Wednesday, March 7, 2012
What started out as a hobby for Bill and Sheri Noffke more than 10 years ago has evolved into the family business that is their livelihood: the Skyview Farm and Creamery.”We started with selling to five or six people, essentially milking one cow,” Sheri said. “But then more people wanted our milk.”
Situated next to the road with plenty of open-grazing land, visitors are greeted at the entrance to the picturesque 80-acre lot that includes the Noffke’s house and newly built creamery with separate drives directing vehicles to the right or left.
The farm is home to about 40 all natural, free- range, grass fed animals, depending on the season.About 12 years ago, the Noffkes moved from Kansas City to Pleasanton, Kan., for Bill to become a pastor. The Skyview Farm initially began as a “hobby farm” that would enable the Noffkes to raise enough food and dairy to be self-sufficient and sell to their friends on the side.
But word of mouth and ever-increasing demand for the all-natural milk, and most recently artisan cheeses made the couple realize they needed a creamery if they were going to continue.
“To milk more cows, we got to the point where we had to build a creamery,” the former schoolteacher said. “We decided it was going to be a big investment but it would bring us to a new place.”
The Noffkes broke ground on the creamery about two years ago and opened for business in November. Complete with an on-site menu, customers can purchase a wide array of dairy products at the Creamery. The Noffkes offer a variety raw milk cheeses by the pound: gouda, asiago, colby, jalepeno cheddar, Jarlsberg, traditional cheddar and feta. Other dairy products sold are yogurt, cream and buttermilk.
A newly developed website and the addition of a newsletter enables the Noffkes to reach more than 1,000 people, with customers coming from as far away as Overland Park and Kansas City. About one-fourth of the customers are local buyers.
The creamery made sense to the couple, not only from a business standpoint but also from a production one. It made the process less tedious for the only employees, Sheri and Bill.
“It makes selling milk easier because I was carrying buckets full of milk into the house,” Sheri said. “Milk is the biggest draw, but I think that is going to change with cheese and the creamery. It was a labor-saving device and it made milk and cheese easier and faster to make.”
Following the construction and completion of the creamery, the Noffkes are now milking 11 cows and selling about 135 gallons of milk to about 60 people a week. Sheri makes about 60 gallons of cheese at once, storing 30 to 35 blocks in the underground cheese “cave” to age.
About 30 to 35 wheels of artisan cheeses are regularly kept in the underground "cave" for a period of no less than two months, the appropriate amount of time for the cheese to age.
In addition to the 20 steers and milking cows, about 19 Alpine goats also call the Skyview Farm home, which adds goat milk and cheese to the menu.
The Noffkes said their three home-schooled children, two of whom are now at college, raised the goats themselves throughout high school.
Lynnae Sullins, assistant manager at Baker’s Thriftstore in Pleasanton, said she started purchasing milk and cheese from Skyview Creamery about a year ago.
What appeals to Sullins is that the products are homemade.
“I was just very impressed with the self-sufficiency,” Sullins said. “And to see how every bit of the milk is going to use.”
Sullins said it is obvious how much of themselves the Noffkes have put into their business.
“Emotionally and mentally, it’s their livelihood,” Sullins said.
Of the many different flavors offered at the Creamery, Sullins said her go-to choice is the jalapeño-cheddar cheese.
“It’s my absolute favorite,” she said.
The all-natural products have more of a “pure taste,” Sullins said, which is exactly what the Noffkes were going for.
“We wanted to do it all natural,” Bill said. “The old-fashioned way.”
Although Skyview Farm and Creamery’s products are not certified organic, minus the stamp, Bill and Sheri say their operation is as close as it gets.
The Noffkes encourage all of their animals to eat grass, which they say improves the taste and nutritional value of the milk, and they refuse to give their animals any antibiotics and hormones.
There are risks associated with the consumption of raw milk including foodborne illnesses, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website, but the Noffkes swear by their all-natural products.
The Skyview Farm and Creamery is not Grade-A certified yet and products cannot be sold off the farm. The couple is looking to become certified sometime within the next year.
Financially, Bill said the couple hasn’t “turned a corner on the business yet,” but both are hopeful.
“We have worked really, really hard,” Sheri said. “We like to cut out the middle man and there’s no point to paying someone else to put it in the store. Is it worth it? Oh, yes. What’s really worth it to me is when I hear stories of people who get their health back because of drinking our milk.”
Angelique McNaughton 