Sisters churn skills into business

Lynn Grooms
Aug 10, 2023
Aug 10, 2023

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Sisters Jen Orchard, left, and Julie Orchard, continue a family legacy of working with Guernsey cattle. Their grandparents started milking Guernseys in 1945. The Guernsey genetics currently in the herd at Gurn-Z Meadow Farm, owned by Julie Orchard and Ed Bacon, can be traced back 15 generations, Julie Orchard says. She and her sister are using a portion of the milk to produce butter through Royal Guernsey Creamery of Columbus, Wisconsin.

Lynn Grooms/Agri-View

A Guernsey cow enjoys a mouthful of feed. She's part of the herd at Gurn-Z Meadow Farm that produces milk averaging 4.7 percent fat and 3.4 percent protein, which is valued for producing creamy butter. Guernsey cattle can’t digest beta-carotene; it clings to the fat in their milk, making it golden in hue.

Lynn Grooms/Agri-View

Guernsey cows on average consume 20 percent to 30 percent less feed than larger dairy breeds, per pound of milk produced, according to the American Guernsey Association.

File photo

Butter kernels form in a butter churn with buttermilk. The Orchard sisters lease production space from Sassy Cow Creamery of Columbus, Wisconsin.

Contributed

Hand-packaging butter is a time-consuming job. But it's part of the workings of an artisan business such as Royal Guernsey Creamery. The Orchard sisters chose gold foil to complement the golden color of their hand-crafted butter.

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Royal Guernsey Creamery's signature butter features roasted garlic, cracked black pepper and parsley.

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Royal Guernsey Creamery produces a signature butter as well as a sweet-cinnamon butter and salted butter. The creamery's salted butter was awarded first place in that category in the 2023 Wisconsin State Fairy Dairy Products contest.

Lynn Grooms/Agri-View

Julie Orchard checks on the herd at Gurn-Z Meadow Farm. She and her husband currently milk 150 Guernsey and Holstein cows, 85 of which are Guernseys.

Lynn Grooms/Agri-View

Lynn Grooms

COLUMBUS, Wis. – Life has been “churning” for sisters Jen and Julie Orchard, who began selling their Royal Guernsey Creamery butter in January. Before that first sale they mixed farm work, butter-making skills and good old-fashioned homework – until it turned into a business, just like mixing cream until it turns into butter.

Lynn Grooms writes about the diversity of agriculture, including the industry’s newest ideas, research and technologies as a staff reporter for Agri-View based in Wisconsin.