Through the Kentucky State University Small Farm Program, KSU Small-Scale Farmer Grant Program, and the KSU Beginning Farmer Grant, in collaboration with the University of Kentucky Extension, a limited resource dairy farmer received much-needed materials to process and sell cheese that was produced on the farm.

Area Small Farm Extension Agent, Laura Rogers, organized a workshop in Laurel County, at the Laurel County Extension Office, on the KSU  Small-Scale Farmer Grant Program. Clara of Wildcat Mountain Farmstead Cheese attended. She and her husband, Ronnie, own and manage a four-generation dairy operation in Laurel County.

Even though 2014 was an excellent year for the price of producing milk, Clara realized this was not going to continue. Clara wanted to make cheese to develop and add another market for her milk produced on her farm. A market that the dairy had not tried to enter before.  True to Clara's ideas, the price of milk dwindled down to 15 dollars per hundredweight of milk produced as compared to the cost of production which was at 18 to 20 dollars per hundredweight. Clara stated, "if it had not been for the cheese, we would have probably lost the dairy. The cheese produced uses ½ of the milk we make. In time I plan on using all of the milk to produce cheese.”

Clara applied through the grant for merchandising equipment to use to sell her cheese. Clara received the award administered by KSU and was given $5,000 in April of 2014 for merchandising equipment.  She received a refrigerated 2-door glass cooler; portable insulated coolers; stainless steel table, electric slicer, covered sampling dispensers, knives, and cutting boards. 

Clara now sells cheese in 24 different markets and on her website (wildcatmountaincheese.com). Her cheese price starts from 5 dollars a pound. Clara produces, on average, 125 pounds of cheese per week.  With an average price of $7 per pound, she makes $3,500 a month from the cheese alone.  Clara took her milk production from a market that she could not control, to a market with a longer shelf life and more control of the prices and income for the dairy.