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. They found
that in Washington state, Gary
said.
“There’s more support for
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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.
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