Sept. 10, 2026
WESTBY, Wis. — Westby Cooperative Creamery celebrated the completion of its $14.1 million cottage cheese modernization project Wednesday with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at its manufacturing plant, marking a major technological advancement just days before the facility turns 100 years old.
The investment by Wisconsin’s only cottage cheese manufacturer replaces a traditional open-vat process with an automated, enclosed-vat system—the first of its kind for cottage cheese production in the United States. The technological overhaul cuts processing time in half from 16 hours down to eight, boosts product yield by 10 to 15 percent from the same volume of milk, and adds seven million pounds of annual production capacity.
“We’re proud to celebrate the completion of this investment and the future of Westby Cooperative Creamery,” said JD Greenwalt, president and CEO. “This project allows us to replace aging equipment before it reaches the end of its useful life while giving us the capacity and technology needed to meet strong customer demand for cottage cheese. It strengthens our cooperative, supports our farmer-owners and ensures we can continue producing high-quality dairy products well into the future”.
Pre-Sold Capacity and Facility Upgrades
Spurred by surging consumer demand for high-protein, clean-label foods, sales teams pre-sold the facility’s entire seven million pounds of new capacity within six months of the project’s initial announcement.
“This investment garnered a lot of attention from current and future customers,” said Emily Bialkowski, sales and marketing manager. “Demand for cottage cheese remains very strong, and this investment gives us the ability to better serve our customers while continuing to grow our business”.
The physical expansion inside the 615 North Main Street facility includes a newly constructed food-grade production room, two fully enclosed cottage cheese vats capable of producing up to 12,000 pounds per run, two 10,000-gallon cream tanks, a 30,000-gallon milk silo manufactured in Wisconsin, and upgraded refrigeration and sanitation systems. Automated controls now manage ingredient delivery, testing, and cleaning, while High-Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA)-filtered environments protect product purity.
While overall staffing levels will remain unchanged, the new equipment transforms job roles at the plant, turning manual, physically grueling tasks—such as shoveling fresh curd by hand to drain water—into automated operator positions. Officials emphasized that the investment protects 150 existing jobs and secures economic stability for member-owners.
The project was financed through a nearly $15.5 million USDA Rural Development Business and Industry Guaranteed Loan issued in partnership with Security Financial Bank. The equipment installation follows an early 2026 brand identity refresh that updated logos and packaging while honoring the co-op’s heritage—a change company leaders likened to “giving a barn a fresh coat of lime”.
In addition to expanding output, the enclosed system lowers water and energy consumption and minimizes product loss through gentler curd handling.
“This investment is about more than increasing production,” Greenwalt said. “It’s about creating a safer, more efficient workplace, improving sustainability and protecting the long-term success of our cooperative and the family farms that own it”.
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