, facility plans and more. We’ve got a lot ahead of us and are just in the early stages of this project,” said Terry.

Grant money will also be put toward a creamery for cheese production, and an aging cave for storage.

Milk, stated Terry, is the most regulated food product in the industry.

“Our creamery has to be completely up to code and functional before we can even begin making cheese,” he said.

The couple’s daughters, Elizabeth and Rachel, are also helping to get English Farmstead Cheese underway. Elizabeth has a master’s degree in dairy science and works for the Southeast United Dairy Industry Association; Rachel, a degree in advertising. Once their production is underway, the English family will look to local businesses for sales and marketing.

Terry said he and his wife aren’t looking to get rich, just trying to hold on to a family tradition and preserve the land they’ve lived off of for so long.

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