WCMA Notes: U.S. Sheep Cheeses Ever-Poised for Growth

The fuse poised to ignite the U.S. sheep cheese industry continues its slow burn. A cheese category that has seen U.S. retail sales rise 14 percent in the past year remains dominated by imports, while quality domestic sheep cheeses strain to find mass appeal.  

The quality is there: Sheep milk cheeses from the U.S. fared well against European competitors in the 2022 World Championship Cheese Contest, taking 11 of the possible 24 medals in eight sheep milk cheese classes – and tying with Europe for gold medals. U.S. medalists included farmsteads and cheesemakers in California, New York, Missouri, Tennessee, and Wisconsin. 

And variety as well: Europeans prize the aged Pyrenees-style hard cheeses and cured Manchegos, original American styles and soft, spreadable cheeses dominate in the U.S. and sheep ricotta and feta are in demand worldwide. 

The U.S. industry is passionate group of farmers and makers, says Karen Nielsen, who leads the Sheep Dairy Association of Wisconsin. The challenge, she believes, is on the demand side. “People are excited by sheep milk cheese when they try it, and we need to transfer that interest to demand,” Nielsen says. “The question is: How do we make these great U.S. sheep dairy products break through?”  

Speaking with multiple farms and makers, WCMA found repeated themes of an industry too small to develop mass production, effective marketing campaigns and economies of scale. One positive development is a shift from inadequate sheep milk supplies to a small surplus, at least in Wisconsin. 

The success of the now 800-ewe farm in southern Wisconsin – Ms. J and Company – has added a ready supply of high-component milk from the Spanish Assaf breed, developed by partners Mariana Marques de Almeida, Jeff Wideman and Shirley Knox. Mariana, leader at the farm, notes that her ability to lift milk production is capped only by demand. The farm produced 544,000 pounds of milk onsite in 2022 and more than 700,000 pounds in 2023. Two freezers onsite can hold up to 40,000 pounds of milk in bulk bags.  

“I always think sheep cheeses should be due for an explosion – especially given the quality and variety of products out there,” says Bob Wills, owner of Cedar Grove Cheese. “But sheep cheese requires a lot of education and consumer sampling.”  

Wills notes that the value-added price for sheep cheeses can be a barrier to sales. Milk moves at more than $100/cwt., tempered by cheese yields 50 percent higher than cow’s milk.  Low overall milk volumes mean farm milk pickup costs are high, he adds, and small-vat production lacks efficiency.  

A 2021 market research study funded by Dairy Business Innovation Alliance and executed by Mintel Consultants found that more than half of consumers (54 percent) who purchase sheep milk cheeses are willing to pay more for sheep milk cheese than cow’s milk cheeses. This survey of sheep (and goat) milk cheese buyers found that about 33 percent purchase sheep milk cheese at least once per week and another third buy once per month. 

Globally, sheep produce about 23 billion pounds of milk. The U.S. industry is a fraction of this supply, with less than 200 dairy sheep farms mainly concentrated in New York, Vermont, Wisconsin and California.  In 2012, University of Wisconsin professor Dave Thomas estimated U.S. sheep milk production at 9.4 million pounds, yielding the potential for 1.5 to 2 million pounds of sheep milk cheeses. In 2010, UW Extension estimated Wisconsin sheep milk production at 1.0 million pounds.  

Old data, yet Wisconsin has about the same number of sheep dairies – just 13 – as it did a decade ago. Amy Forgues, owner and cheesemaker at Hidden Springs Creamery near Westby, WI reports that America is the world’s top importer of sheep milk cheese. American cheesemakers make only one percent of the sheep milk cheese consumed in the nation. “How can we capture that – capture more market share?” she asks. 

Hidden Springs founder Brenda Jensen sold the Western Wisconsin sheep farm and cheese plant to Amy and Travis Forgues in April 2023, and the couple, former leaders at Organic Valley Cooperative, are pleased with the opportunity. Hidden Springs has a flock of French Lacaune sheep, with weekday cheesemaking at the creamery and weekend milk sales to Hook’s Cheese. The new owners have increased herd size to 600-700 breeding aged animals and about 300 milking at a time, year around. 

Ocooch Reserve, an aged hard sheep cheese produced at Hidden Springs, earned a gold medal at the 2022 World Championship Cheese Contest. And in the spring of 2023, the creamery won three first place awards at the American Cheese Society Contest for their Farmstead Feta, Ocooch Mountain and Wischago varieties. 

A double gold medalist in the 2023 U.S. Championship Cheese Contest with its sheep milk feta and hard Sweet Annie cheese, Landmark Creamery in Paoli, WI, is preparing for its next move. Anna Landmark and her business partner Anna Thomas Bates will be moving cheese production in 2024 from co-packing at Cedar Grove Cheese in Plain, WI, to a production location to be announced soon. 

This small manufacturer has enough demand to build inventory. The challenge, Anna Landmark notes, will be meeting capital and equipment needs at the new location. 

A niche market that has brought success to makers ranging from Old Chatham Creamery in New York to Carr Valley Cheese in Wisconsin and Bellwether Farms in California, sheep cheese remains a passion-driven industry. Mariana at Ms. J and Company is eager to see the industry advance. 

“If we want this industry to thrive and produce American-made sheep cheeses to compete in the marketplace,” she states, “we need to build a community that can economically thrive producing sheep milk, and sheep milk cheeses, just like the cow dairy industry.”