November 07, 2009
What's Inside:
Dairy dazzles ag official
5,000 expected for Family Day today at Shatto, near Osborn
5,000 expected for Family Day today at Shatto, near Osborn
Leroy Shatto, right, talks about his dairy and milk bottling operation to Dr. Jon Hagler, left, Missouri Director of Agriculture. Shatto Milk Co. received a grant from the department to develop cheese products from its milk.
OSBORN, Mo. — Leroy Shatto poured the Missouri Director of Agriculture a sample of an experimental flavor of milk: Cotton candy.
Director Dr. Jon Hagler exclaimed it was excellent.
Mr. Shatto held up the glass bottle of blue milk. “You ought to see the cow that comes from,” he joked.
The Shatto Milk Co. is one of the department’s greatest success stories, Dr. Hagler said. Friday afternoon, he visited the dairy near Osborn, Mo., to recognize awarding of an $88,000 grant.
Mr. Shatto is using the money to develop cheese products. He said producing cheeses will use excess milk when demand for bottled milk decreases. Next week, an artisan cheese maker from New England will visit the dairy to train the staff in making different varieties. “I think this cheese will be bigger than I ever dreamed,” Mr. Shatto said.
Already the dairy has exceeded his expectations. He begun selling farm fresh milk in glass bottles in June 2003. Milk drinkers instantly took to the product and Shatto Milk added flavored milks, butter, eggnog, ice cream and, most recently, cheese curds.
Shatto Milk was named the runner up as the nation’s best small business.
The little dairy, located on Missouri Highway 33 south of U.S. Highway 36, also has become a tourist draw. Today, about 5,000 people are expected to attend Family Day at the Farm. The event from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. will include hay rides, petting baby calves and milk samples.
“People want to see where their milk comes from and what a cow looks like,” Mr. Shatto said.
Dr. Hagler praised Shatto for giving consumers a connection with the earth. He hopes more family farms will use the value added grants to extend their operations.
“We believe the future of agriculture rests in a lot of ways with these small operations,” he said.
Susan Mires can be reached at susanm@npgco.com.
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If Shatto Dairy is so successful, why are they receiving my tax dollars to develop a new product?
local artisnal cheese........ yummy!
Ummm because they are so successful I presume. At least they will use the grant for something they will succeed with and people will enjoy.
Can I guess Berks you have never tasted Shatto Milk whole chocolate milk?? Please do if you haven't, its the BEST THING EVER!!!
Milk bottled and to stores within 24 hours of milking and in glass bottles...can't get much better than that!
I can only guess what the ice cream tastes like, but I bet it is good! And now cheese? Can't wait!
Sadly though, only buying Shatto Milk was one of the things I had to cut back with the economy the last couple of years, but I do plan to be a repeat customer...and soon. I hated having to do that. My family missed it terribly (although we still splurged for the whole chocolate milk every once and awhile).
suzyQ:
“Milk bottled and to stores within 24 hours of milking and in glass bottles...can't get much better than that!”
The only way is to get it straight out of the bulk tank where it goes from the cow before it gets pasteurized and homogenized.
You just can’t beat raw milk. Get up in the morning and skim the cream off the top to put in your oatmeal…yum.
I was raised on a (Jersey) dairy, on the edge of town, and we sold fresh milk in 1/2 gal glass bottles every morning (we had no electricity, so no refrigeration). The rest we sold as cream to a regional co-op "creamery, which made butter and cheese(from farmers that sold them whole milk. The evening milking we "chilled" in our cellar.
We finally had to quit selling fresh whole milk when state regs became impossible to meet, unless we built a "grade A" facility (including electricity, refrigeration, etc. even though our MILK passed all their checks. It was merely a way of pushing out the small family dairies. They succeeded. Another case of overregulation killing small businesses. I hope the Shatto dairy succeeds.