Two Sisters Set the Stage for Wisconsin Artisan Butter

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Sisters Jennifer and Julie Orchard knew they had something special—a herd of Guernsey cows that traces back 15 generations to their grandfather’s herd. The beautiful fawn-colored and white bovines produce a golden-hued milk that is high in milkfat and protein. The Orchard sisters decided to use this flavorful milk in their Royal Guernsey Creamery butter. They’re among only a handful of artisan buttermakers in Wisconsin.

Royal Guernsey Creamery’s European style butter comes in three flavors: Salted, Signature, with roasted garlic, black pepper and parsley, and Sweet Cinnamon. They are sold in hand-wrapped, eight-ounce logs.

Jennifer and Julie are seventh generation farmers. Their family’s farming ancestry dates back to 1800s England. In Wisconsin, their grandfather started milking Guernsey cows in 1943 on his farm, Happy Acres.

Julie and Jennifer both have dairy science degrees from UW-Madison. Julie worked in public relations and married a Holstein farmer. They built a new farm near Columbus, Wis., to where they moved their Holstein and Guernsey cows. Jennifer had co-owned a biotech company that specialized in livestock reproduction. After working in biotech for 15 years, Jennifer yearned to return to the dairy side of agriculture and reconnect with the farm.

In 2016, the sisters joined the American Guernsey Association, an organization dedicated to promoting the Guernsey breed and their milk. They met with members of the Center for Dairy Research at UW-Madison to learn about options for a value added product.

“We discussed the Guernsey breed, the quality of the milk, and what it could be used for,” Jennifer says. “Julie and I decided that where the niche is for a Guernsey product is butter.” 

While cheese might be an obvious first choice for using milk, Jennifer affirms there are a lot of cheesemakers in Wisconsin. “That’s a hard product to make when you’re competing against such amazing cheeses. But there isn’t much artisan butter. I want artisan butter to have a stage in Wisconsin like artisan cheese does.”

Artisan Butter Makers Rare in the Dairy State

Most grocery store dairy coolers stock several butter options, but cultured European-style butters, especially those made from farm to creamery in Wisconsin, are rare, Jennifer notes. Much of the butter produced by large commercial dairies use cream that goes from farms to a plant, and then to a cheesemaking facility, where some of the cream is removed. The cream might sit for a while until a butter-making company picks it up.

“The milk our cows make on Monday and Tuesday is made into butter on Thursday,” Jennifer says. “During that time, the cream has to temper, or sit, and the fat cell has to invert.” She believes that Royal Guernsey Creamery is one of the few creameries that uses all milk from their own herd. “Lots of creameries make butter with milk that’s co-mingled from many farms.”

Royal Guernsey Creamery’s European culturing method results in butter that’s flavorful and creamy, with a hint of sweetness. European style butters have at least 83% butterfat, Jennifer says, making it ideal for baking.

The state of Wisconsin requires cheesemakers to be licensed through the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, and the same holds true for buttermakers. (datcp.wi.gov/Pages/Programs_Services/fsbutter.aspx).

“To meet the qualifications to become a buttermaker, the fastest route for me was to become a cheesemaker first,” Jennifer said. She did a cheesemaking apprenticeship and took an educational course to get a cheesemaker’s license. 

“Otherwise, I would have had to spend 18 months of apprenticeship in making butter, and there are not a lot of opportunities for that,” Jennifer relates. “If you are a cheesemaker in Wisconsin, the route to becoming a buttermaker is much shorter.”

To make butter, Jennifer had to become a licensed cheesemaker, a licensed pasteurizer, and obtain a butter graders license. Julie is currently apprenticing as a buttermaker. Wisconsin’s licensing and permitting standards for dairy products has “made us 100% confident in eating foods made in Wisconsin,” Julie says.

Royal Guernsey Creamery butter can be found in the Milwaukee area at Metcalfe’s Market in Wauwatosa or ordered online.

For more information, visit royalguernseycreamery.com.