Dane County Helping Town of Vienna Farm Grow Dairy Herd, Produce More Milk, Create New Jobs
June 15, 2010
Joshua Wescott, Office of the County Executive (608) 267-8823 or cell (608) 669-5606
County Executive
County, State Partner to Assist Expansion of White Gold Dairy
An economic development loan from Dane County and the Wisconsin Department of Commerce will help a dairy farm in the Town of Vienna expand, County Executive Kathleen Falk announced today. The $175,000 loan ($87,500 each from Dane County’s Revolving Loan Fund for Economic Development and the State Department of Commerce) will help the White Gold Dairy purchase 350 new cows.
“Our county is not only the fastest growing by population in the state, but it’s also among the top counties in milk production,” County Executive Kathleen Falk said. “Agriculture is a $3-billion dollar a year part of our county’s economy and it’s important we help farmers continue to do what they do best – put the highest quality products on our kitchen tables.”
To accommodate the new cows, the farm is planning an expansion including construction of a new 350 cow free stall barn and adding more stalls in their milking parlor. The farm will also construct a new nine-million gallon lagoon and a 60x125 foot bunker silo with runoff controls. The total cost of the expansion is around $2.4 million.
In addition to construction laborers, the expansion will add four new permanent jobs at the farm to help with milking the additional cows.
White Gold Dairy is owned and operated by the Maier Family who have been milking cows since 1922. White Gold Dairy sells their milk to Grande Cheese company.
The Maier Family is one of three dairies working cooperatively as part of the Dane County Manure Digester “Cow Power” project. The manure digester will be built, owned, and operated by Clear Horizons, LLC of Milwaukee. The new facility will convert methane from the cow manure into millions of dollars of electricity and remove the bulk of the lake algae-growing phosphorus found in manure.
The $87,500 Dane County Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Economic Development Revolving Loan has a seven-year term with an interest rate of 4%.
The loan application was reviewed and recommended by the Dane County CDBG Commission, the CDBG Revolving Loan Subcommittee, and the Dane County Economic Development Committee. A resolution authorizing the loan is being considered by the county board. Pending approval by the county board and signature by the County Executive, the $87,500 loan will be granted to White Gold Dairy.