We’re proud to be a cooperative because it means that the people who actually work the soil and milk the cows also own the business.

That approach made sense to our founders nearly a century ago, and it still makes sense to us today.

Doing Things Differently
We understand that ours is a unique approach in the industry. In fact, we have been defying trends since the beginning.

Size
One difference has been our desire to remain smaller in size than the average western dairy. Our farmers work on small to moderate-sized farms with herds averaging 200 cows.

Cow Feeds
Farmer-owners also rely on different feeds than many others in the dairy industry. Because virtually all of our farmland is permanent or semi-permanent grassland, any other kind of feed than grass would have to be imported into the county. So we’ve focused on supplying as much of our cows’ forage needs as possible from our grass-based pastureland.

No Artificial Bovine Growth Hormones
Our farmer-owners and contract milk suppliers for our cheese production are in compliance certifying that milk for cheese production delivered to our facilities in Boardman and Tillamook Oregon is from cows not supplemented with artificial bovine growth hormone rBST. We adopted this policy in 2005, largely based on recommendations from our customers gathered during market and consumer research.

Breed Mix
The mix of cow breeds you will find on our owners' farms is another way we’ve distinguished ourselves. Most are Holstein-Friesians, but you’ll also find Jersey, Guernsey and Brown Swiss. That’s because our experience has taught us that these cows have higher protein and butter fat levels in their milk, which produces more cheese.