Our Story

Otter Creek's goal is to raise the bar on agricultural quality and to produce food that people will love. Its not enough to know your farmer—we want you to LOVE YOUR FOOD!

-The Zimmers, Owners and operators of Otter Creek, a family farm

The Food Alliance has certified that our dairy herd is humanely raised, our employment is fair, and our farming is environmentally sound. Because we use only our own grasses to feed our herds, the milk and cheese we produce tastes distinctively of the season, and our hogs and steers are, quite simply, delicious.

We insist that we honor the basics and traditions of agriculture and cheesemaking, and we always take the time to make the cheese right and stay true to the integrity and authenticity of the Wisconsin cheesemaking tradition. Our passion is to produce cheeses and meats that honor the land and the animals themselves.

Our basic rules of agriculture are simple:

(1) Do everything you can to get soils healthy and mineralized. (2) Do everything you can to make livestock healthy and comfortable.

Otter Creek's goal is to raise the bar on agricultural quality and to produce food that people will love. Its not enough to know your farmer—we want you to LOVE YOUR FOOD!

Nothing is wasted at Otter Creek Farm; nearly everything is produced and used on the farm itself, making the dairy a “closed herd.” Pastures are seeded to provide a range of nutritional feed, and minerals are added to the soil to ensure the soil, plants and animals are all healthy, minimizing the need for pesticides or antibiotics.

Rotational grazing means that cows, then chickens, are released into a field to eat what they want, then rotated to a new pasture primed while the remaining grasses are harvested for hay. Hay is a feed source for the animals in the winter and waste products from the hay harvest are used as animal bedding. This bedding material is cleared out every week and turned into compost for plants. At Otter Creek, even the house was built from trees harvested from the land.

In the spring, the herd is grazed on pastures of clover, rye and young grasses; in Summer, the pasture is full of orchard grass, young corn, and sorghum. Fall brings mature rye, alfalfa, and clover. In Winter, the pasture is full of snow, so the herd eats sileage and bailage, made of fermented alfalfa and grasses cut from the farm's pastures. It's not just the feed—the milk changes in fat content and hormones based on the season: lower fat in the warmer months, and higher fat in colder months.

Cedar Grove Cheese makes the Cheddars for Otter Creek. Bob Wills is a certified master cheesemaker and has a strong reputation as a highest quality cheesemaker. Cedar Grove has won environmental awards (in addition to awards for its cheeses) for its commitment to innovative waste management at their Plain, Wisconsin cheese facility. They are also close to the farm, and have supported the southwestern Wisconsin sustainable agriculture industry for years. We very much appreciate Bob and his staff for their support and encouragement in making our private label cheese. Thank you, Bob!