August 26, 2025
WESTBY. Wis. – Westby Cooperative Creamery, the only cottage cheese manufacturer in Wisconsin and a proud farmer-owned cooperative since 1903, has announced a $14.1 million investment to modernize its Westby manufacturing facility. The expansion will boost production efficiency, improve food and employee safety, and ensure long-term stability for the cooperative’s member-owners.
The primary goal of the project is to modernize aging infrastructure and align production capacity with increasing consumer demand for cottage cheese. “Our current equipment is continuing to age so before it meets end-of-life, we want to modernize and, just as important, we want to meet customer demand for this dairy food,” JD Greenwalt, the Creamery’s CEO and president, said.
The project includes:
- A new food-grade room within the existing facility (approx. 80 x 40 feet)
- Installation of four fully enclosed cottage cheese vats (each producing up to 5,700 lbs. of cottage cheese per run)
- Two cream tanks (10,000-gallon capacity)
- One new 30,000-gallon milk silos, sourced in Wisconsin
- Upgraded refrigeration, sanitation and auxiliary equipment
This expansion represents a significant shift toward automation and efficiency. “We’ve been making cottage cheese the same way for 100 years,” Greenwalt said. “This new system reduces the physical strain on employees and enhances consistency in product quality.”
Key operational benefits include:
- Enclosed systems to automate ingredients, testing, and sanitation
- New technology that improves product safety with HEPA-filtered air environments
- Faster processing: production time reduced from 16 hours to 8
- Increased yield: 10–15% more cottage cheese from the same amount of milk
Sustainability & Efficiency Goals
Efficiency is a cornerstone of the project. With less water and energy usage and less product loss due to gentler curd handling, the new system will not only be environmentally friendlier but also more productive. “It’s less water, less energy, less manual labor — to get more product,” Greenwalt said.
The expansion will not increase staffing levels, but it will transform the nature of jobs at the facility — offering less labor-intensive roles. “By modernizing and investing in the plant, the Creamery is protecting current jobs and ensuring long-term stability for our farmer-owners,” Greenwalt said.
The project is designed to cause minimal disruption to existing operations, with construction occurring in a walled-off portion of the facility. Preliminary work has already begun, though key pieces of equipment have a 50-week lead time, which pushes the project’s completion to the fall of 2026.
Responding to Consumer Demand
The project can’t be completed fast enough for the Creamery’s sales team. “Cottage cheese is hot,” Emily Bialkowski, sales and marketing manager, said. “All current cottage cheese capacity is sold, and we are contacted weekly by organizations looking for more. High-protein and clean-label food trends are here to stay.”
In the year ending February 2025, store-brand cottage cheese sales rose 6.5%, while some national brands saw increases of over 25%. The expansion will allow Westby Cooperative Creamery to keep pace with this surge in demand and remain a leader in the healthy dairy category.
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