BEACH CITY, OHIO – The goal of Paint Valley Farm LLC is to build the dairy industry in Holmes County.

Aden Keim, manager for Paint Valley Farm, said the processing facility was started in 2010 when the local goat producers lost their market for their milk. Keim said the goat producers wanted to sell milk and cheese. The producers came together to find a solution. The goat producers teamed up with dairy producers in the area who were looking for a niche market for their milk. They added A2A2 milk and organic milk to their product list. Currently, there are seven producers providing milk for the plant: three organic dairy farms, an organic goat farm and three A2A2 Guernsey dairies. A2A2 milk contains a different strain of the Beta Casein protein giving it a different amino acid chain. Some people feel that A2A2 milk is easier to digest.

“We converted a former pullet operation into the dairy processing plant,” he said. “We had all of the equipment in place and finished with the inspections. We were ready to start processing milk when we had a fire.”

Fortunately, the only damage to the newly renovated 9,000-square-foot building required replacing the roof. None of the equipment was damaged.

Keim said the inspection process at the state level was relatively simple. “The state inspectors were great to work with,” he said. “They were on our side. The federal inspections were more involved.”

Since the facility opened, managing the wastewater has been an issue. Right now, it is being hauled to a wastewater treatment facility for treatment and disposal. This adds to the facility’s cost due to the hauling costs and cost of treating the water.

Whey from the cheese processing is going to a local hog farmer for feed for his pigs.

If they were starting over again, Keim said they would have a better plan in place.

“We would have a plan before we started processing milk,” he said. “We were kind of forced into it in the beginning.”

Keim said they used a common-sense approach for the facility design and they wouldn’t make any major changes in the plant. But putting together a business plan before they started to address budgeting, marketing and product development would have been helpful in the beginning.

He added that it is always a challenge to generate enough milk to keep the facility going and make it profitable. But at the same time, the daily balancing of the milk, especially during the spring flush, adds to the challenge. That is why they added cheese to their product line-up.

Keim said milk from the Guernsey and Holstein herds makes up a majority of the bottled milk and cheese. They take milk from 120-150 cows depending on the number of cows in milk.

“We process between 900 and 1,000 gallons of milk per day,” he said. “We process both organic and A2A2 milk, but we keep them separate here in the plant. We sell our milk in pints, quarts, half gallons and gallon jugs.”

In addition to whole milk, skim milk, low fat and chocolate milk, they also process half and half, heavy cream and yogurt. They manufacture eight different types of cheese from the cow milk. Cow cheeses include Cheddar, Pepper Jack, Mozzarella, Colby, Cream Cheese, and Raw and Pasteurized Cheddar cheese.

“White whole milk is probably our best-seller, and cheddar is our best-selling cheese,” Keim said.

“About 70 percent of our goat milk goes into bottles,” Keim said. “We process about 140 gallons of goat milk at a time. Goat milk makes up about 12 percent of our total. Most of our goat milk is sold in quart and half-gallon bottles.”

Like other processors, Keim said he and his crew have dealt with supply chain issues as they have had trouble getting the plastic jugs they use to bottle their milk.

They process goat cheese, in addition to bottling milk. Goat cheese varieties include Vegetable, Cheddar, Pepper Jack, Gouda, Feta, Chevre, Medium Hard Cheese, and Cow and Goat Cheddar.

Keim said the Chevre is their most popular variety of goat cheese.

They have six full-time and two part-time employees, along with two delivery people.

“The shareholders need the plant to be here for them,” Keim said. “They are interested in creating a market for dairy products.”

Keim said they sell their products in stores in the Cleveland, Columbus and Dayton areas, through Community Supported Agriculture baskets, locally at Wholesome Valley Farm’s location just outside of Wilmot, and through wholesale outlets. Locall, Paint Valley’s shredded Cheddar is on the menu at Mrs. Yoder’s Kitchen.

Keim said they market their products under the private or store labels.

“Sometimes it seems like two different worlds,” Keim said. “One day we are in stores in Cleveland or Columbus with our dairy products, the next day I am milking cows for my son. It is definitely two different worlds, but we need both to make it work.”

Keim said for Paint Valley to continue to grow and be successful, they need to continue to put out a consistent product. They also need to take care of their customers and treat them the way they would want to be treated.

“We want to be able to grow by about 15 percent every year and be an asset to the community,” Keim said. “I try to do my prayers every morning and evening. We trust God to lead me to new opportunities and when he does, I won’t say no.”