Some dairy farms decide to take on-farm processing to the next level by opening a retail store. This serves as an opportunity to provide products directly to consumers.

The four farms in our February 10, 2020, Round Table article, “They sell their own products,” have found success with the retail store model as a way to sell their own milk and dairy products. In order to better serve their customers, these farms have gone beyond dairy when it comes to the food available in their store.

For example, the Kilgus family (pictured) from Fairbury, Ill., raises a variety of livestock to sell as meat in their country store along with fluid milk and ice cream produced in their own creamery. This includes Jersey beef, Berkshire pork, and Boer goat meat.

In addition, these farm families have also made connections with local businesses to sell their products in the store. This allows the dairy farmers to expand their offerings for customers while supporting other local farms and giving them an outlet to sell their goods. Read on to see what other products these dairy farm families offer in their retail store.

DeBacker Family Dairy Farm, Daggett, Mich.: We sell milk, ice cream, cheese, beef, pork, and lamb. All the meat is grown here on the farm. We work with Laack’s Cheese out of Greenleaf, Wis., for our cheese and other supplies.

Glo-Crest Dairy and Mountain Fresh Creamery, Clermont, Ga.: We sell other “Georgia grown” products with pride! We love to support local small farmers and small businesses. We offer jams, jellies, grits, baking mixes, honey, sausage, cheeses, ready-to-cook meals, sauces, and so forth. We also market our own ground beef from our farm. We sell farm novelties with our logo and our own customized T-shirts.

Kilgus Farmstead, Fairbury, Ill.: We work with several other value-added farms and stock their products in our store as well as redistribute these products on our wholesale milk routes. These items include jams and jellies, honey, local cheeses, yogurt, and butter, as well as popcorn, teas and coffees, salves and oils, and Kilgus branded clothing.

Oak Lawn Farm and Kelley Country Creamery, Fond du Lac, Wis.: We sell fresh cheese curds from a local cheese maker and artisan butter from another value-added farm. We sell Sartori Cheese and glass-bottled milk from our dairy processor. All of these relationships work very well.