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14 CapitalPress.com June 2, 2017 To add value, dairy farmers say, ‘Cheese’ By SUZANNE FRARY For the Capital Press CHEHALIS, Wash. — Southwest Washington dairy farmer Sharon McCool makes cheeses that are sought out by Seattle chefs. Her husband, Gary Mc- Cool, attributes her success to stubbornness. She made her first batch about 10 years ago. It wasn’t a hit. She produced a small wheel without much flavor. The McCools bought their cheesemaking equip- ment from a Helvetia, Ore., cheesemaker. Anoth- er cheesemaker, Don Ger- ber, from Switzerland, of- fered advice and a family recipe for Swiss cheese. They set up the equipment at Rosecrest Farm, their 125- acre organic dairy. Sharon McCool tried again with the new equipment and her hus- band’s encouragement. “I always thought we need- ed additional income from our dairy,” Gary said. Cheese now accounts for just 5 percent of the McCools’ business, but it distinguish- es their dairy from others, he said. Trying something different has been a theme in the Mc- Cools’ adventurous lives. Gary McCool grew up on a farm in Oregon. He struck out on his own and bought one acre and one cow. It was the first of four farms he has owned over the years. Sharon McCool took a very different path. She was a 22-year-old Eugene, Ore., hairdresser when a client asked if she’d like to train to perform on a flying trapeze. A few weeks later, she debuted in Sweden and performed in circuses for 15 years. The McCools had 40 milk- ing cows in Sheridan, Ore., before buying Rosecrest Farm in 2000. The farm has been around since 1903. They moved to find a busi- ness climate more friendly to small dairies. 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CHECK OUT OUR NEW WEBSITE! www.ErnstIrrigation.com 20179 Main St., St. Paul, OR 97137 • (503) 633-1111 dairies in Lewis County,” he said. The McCools needed an- other change after a few years of farming in Washington. “In 2006, I was getting paid the same for milk as in 1985,” Gary said. Looking for a higher price for their milk, the McCools switched to organic farming. “It was a matter of surviv- al,” Sharon said. They had always pastured their cows and had not used chemicals in their fields, so transitioning to organic pro- duction was easy, Gary said. Rosecrest Farm belongs to the Organic Valley co-op. The cheese room is feet from the milking parlor, where shorthorn cows line up in the farm’s 1914 barn. Milk is piped to a 40-gallon vat. Sharon uses Gerber’s Swiss recipe to make Rosecrest Farm Mountain Swiss cheese. Building on the basic recipe, She has cre- ated flavors such as Country Herb and Garlic Swiss and Spicy-Pepperoni Swiss. Finished cheese ages for about two months. She sells cheese online, in her farm store and at farmers’ markets in Chehalis and Taco- Suzanne Frary/For the Capital Press Sharon and Gary McCool stand outside their store on Rosecrest Farm, an organic dairy in Chehalis, Wash. Sharon McCool uses milk from the couple’s shorthorn cows to make several flavors of Swiss cheese. ma, Wash., and Astoria, Ore. Rosecrest Farm cheeses are also served in Seattle’s Space Needle restaurant, Por- tage Bay Cafe and Fairmont Olympic Hotel. When the McCools retire, their son, Keith McCool, will take over the business. Whatever the future holds for the farm, it might not in- clude expansion. The dairy has 165 milking cows. Dairies with more than 200 milking cows are subject to new ma- nure-handling rules written by the state Department of Ecol- ogy. “That limits future growth,” Keith McCool said. 2017 PIONEER 700 M2 • 4X4 • 3-SPD. 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