About 10 years ago, Bill and Marilyn Hedstrom of Kalispell were visiting their daughter and son-in-law Mary and Jared Tuck in Bozeman. Little did they know, they would return to their dairy farm with a new business model that would change their small, 150-cow dairy to a full-scale milk processing operation with over 300 cows.
While visiting during dinner, conversation led to the uncertain future of the 35-year-old dairy farm that Bill and Marilyn had built from the ground up. They had raised four children, including Mary, on the farm. There was a lot of volatility in the raw milk buyers’ market and discussion of retiring and selling the cows was on the horizon. Realizing the beloved family farm was on the chopping block, Mary suggested the idea of starting a creamery. She felt the community of Kalispell was well-suited for local milk sales and there was a movement for natural, homegrown foods. The suggestion had merit. With that spark, Bill and Jared starting drawing floor plans, on a napkin, for a creamery next to the milking barn. One year later, in 2009, Kalispell Kreamery officially began bottling whole, Cream-On-Top fluid milk.
Dairy resources are hard to come by in Montana. It has a small dairy industry, with few dairy cows and even fewer processors. Kalispell Kreamery is one of just four fluid milk processors in Montana. Hedstrom’s project to expand into dairy processing was a huge undertaking. After a year of scrimping, ingenuity and luck, the creamery became state certified and was open for business. From the beginning the community was supportive. Everyone seemed excited about local milk. Thirty-five years of dairy farming made the Hedstrom’s masters at producing raw milk, but not at processing, marketing, and distributing their own milk. As they fell into natural roles, Mary took on the challenge of marketing and sales, while Jared managed the plant operations.
“10 years ago, I didn’t know what I was doing so I just cold-called Rosauers (a local grocery store) and surprisingly, they wanted to give it a try. I didn’t realize then just what a blessing it was for them to take us on,” said Mary Tuck. As their popularity grew, so did their accounts. Kalispell Kreamery milk is now available throughout Montana.
From the beginning, Kalispell Kreamery faced a few major challenges. Their business plan was to sell only Cream-On-Top whole milk. Sales were planned to grow slowly as the dairy continued selling most of its milk to a big co-op. The plan was to mitigate risk and help everyone get their feet wet in the new business model. However, the milk co-op was displeased with the plan and dropped the dairy completely. The Hedstrom’s and Tuck’s were faced with the reality of 30 days to sell all the milk their cows were producing (about 900 gallons a day). They went back to the drawing board and came up with a new plan. First, they diversified products. The product line would include reduced fat milk, skim milk, heavy whip, and half-and-half (all still cream-on-top). Next, they diversified packaging; products would be available in gallon, half gallon, quart, and pint. Then they marketed to major dairy consumers, selling to coffee shops, restaurants, third-party distributors, and expanded distribution throughout the state. Also, they culled the herd to about 100 cows. Finally, all the extra milk the dairy produced was donated to the local food bank.
That plan worked, and after a couple months of oversupply, the pendulum swayed. Within six months, demand was greater than supply. Since then, Hedstrom Dairy has grown to 300 Holstein dairy cows, producing over 1,800 gallons of milk a day. Kalispell Kreamery has expanded its product line to include chocolate milk, cold brew coffee (with milk, of course), greek yogurt, and ice cream.
“Milk is perfect when it comes from the cow, it’s everything we do to it afterward that degrades it,” said Bill Hedstrom. Hedstrom Dairy and Kalispell Kreamery strive to produce all natural, minimally-processed dairy products, “from moo to you.” The milk’s high quality starts at the dairy, with the intentional practice of natural husbandry and following a “Cow Bill of Rights.” At the creamery, milk is pasteurized but never homogenized, so it is as close to raw as you can get in Montana. Most of the milk is less than 24 hours old when it gets to grocery stores.
Every year, Kalispell Kreamery and Hedstrom Dairy host a free, family “Milk and Cookies” event. This educational open house gives families and customers an opportunity to tour the farm, meet the cows, sample products, play “cow” games, and get a free glass of milk and a cookie. The past couple years have seen more than 2,000 visitors at the event. If you miss the open house, they have an open-door policy, welcoming guests anytime to come and meet the cows.
There are times the Hedstrom’s and Tuck’s look back to that dinner conversation and think “what did we do!?” But through all the risks, late nights, early mornings, and trial and error, the learning curve has evolved into a project of passion that supports 22 families, supplies a supportive community with wholesome milk, and allows another generation to continue the dairy tradition, but this time, on their own terms.