Discover the pros and cons of starting a commercial goat dairy, goal setting, product development, labor needs, customer base, and marketing and sales, based on Leslie Cooperbrand’s 20 years of experience operating Illinois's first farmstead creamery. She will cover regulatory requirements, using Illinois Department of Public Health as an example and will provide a basic framework for determining start-up and operating costs. You’ll hear examples from her experiences creating and running Prairie Fruits Farm & Creamery, Champaign, IL.
Leslie began her professional career as an ecologist-turned-soil scientist, spending 15 years as an academic researcher focused on soil health and organic matter management. She developed and led numerous Extension workshops and published materials on composting, compost use, and building local food systems.
In 2003, she and her husband moved from Madison, Wisconsin, to central Illinois, where they purchased a small rural property in Champaign County. Over the next two decades, they transformed their landscape into a thriving perennial agriculture system, founded and managed Illinois’ first farmstead creamery—Prairie Fruits Farm & Creamery—earned numerous national cheese and agritourism awards, and welcomed thousands of visitors to experience farm-to-table dining and unique agricultural adventures. Their pasture-based goat dairy was certified “Animal Welfare Approved” by A Greener World for 12 years and operated seasonally.
Currently, she and her husband own a 46-acre farm adjacent to Prairie Fruits Farm & Creamery, where they are restoring the land to native prairie, wetlands, and woodlands. She consults on artisan and farmstead cheesemaking, pasture-based goat dairying, and regenerative agriculture. In addition to her consulting work, she writes a weekly Substack essay and is working on a book about her life as a dairy farmer and cheesemaker.
You can contact Leslie on ... Email: lrcoop60@gmail.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/leslie.cooperband Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lrcoop60/ Susbstack: https://substack.com/@lesliecooperband
Check out my podcast on Prairie Fruits Farm and Creamery: https://thriftyhomesteader.com/prairie-fruits-farm-and-creamery/
Check out my Homegrown Business Course: https://thriftyhomesteader.thrivecart.com/homegrown-business/
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