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Midway• To carry his third-generation family farm into the fourth, dairyman Grant Kohler had two choices: move the dairy from its roots in the Heber Valley and massively increase production, or build a niche market selling artisan cheese and raw milk.
Kohler heavily borrowed against his farm and built a creamery to create Heber Valley Artisan Cheese and Heber Valley Milk.
Business has been brisk enough since it opened in April — until the creamery was wrongly implicated in a salmonella outbreak in Salt Lake County.
"It hit us pretty hard," Kohler said Tuesday. "We got all these calls [asking] 'Is it safe to eat the cheese?'"
For the record, his Midway farm was never involved in the outbreak and has never been investigated for any foodborne illness.
Last week, the Salt Lake Valley Health Department incorrectly said that a man who sickened at least two people with his unlicensed, homemade queso fresco had used raw milk from a Midway dairy. At least one TV news station initially said a Midway cheesemaker was the source of the outbreak.
Kohler's Canyon View Farm is the only dairy in Midway, he said. While health officials moved quickly to correct the mistake, Kohler's customers continued to steer clear. On Monday, about 15 customers visited, down from the normal 100.
"We're just trying to get word out and let people know we're not involved and also let people know we're here," Kohler said. "We're a new business and we're struggling."
The state Department of Agriculture and Food confirms that the queso fresco maker never bought milk from Canyon View Farm.
The salmonella could have come from the man's home, according to the department. While only two cases have been definitively tied to the queso fresco, 73 people have reported illnesses since 2009 in the outbreak tracked by the department.
Kohler's grandfather bought what is now Canyon View Farm in 1929, and Kohler bought the farm from his father several years ago. Their great-grandfather was one of the original immigrants in Midway from Switzerland.
As one of the four Utah dairies permitted to sell raw milk, Kohler said his creamery must follow rigorous standards. Agriculture rules say unpackaged and packaged raw milk must be tested monthly. The cows must also be examined by a veterinarian twice a year.
"Come in. We'll show you. It's a clean facility," said Lisa Christen, Kohler's sister, adding that part of the creamery's mission is to educate the public about where their food comes from. It offers tours every Friday.
Kohler said the creamery they built, full of stainless steel equipment, cost more than $1 million.
If the creamery fails, Christen predicted the dairy will fold, too. "A three-generation family farm will be gone."
The creamery is in a large red barn on River Road, just past the roundabout in Midway. Inside, a case holds several types of food, along with glass quarts of raw milk. The store also sells local raw honey, jams and syrups and Aggie ice cream.
"Our whole goal is fresh," Kohler said while giving a tour of a back room where the raw milk is bottled and he and his son make the cheese on Fridays and Saturdays.
His herd of about 150 cows can be seen out the window. They are pasture-fed and antibiotic-free.
"The stuff that's on the shelf, I bottled it last night," Kohler, 51, said. Fresh curd made Friday afternoon is from milk taken that morning, he added.
When Kohler decided to go the artisan route — his food is also labeled "farmstead" because it comes from cows located on the property — the dairy industry had weathered the worst years since the Great Depression. He said he would have to milk 1,500 cows to make as much money as the farm made on 100 cows when he was a boy.
The number of dairies in Utah have dropped from 600 a decade ago to 240 today, according to the Dairy Council of Utah and Nevada.
Council spokeswoman Kristi Spence said feed is more expensive while milk consumption is down, replaced by soda and other drink options. Meanwhile yogurt and cheese sales are up.
"The consumer is changing and the dairy industry has to figure out to meet that demand," she said.
Kohler opted to sell raw milk because there is a demand. While public health officials caution against drinking it — and Utah rules require raw milk bottles be labeled with a warning that it may be unsafe — many thirst for it.
"I love it," said Jim May, carrying a quart of raw milk from the creamery. He believes it's healthier than pasteurized milk and says, "pasteurization kills a lot of the good bacteria you need in your body."
Using around 400 gallons of milk a day, the Kohlers sell around 100 pounds of cheese and 40 gallons of raw milk a day. The father-son pair make about a dozen types of cheeses — from a gourmet toasted cheese called Juustalipa to pepper jack and mozzarella.
It sells its cheese in markets in Heber and Park City and hopes to get into Harmons. It also sells it to restaurants, including Blue Boar Inn in Midway and Waldorf Astoria in Park City. By law, the milk can only be sold at the creamery.
The creamery hosts cheese tastings — experimenting with Oreo- and Alfredo-spiked cheeses. It plans to hold cheese-making classes.
Dick Hines took time out of his 73rd birthday Tuesday to buy two bags of cheese curd. "They're local, we know them. We know how precise these guys are [with safety measures]."