What’s a dairy cooperative?

A dairy cooperative is a business, owned and controlled by the dairy farmers who produce the milk used by the cooperative. At Foremost Farms, we use our member-owners’ milk – more than 6 billion pounds a year – to manufacture cheese, dairy ingredients, butter and fluid products for various markets and applications.

Visionary leadership.

On January 1, 1995, Wisconsin Dairies Cooperative, Baraboo, Wisconsin, and Golden Guernsey Dairy Cooperative, Milwaukee, consolidated to create Foremost Farms USA® Cooperative. The cooperative chose Baraboo for its corporate office and named Donald C. Storhoff as its first president.

There were 5,300 farmer-members in Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin, 25 locations, 1,300 employees, 3.6 billion pounds of milk annually and $775 million in sales.

Wisconsin Dairies was a combination of 38 individual dairy companies, including some that began operating in the late 1890s.
Golden Guernsey Dairy was founded in Milwaukee in 1930 with one home-delivery route and 85 customers.

Morning Glory Farms acquisition.

During the 1995 World Dairy Expo, Foremost Farms announced that it would acquire the Morning Glory Farms Region of AMPI on December 1, 1995.

Toasting to future success are: Don Storhoff, former president, Foremost Farms; Ed Brooks, former chairman of the board, Foremost Farms; Bob Thompson, former region president, Morning Glory Farms Region; and Jim Kasten, former region manager, Morning Glory Farms Region.