Dairy Farm Has Milk “In The Bag”
More than 800 Wisconsin dairy farmers closed their operations in 2019, but Pete Tetzner has no plans to join those ranks anytime soon. Even though Tetzner Dairy has just 60 milk cows, way below the Wisconsin average of 200 head, his family operation is doing well because they sell 300 to 400 one-gallon bags of branded milk every other day. They also produce and sell fresh ice cream.
The Tetzner farm sits on 420 acres, overlooking Lake Superior near Washburn. The operation has been in the Tetzner family for 4 generations, since Pete’s great-grandmother sold raw milk in bottles several decades ago. In 1976, Wisconsin passed a law banning the sale of raw milk and that same year, the Tetzner family opened a processing plant with plans to sell packaged milk directly to consumers.
“My grandpa found used equipment at auctions and back then there was a lot of smaller equipment around,” Tetzner says. “Even today our equipment isn’t very large, but it works well even though it’s older. Our seperator, homogenizer and pastuerizer are all from the 1950’s and 60’s.” Tetzner says it would be difficult to find replacement parts for their decades-old processing equipment, but the family keeps the equipment running smoothly.
With bottled milk customers would sometimes forget to return the bottles or, after consuming the milk, would use the bottles to store other liquids such as gas and pickle juice. “Those bottles would sometimes come back and if you got anything like that in the wash water it was a real problem,” Tetzner says. “Those problems caused him to look for an alternative and he found it at an auction where people were talking about milk in plastic bags. A short time later he acquired the equipment to bag milk. The Tetzners now use a machine Pete’s grandfather purchased in Canada in 1995. The upgraded mechanical model isn’t slowed by humidity and Pete says it’s “been a really good machine.”
At the operation’s peak, the dairy was bagging 600 to 700 gallons of milk every other day and the Tetzner’s milk nourished many families along the Chequamegon Bay for several years. “There were a lot of big families around, and when you have kids in the house they drink a lot of milk,” Tetzner says. “That part has changed over the years with smaller families, and people just don’t drink as much milk as they used to.”
Even though their bagging volume is half what it was, they’ve maintained a successful business by adding ice cream to their product mix. That occurred when they started selling 2 percent rather than just whole milk, and the additional cream opened the door for ice cream production. Tetzner says it seemed like the logical thing to do and it’s worked out well.
Their current sales facility offers self-serve products and the Tetzners rely on honest costumers to stay profitable. Customers select their items, list them on an envelope, drop money into the envelope, and place it in a cash box. “It’s interesting when we have out-of-towners stop in and they’re not used to this approach,” Tetzner says, “but for the most part, it’s worked out great.”
In addition to the retail store Tetzner also sells his products in several stores around the Chequamegon Bay. He says expansion to additional markets is unlikely due to the high cost of transporting the products and the fact demand for traditional milk is going down.
“People tell us they can taste the difference in our milk compared to regular store bought milk because of the quality and freshness,” Tetzner says. “I think it’ll be more challenging to sell bagged milk in the years ahead, but we look for ice cream to keep things moving. Right now we’re having a hard time keeping up, and I don’t see that going away. We’re able to stay in business because of our processing plant, which allows us to operate with a smaller herd. Without our processing plant it would be tough to stick around with the way milk prices are,” Tetzner adds.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Tetzner Dairy Farm, 30455 Nevers Rd., Washburn, Wis. 54891 (ph 715 373-2330; www.Tetznerdairy.com).
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Dairy Farm Has Milk “In The Bag” DAIRY EQUIPMENT & IDEAS More than 800 Wisconsin dairy farmers closed their operations in 2019 but Pete Tetzner has no plans to join those ranks anytime soon Even though Tetzner Dairy has just 60 milk cows way below the Wisconsin average of 200 head his family operation is doing well because they sell 300 to 400 one-gallon bags of branded milk every other day They also produce and sell fresh ice cream The Tetzner farm sits on 420 acres overlooking Lake Superior near Washburn The operation has been in the Tetzner family for 4 generations since Pete’s great-grandmother sold raw milk in bottles several decades ago In 1976 Wisconsin passed a law banning the sale of raw milk and that same year the Tetzner family opened a processing plant with plans to sell packaged milk directly to consumers “My grandpa found used equipment at auctions and back then there was a lot of smaller equipment around ” Tetzner says “Even today our equipment isn’t very large but it works well even though it’s older Our seperator homogenizer and pastuerizer are all from the 1950’s and 60’s ” Tetzner says it would be difficult to find replacement parts for their decades-old processing equipment but the family keeps the equipment running smoothly With bottled milk customers would sometimes forget to return the bottles or after consuming the milk would use the bottles to store other liquids such as gas and pickle juice “Those bottles would sometimes come back and if you got anything like that in the wash water it was a real problem ” Tetzner says “Those problems caused him to look for an alternative and he found it at an auction where people were talking about milk in plastic bags A short time later he acquired the equipment to bag milk The Tetzners now use a machine Pete’s grandfather purchased in Canada in 1995 The upgraded mechanical model isn’t slowed by humidity and Pete says it’s “been a really good machine ” At the operation’s peak the dairy was bagging 600 to 700 gallons of milk every other day and the Tetzner’s milk nourished many families along the Chequamegon Bay for several years “There were a lot of big families around and when you have kids in the house they drink a lot of milk ” Tetzner says “That part has changed over the years with smaller families and people just don’t drink as much milk as they used to ” Even though their bagging volume is half what it was they’ve maintained a successful business by adding ice cream to their product mix That occurred when they started selling 2 percent rather than just whole milk and the additional cream opened the door for ice cream production Tetzner says it seemed like the logical thing to do and it’s worked out well Their current sales facility offers self-serve products and the Tetzners rely on honest costumers to stay profitable Customers select their items list them on an envelope drop money into the envelope and place it in a cash box “It’s interesting when we have out-of-towners stop in and they’re not used to this approach ” Tetzner says “but for the most part it’s worked out great ” In addition to the retail store Tetzner also sells his products in several stores around the Chequamegon Bay He says expansion to additional markets is unlikely due to the high cost of transporting the products and the fact demand for traditional milk is going down “People tell us they can taste the difference in our milk compared to regular store bought milk because of the quality and freshness ” Tetzner says “I think it’ll be more challenging to sell bagged milk in the years ahead but we look for ice cream to keep things moving Right now we’re having a hard time keeping up and I don’t see that going away We’re able to stay in business because of our processing plant which allows us to operate with a smaller herd Without our processing plant it would be tough to stick around with the way milk prices are ” Tetzner adds Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Tetzner Dairy Farm 30455 Nevers Rd Washburn Wis 54891 ph 715 373-2330; www Tetznerdairy com
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