One of sources I will be using for my Wisconsin Cheese Industry research is an article that called “Wisconsin Cheeses”. I found this interesting source from our McIntyre library website. I choose this source because this source explain modern cheese industry in Wisconsin. I have been researching mostly about the history of the Cheese industry in Wisconsin. But this source is more about cheese industry now a days. This sources explain why Wisconsin is known for cheese and how Wisconsin is related to cheese.

This source is published on Gourmet Retailer magazine with unknown author in 2003. This sources is written for the reader of Gourmet Retailer magazine or anyone who is interested in Cheese or Wisconsin. The purpose for writing this is to explain audience that how Wisconsin is related to cheese and what do people do for their cheese to become famous. Author creates more distance between him/her and the audience by using formal words and you or he/she.  Moreover, author creates ethos by giving the audience some real facts and explaining some events that are happened at the past.

Wisconsin has many virtues such as the nice people, the Dells, great beauty of the nature. But most people in minds, Wisconsin is synonymous with cheese. It is because Wisconsin is the largest and greatest cheese producing state in the US and it is the world’s fifth largest cheese producing region as well. Wisconsin cheese even win award at global competitions. Over the past decade, Wisconsin got the most of award at the World Championship Cheese Contest.  They also steadily win top honors at the annual American Cheese Society Conference in a many kinds of categories. Wisconsin does not win only for the testament to the quality and flavor of cheeses but it might also be their effective merchandising tools. Wisconsin cheese makers even have a slogan for display which is ‘Judge for Yourself’.  Also, Wisconsin is the first state to require that cheese makers to be licensed and the only one to implement a master cheese maker certification program. This program is only for the people with at least 10 years’ experience as licensed cheese makers.  Lastly, most people do not know about this but there is a seasonal nature of cheese sales. People buy cheeses all year around but at holiday time, people can get great opportunities with cheese sales. For example, Italian style cheese for Columbus Day and almost anything American for the fourth of July.  

After I reading this source, I can understand why Wisconsin is so famous for Cheese around the world even though I think that Wisconsin is not a good place for dairying because it has a very long winter. I did not know that Wisconsin this the fifth largest cheese producing region in the world. I did not know Wisconsin cheese is famous all around the world either. But I learned that how much Wisconsin cheese makers are putting their efforts on their cheese. Wisconsin cheese makers are trying really hard not only on caring about the tastes or quality of cheese, but also caring about the displaying and doing the decorations as well. In addition, I was really impressed that Wisconsin require that cheese makers to be licensed. This and its master cheese maker certification program can be good reasons to answer why Wisconsin cheese is popular. They do not let anyone to produce cheese in Wisconsin. They want cheese makers to be educated to make the best cheese.  I am so glad I found really interesting and informative source.

I finally started to research about real Cheese industry in Wisconsin and I found an interesting article which is named “Cheese making in Wisconsin” about beginning Wisconsin cheese industry. I choose this source to use because this source is really informative for my topic and it also cover some of my questions. I thought this would be really helpful to use because it helps me to gain knowledge about Wisconsin Cheese industry before I go further in detail stories or processes.

I  found this article at Wisconsin Historical Society website. This article is written by Bobbie Malone who is a former director of the Office of School Services at the Wisconsin Historical Society. Malone is addressing this to the people who are historian or anyone who are interested in local history or agriculture. The purpose for writing this is to inform us about how the cheese industry has started after wheat farming in Wisconsin. In ‘cheese making in Wisconsin’, Malone has invented her ethos with her audience because she showed all her works by giving real facts and accurate names and years in her article. By her doing this, she could be a reliable writer and get trusts from her audience. 

In “Cheese making in Wisconsin”, most of dairy operations in Wisconsin had to choose making cheese because they did not have enough storages and transportation was limited at that time. Charles Rockwell was one of the state’s earliest cheese makers, starting at Koshkonong, Wisconsin in 1837. Also, Anne Pickett established State’s first cottage industry cheese factory renting milk from her neighbors. In 1841. When they realized that cheese making was expanding throughout the state and many people tried to make cheese, resulting in inconsistent taste and quality and low local demand in cheese, they wanted to specialize their Wisconsin Cheese and decided to educate farmers about important things of making cheese. Experts educated famers the importance of temperature and the value of proper storage. Afterwards, J.I. Smith got the state’s first cheese vat and became the first cheese maker to market outside of the state, shipping to Chicago in 1858. And Babcock invented butterfat test which helps to develop the quality of the milk.  At that time, demand for local dairy products increased and people started moving out of the farmstead and into the factory. Beginning of the cheese industry in Wisconsin, most of early cheese factory men were from New Yorkers and they brought their skills and talents with them to Wisconsin. Moreover, state’s immigrants also brought their traditions with them. For example, Italians brought mozzarella and gorgonzola, French brought Camembert and some blue cheeses, and Germans brought Muenster and limburger. Wisconsin cheese makers also developed their original cheese like Brick and Colby. In 1860s there were about 30 cheese factories in state, the number has increased to 54 in 1870. Leaders in the cheese industry started planning into professional organization to develop their product in the 1870s. Among the organization, Wisconsin Dairyman’s Association is the most famous organization in Wisconsin. Later in 1920s’ the number of cheese factories have grown up to over 2800 and Wisconsin became the first state to grade its cheese for quality in 1921.

I was really satisfied after reading this source because I got so much information I was looking for. I learned who and when stated cheese industry in Wisconsin, some information about how Wisconsin became famous state for cheese, and who did what for specializing Wisconsin cheese.  I think this was good starting source before I dive into more detail cheese making process or any other detail materials. But, I still want to know if Wisconsin cheese makers have any special processes in making cheese or any differences compared to other area cheeses. Now, I would like to try to find specific stories or detail about making cheese in Wisconsin.

One of sources I will be using for my Wisconsin cheese industry topic is “Creating Dairyland” which is that some of us might read already for extra credit back in our segment one assignments. I choose this source because this source will cover some more details about starting dairy industry in Wisconsin on my previous source such as how Wisconsin famers treated their cows or land or what are some efforts did famers do for dairying. This source will be more about Wisconsin farming life and dairying which eventually lead Wisconsin cheese industry to be famous.

This source is written by Edward Janus who is a writer and also an oral historian. This article is addressed for the people who is interested in history or local dairy life or agriculture. The purpose for writing this is to explain the Wisconsin dairy life in 19^th century.

After wheat farming failed to bring enough profit to state, people put all their efforts into saving their land with manure and grass and started growing cows for the agricultural savior. Even though caring cows required a lot of work such as large quantities of good feed and good condition, they brought good profit to farmers and to state. When growing cows became the major farming in Wisconsin, people started making cheese from the milk because cheese can be kept longer than the butter. They bought the milk from their neighbors and made cheese. Since dairying played important role in the state’s economic in 1870s, people tried to grow their cow in a better way to make their product better. William Henry who is a first dean of University of Wisconsin’s’ college of Agriculture studied a relationship between science and farming. In late 1890s, Henry and some other professors started to educate the farmers and actually many of farmer’s sons studied about the farming. Farmers cannot just leave their cows in the grass and throw them some food. They have to feed the cows with balanced and proper food with great nutrients. Good cows need to enough nutrition and diets. They also have to keep improving their soil for good care of the cows. Through their great devotion, dairying became more profitable and they made a successful relationship between cheese industry and dairying. It brought wonderful profit enormous profit to farmers and the state. As a result, we call Wisconsin is a Dairy land.

Even though this reading is not directly related to Wisconsin cheese industry, as we know, cheese are made from the milk. So it is obvious that good milk makes delicious cheese. I think this source has great information about how Wisconsin milk are so fabulous to make delicious cheese. I learned so much about Wisconsin dairying life from this reading like how farmers put their efforts for their cows compared to other famers from different areas. I did not know people are educated to farm. I also learned some more history about how wheat farming is failed and people turned to grow cows in Wisconsin. Including the previous source, I learned a lot about the history of the dairying Wisconsin. Now, I would like to focus more on the Wisconsin Cheese. How they make their cheese or what do they do differently compared to others.

The primary source that I will be using for this topic is the history of Wisconsin dairy industry. I found this source from Wisconsin historical society website. The reason I choose this source is that this is going to be a good starting step to reach my goal about this topic. As I said that I do not know much about my topic, I need to start with basic information. I think this source will be helpful because that any present things are affected by its history. There is no doubt that the great history of Wisconsin dairy industry lead Wisconsin cheese to be famous. I expect that this source could satisfy some of my curiosities.

This source is written by Erica Schock who is an author of Wisconsin History Highlights. This article is written for anyone who is interested in local history or Wisconsin dairy industry. The purpose for writing this is to give us knowledge about the history of Wisconsin dairy industry. This article is mostly about how dairying and dairy industry have expanded in Wisconsin. It includes who started dairy industry and when it is started as well.

In “The rise of dairy farming”, Wheat was the earliest and the greatest cash crop for people in Wisconsin. The only thing they needed is a proper land to grow wheat. It brought a high rate of financial to state. However, by the late 1850s, the price of wheat began to drop due to lowering quality and increasing competition from other states. Charles Rockwell who is one of the earliest cheese maker in Wisconsin found out that dairying could be the possible alternative to wheat and started dairy industry in Wisconsin in 1837. Throughout this fact, the number of dairy cows increased by late 1800s and it lead more than 90 percent of Wisconsin farms to raise dairy cows. Moreover, because of dairy farmers who settled in Wisconsin this time were from New York. They brought with their skills for commercial dairying and producing butter and cheese. And University of Wisconsin helped to promote Wisconsin dairy industry in 19^th century. Professors did some experiments to invent better dairying methods or make dairy products to have better quality. In the 1870s, leader of Wisconsin cheese industry organized some professional organizations to develop their products and Wisconsin Dairymen’s Association became the most famous organization in Wisconsin. By their best efforts, Wisconsin became the dairy state in the nation.

From this reading, I learned a lot not only about Wisconsin cheese but also the history of Wisconsin dairy industry. I believe that cheese industry cannot be started without any primary connections with such as other crops, milk or butter. Because they could not be able to get much profits from wheat in 1850s, they decided to start dairy industry. I am grateful to learn and know how dairying has started in Wisconsin and how people were focusing on this to make their products better. This reading gave me the basic background about Wisconsin dairying history before I research about cheese industry in more detail. I am sure this is a good start knowing the history. Even though I got lots of information related to my topic, I am still curious about what people did to develop their products or what makes Wisconsin cheese so famous. So I would like to start researching more detail by focusing on how Wisconsin Cheese industry has developed.

         I will be researching the cheese industry in Wisconsin by focusing on researching why Wisconsin cheese is so famous and what are the differences between Wisconsin cheese and other cheese from different areas through its history. I became interested in this topic because I really like eating and comparing the tastes with others. Also, I have been curious why Wisconsin cheese is so famous since I am not a good gourmet and I do not notice a big difference with other cheeses.

            Generally, regional products can be made in a specific areas which have a perfect condition to produce. As I know, Oranges and rice in California are well known regional products in US. It is because California is geographically a great place and it has a perfect climate and temperature to grow crops and produce sweet and tasty oranges. However, I do not know why the Wisconsin cheese is well known even though Wisconsin is one of the coldest states in US.  Is Wisconsin a good place for cheese industry? Who and when started cheese industry in Wisconsin? How Wisconsin cheese is different with other cheeses? There is any historical stories for Wisconsin cheese?

            I do not have any knowledge or information for this topic but I am just really curious and so ready to learn and get to know about this topic. Because I do not really know about this topic, I am sure I will learn a lot through this researches. I am not just looking for answers to my specific questions but I am looking forward to learn about the cheese industry in Wisconsin in general starting with its background and history.