Drive twenty miles north outside the bustling streets of Madison, Wis., and the landscape quickly changes from city life to cow country. There you’ll find Sassy Cow Creamery, a unique farm store where the Baerwolf family serves up ice cream, bottled milk and a warm welcome from its two family-owned dairies.
What began with 50 cows and a parlor has grown into a two-site, 900-cow operation connected to a stand-alone creamery. Today, the business reaches beyond the farm and into grocery stores and restaurants, while still drawing steady traffic from visitors who come for a look at the cows, a tour of the farm and a scoop from the ice cream case.
A New Path for a Growing Dairy
For James Baerwolf and his brother, Robert, owning a dairy plant was never their original plan. Yet by 2008, they were running one—bottling their own milk and churning ice cream for customers across Wisconsin and into the Chicago area.
“We’ve been dairy farming ever since we got out of college in the early 90s,” Baerwolf says. “We expanded the farm to house 200 cows in a small freestall barn and milked in a parlor.”
Growth came gradually at first, then more deliberately as the herd expanded and the land base supported more production. Eventually, a second milking site was added. But instead of conventional milk, the family decided to turn this second site into an organic herd.
“In 2000, we recognized the growing consumer trend and interest in organic foods, so we developed a portion of our herd using organic practices,” Baerwolf says. “The organic herd consists of 250 cows that live a half mile north of the original farm location. A considerable amount of the organic cows’ diet is from grass grown on our organic pastures.”
The move into organic production also sparked a larger conversation about the farm’s future. As more consumers became interested in where their food came from, the Baerwolfs saw an opportunity to connect directly with those customers instead of shipping all of their milk into the commodity market.
Building a creamery would allow them to capture more value from the milk they produced while giving consumers a chance to experience the farm firsthand. Although it was a bold investment and a significant risk at the time, nearly two decades later, the family has never looked back. What began as a way to diversify the business has grown into a destination that brings visitors face-to-face with the family’s cows, land and commitment to dairy farming.
Why Move Into Processing
The decision to build a creamery came down to timing, geography and a desire to diversify the business while they had room to take risks.
“We were kind of at an age in our 30s where we had a little experience under our belt, but yet we still had a little time to try some new things and take some risks,” Baerwolf says.
Location also played a direct role. The farm sits in central southern Wisconsin, within reach of Madison and other population centers that can support a farmstead dairy brand.
“Being right here kind of in the center of southern Wisconsin is a good place to have a farmstead creamery,” Baerwolf explains. “"Fluid milk has to stay close to home because it’s not practical to ship it long distances. Within about 250 miles, we can reach a lot of consumers.”
Looking back, Baerwolf says several factors came together at just the right time to make the creamery possible.
“Between the timing and our location and our kind of interest in diversifying, that’s probably the main motivations for doing the creamery at that time,” he says.
Starting with Milk, Building into Ice Cream
When the plant opened in 2008, the goal was to establish a reliable bottled milk business before branching into other dairy products. Once that foundation was in place, they began adding ice cream to help grow the creamery.
“We started with milk right away,” Baerwolf explains. “But ice cream and milk complement each other well, so it made sense for us to start crafting our own ice cream soon after.”
Standardizing milk into whole, 2%, 1%, and skim created cream separation as a byproduct, and that opened the door to ice cream production without a completely separate line of investment.
“When you’re bottling milk, you’re separating it into different butterfat levels, which leaves you with extra cream,” he says. “Once you have that, you already have most of the equipment you need to make ice cream.”
Even with that efficiency, the upfront cost was substantial.
“Building a creamery requires a lot of upfront investment,” Baerwolf says. “You’re putting together a small dairy plant, and even though it’s not a large facility, it still costs a lot of money.”
The payoff didn’t come quickly. Like many farmstead processors, they had to build both production volume and a customer base at the same time.
“It took about five years before we felt like the business had some stability,” he recalls. “By then, we had built a market for our products and were using a good share of our own milk. It really takes patience because you have to develop your customer base, build distribution and let the marketing come together over time.”
Learning Food Manufacturing from Scratch
While transitioning from shipping milk to a cooperative to running a dairy plant paid off, it also meant building an entirely new skill set.
“The biggest challenge in the beginning was just learning how to get the plant going” James laughs.
For him, farming experience didn’t automatically translate to processing, marketing or regulatory compliance.
“As a farmer, you’re not trained to run a food manufacturing business,” he says. “You have to figure out the equipment, the production process, the marketing and all the regulations. There are a lot of moving parts, and it’s a steep learning curve.”
Labor needs also changed quickly once the plant came online.
“We had to hire more employees right away,” he says. “Once you start processing milk into gallons, quarts, pints and other products like ice cream, it quickly becomes a much bigger operation that requires additional help.”
Today, the creamery employs about 15 full-time people in processing and roughly 20 more in the retail storefront handling customers, scooping ice cream and managing traffic. On the farm side, about 10 employees help keep the dairy running.
Herd Decisions and Facility Upgrades
Today the herd remains predominantly Holstein, with a small mix of other breeds used partly for herd diversity and partly for visitor appeal.
“We’re probably about 90% Holstein, but we have a few other breeds mixed in,” Baerwolf says. “A lot of customers come out to the farms, and we enjoy showing them around through our tours. They enjoy seeing the mix of breeds.”
Because the creamery is focused on fluid milk rather than cheese, production priorities lean toward volume over component premiums.
“Since we supply a fluid milk plant, we focus more on producing volume than maximizing components,” he explains. “Milk with extremely high butterfat and protein levels is valuable, but that’s not what you’re selling when it’s going into whole milk.”
In 2017, the farm reinvested in its milking infrastructure with a 40-stall rotary parlor. The decision came as part of the farm’s ongoing effort to update facilities and improve efficiency as the operation continued to grow.
“As things start to wear out on a farm, you have to reinvest in your facilities,” Baerwolf says. “For us, adding the rotary parlor was just the natural next step.”
The rotary parlor allowed the farm to streamline the milking process and create a more consistent experience for both cows and employees. By keeping cows moving through the parlor efficiently, the system helped maximize labor and cow-side efficiency while providing a comfortable environment for the herd.
Beyond the management benefits, the rotary parlor also became a valuable tool for connecting with consumers. With many customers visiting the farm for tours, the open, visible design gives visitors a firsthand look at modern dairy farming and how technology and facility design support cow care.
“People enjoy seeing it,” Baerwolf says. “It’s a good way for them to understand what we do and see the cows being milked.”
Ice Cream Development and Flavor Pipeline
Ice cream has become one of the most visible consumer-facing pieces of the business, and flavor development has turned into a constant feedback loop.
“Ice cream is one of those products where there’s never a shortage of flavor ideas,” Baerwolf says. “People are always coming up with new suggestions, and we’re always hearing what customers would like to see next.”
Ideas come from customers, employees, and other ice cream shops, with new flavors tested alongside a core lineup.
“For the most part, we stick with traditional flavors,” he says. “You see some newer, more unique ice cream flavors out there, and we might experiment with a few of them, but they probably won’t become our mainstays.”
Customer preferences and dietary trends are also influencing product development. The farm has started adding more options, including lactose-free and gluten-free ice creams, to meet the changing needs of consumers.
“People’s tastes are so different,” he says. “We have to start doing more of those options, like lactose-free ice cream and gluten-free ice cream, to give customers more choices.”
Seasonality also plays a role in what flavors are offered, with special releases rotating throughout the year. Summer favorites, fall-inspired flavors and holiday offerings help keep the selection fresh and give customers something new to look forward to.
“Your favorite flavor tends to be the newest ones because they are new and different,” Baerwolf laughs. “But if I had to pick just one, I’d go with our dark cherry chocolate. It hits the spot all year round.”
Reaching Customers in Multiple Directions
Today, the creamery supplies milk and ice cream to about 100 grocery stores and nearly 75 restaurants and coffee shops, primarily throughout Wisconsin and the Chicago area. But even as distribution has expanded, the farm’s on-site experience remains an important part of the business.
“As the area around us becomes more urbanized and the population continues to grow, the on-farm store and agritourism become a larger part of what we do,” Baerwolf says.
The farm’s tours are a major draw, especially during the warmer months. From late spring through early fall, visitors regularly come to the farm to learn more about dairy production and see the operation firsthand.
“Our big tour season is from May until October,” Baerwolf explains. “During that time, most days of the week, every week, we’re doing tours.”
The business is built around three main areas: fluid milk, ice cream and direct-to-consumer experiences through the farm store and tours.
“You have the fluid milk, which is our largest product,” he says. “Then you have the ice cream, and then you have your own store. That’s kind of the third leg of the business.”
A Path for the Next Generation
Now, the next generation is beginning to step into both the farm and the business side of the creamery.
“We have children now who are starting to finish school and become more involved in the farm and the businesses,” Baerwolf says. “As they start thinking about their futures, what role they want to have and whether they want to help carry the operation forward becomes a bigger part of the conversation.”
For the Baerwolf family, that means the business continues to evolve. The structure is in place, but the details are still shifting, shaped by family involvement, product development and the steady stream of visitors coming down the lane for a look at the cows and a scoop from the ice cream case.
