Ropp busy filling Christmas cheese orders

AgriNews followed Ken Ropp throughout the entire year. This is the last monthly update about the farmer and the decisions he makes on his farm.

NORMAL, Ill. — With Christmas just around the corner, Ken Ropp and his staff were busy filling numerous cheese orders for delivery or shipping.

“I’m working on an order here for Growmark. I’m prepping 45 pieces of Colby Jack and 45 pieces of mild cheddar and it’s going to be at their office first thing on Monday morning for some meetings there,” he said while working in the Ropp Jersey Cheese on-farm store Dec. 11.

“I’m in here cutting product today and getting ready for some of that. The guys are in back making cheese right now. We’ve been fortunate. The orders remain strong, but it’s just a matter of where we go from here.”

Transition Talks Continue

Conversations of a possible partnership began in early October between Ropp and Matt and Jenna Kilgus of Kilgus Farmstead and Dairy, Fairbury, a multigenerational family farm in nearby Livingston County that produces milk and meat products. They’ve also sold Ropp Jersey Cheese at their on-farm store for many years.

During a get-together with AgriNews last month, Ropp spoke of a possible partnership where he would use milk from the Kilguses’ Jersey cows rather than from his own herd.

The Ropps typically milked 58 Jerseys twice a day to produce their cheese products and are in the process of downsizing their own herd.

“Since we last spoke, we’ve been able to move a few of the cows. We’re still milking about 30 cows here,” Ropp said.

Regarding the possible partnership with the Kilgus family, “there’s still some open ends to what we’re looking at doing and Kilguses are a big part of that equation whether they want to proceed. It’s kind of like part A, and then you got a bunch of offshoots, and part B, and you’ve got a bunch of offshoots,” he said.

“It’s been very steady and we’re still doing between about 750 and 1,000 gallons a week of Kilguses’ milk through here.

“Matt and I have been able to get a lot done this morning and then we’ll reconvene after the cheese-making and get some more stuff hammered out.”

Numerous restaurants have been long-time customers of Ropp Jersey Cheese.

“That’s a big part of it. Once I get the answers that I need, one of the first big things that we do is we visit with our wholesale customers. I’ve already had some discussions with a few of them of what direction we’re kind of leaning toward as a family and how we’re doing all that. But, at the same time, I’ve got to give them ample time to find a different supply if that’s what it comes down to on option B, and I hope it doesn’t, but, for now, we remain status quo,” Ropp said.