Submitted by Westby Cooperative Creamery

The 109th Annual Meeting of Westby Cooperative Creamery was called to order by Board President Loren Oldenburg on January 24, 2013, in Westby, WI. An audience of over one hundred member-owners, employees, and guests heard auditor and management reports recapping a record setting year of over $50-million in total revenues.

Westby Cooperative Creamery Board of Directors at the new Distribution Center & General Offices opened in April, 2012. (left-to-right) Chuck Fremstad, Ralph Petersheim, Loren Oldenburg (President), Kay Yanske (Secretary/Treasurer), Ryan Dunnum, Keith Rach, Tom Schaub (Vice President). Fremstad, Peterscheim and Schaub were re-elected to the Board during the 109th Annual Meeting.

Pete Kondrup, general manager, reported on total revenues from operations during fiscal year 2012 of over $30-million in manufactured dairy food product sales, and nearly $20-million in fluid milk sales. A record of just under 25-million pounds of dairy foods were manufactured, including cottage cheeses, sour creams, dairy dips, yogurts, butter, cheese curds, soft cheeses and hard cheeses.

Member-owners supplied a record of nearly 125-million pounds of conventional and certified-organic fluid milk to their creamery. It is unique to Westby Cooperative Creamery that member-owners supply two sources of fluid milk to their cooperative. Some of the member dairy farms produce conventional milk, and others produce certified-organic milk. All milk supplied by members of Westby Cooperative Creamery is r-BST-free, and comes fresh from local family dairy farms.

Patron membership numbers also hit a new record of just over 160 local family dairy farms, increasing by about ten percent and maintaining a record of annual membership growth over the past several years. Employee count also increased during fiscal year 2012, in part due to the opening of a new Distribution Center & General Offices on the outskirts of downtown Westby, WI.

The new Distribution Center & General Offices opened in April of 2012, featuring six thousand square feet of office space and ten thousand square feet of refrigerated warehouse space with five-high racking for up to one thousand pallets of manufactured dairy food products.

Pete Kondrup said, “Our new Distribution Center is providing the efficiencies as planned in better serving our customers of Westby Brand retail products, Private Label manufactured products, and Food Service and Food Ingredient products. This was an investment in the present and long term growth of our business.”

An audience of over one hundred member-owners, employees, and guests heard auditor and management reports recapping a record setting year of over $50-million in total revenues for Westby Cooperative Creamery.

Loren Oldenburg, board president, said, “This is the first time in the 109 year history of Westby Cooperative Creamery that our business has topped $50-million in total revenue. Our business continues to grow, as does our membership; many of whom are now third or fourth generation members of Westby Cooperative Creamery. We are proud of our past, powered by our present growth, and excited by our promising future.”

“We thank our member-owners, our employees, our customers, our business partners, and our local communities for supporting and strengthening the family dairy farms of Westby Cooperative Creamery. We begin our 110th year of Westby Cooperative Creamery with a continuing committed to our cooperative principles, and the preservation and growth of local family dairy farms. That’s our history, and our future.”

Other business activity during the Annual Meeting included the re-election by member-owners of Chuck Fremstad, Ralph Peterscheim, and Tom Schaub to the Board of Directors of Westby Cooperative Creamery; joining Loren Oldenburg, Kay Yanske, Ryan Dunnum, and Keith Rach.

SOURCE: Westby Cooperative Creamery