In this episode of the Progressive Dairy Podcast, hear about a nonprofit creamery in Chewelah, Washington, that was started “for the community, by the community.” Host Kimmi Devaney visits with Stacy and Virginia Thomas – a husband and wife team who own and operate one of the three local dairies currently shipping their milk to Columbia Community Creamery. They both do a lot more for the creamery than simply shipping their milk there, and in this episode, you will learn all about what those roles look like, how and why the creamery started and the role it has played in strengthening their local community while providing a more direct connection to local agriculture.

This episode is brought to you by Dairy Management Inc.

DMI - Dairy Checkoff

Do you wonder about the impact of your dairy checkoff investment? Join farmer hosts in conversations about how local and national checkoff works together to build dairy sales and trust in today’s changing marketplace.

The Your Dairy Checkoff podcast is a collaboration between national and local checkoff organizations to showcase examples of how dairy promotion programs are working together to build dairy sales and consumer trust in today’s changing marketplace to maximize dairy farmers’ checkoff investment.

Episodes will explore local, national, and global dairy promotion, including consumer research, dairy nutrition, science, and issue updates. Farmers guide the selection of topics through listener feedback.

Advertisement

To listen, subscribe to the Your Dairy Checkoff podcast on your favorite podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify.


Season 6, Episode 6


Here is a breakdown of the episode:

  • [~1:50] Why the community wanted to start a creamery 
  • [~4:10] Why the board chose to form a nonprofit
  • [~5:45] How a nonprofit creamery operates differently than the processors that most people in the dairy industry are familiar with
  • [~7:15] About the three dairies shipping milk to the creamery
  • [~8:30] The role employees and members of the three dairies play in the creamery’s success
  • [~12:10] A description of the creamery’s products
  • [~14:25] About the new a milk dispenser in the creamery’s store
  • [~16:45] Their process for determining where to sell their products, aside from the creamery’s store
  • [~18:50] A2A2 genetics
  • [~21:30] The community’s response to the creamery
  • [~23:50] How the creamery has “energized” and “reinvigorated” the local dairy industry
  • [~29:10] Stacy and Virginia share what they enjoy most about being part of the creamery
  • [~30:30] Future education and outreach
  • [~32:10] Mentors and other helpful resources
  • [~36:20] How the creamery has helped the three dairies involved prioritize work-life balance
  • [~37:40] Rapid-fire questions


Are you a podcast subscriber?

Keep up with our Progressive Dairy podcast episodes to gain insights from what is happening in the industry to new and evolving management techniques for your operation. Just like our magazine, we’ll cover a multitude of topics including human resources, business management, facilities, repro and genetics, feed and nutrition, calf and heifer raising, dry and transition cows, herd health, hoof health, milk quality, animal welfare and manure handling. Subscribe now to be notified of new releases.

Click here to find past episodes and quick links to subscribe on your favorite platform.