By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
Lambert Vandermade milks cows for a living. He bottles milk for hobby. And that means he also has to tell a story.
Vandermade, president of Arps Dairy, told his story of how a Netherlands-born dairyman came to own a long-standing Ohio business and what he envisions for the future at the July Northwest Ohio Ag-Business Breakfast Forum Thursday morning. The event was hosted by the Center for Innovative Food Technology at the Agricultural Incubator Foundation.
Vandermade came to Northwest Ohio with his family from the Netherlands 16 years ago as they searched for a way to grow their family dairy business. In the Netherlands, he said, land is a scarce resource. The country is a third the size of Ohio. In the Netherlands, the family had 60 cows and raised 200 sows. They did the work themselves with no employees. The European quota system, now ended, meant they were assured of making a small amount of money from the milk. The pigs provided more chance for profit.
When they came to Ohio, after investigating other areas of the country, they started with 600 cows, “created 10 jobs” and were introduced to a federally regulated system so complex, Vandermade said, “I still understand about half of it.”
The Vandermades now milk 1,400, cows on two farms in Defiance County, one devoted to maintaining older cows.
“Dairy is a very complicated market,” Vandermade said. “The market has shrunk down to a very few, very large companies.” That puts a particular burden on the milk processor. Large retailers use milk as a loss leader. Low milk prices lure shoppers in the door. But that makes it hard for small companies like Arps to compete, he said.
Vandermade’s frustration with the marketplace led him to wonder: “Can we lay a better link between the farmer and the consumer? The consumer is becoming further removed from the farmer and were not doing anything to bridge that gap.”
With that in mind, Vandermade approached the Arps Dairy, which still maintained that link. Nothing came of those initial talks, so the Vandermades pursued another project, building the spread for older cows, about five years old, as a way of extending their productive life. It is good for the business, which pays $1,800 to raise a cow to the point she starts producing milk, and good for the animal.
Then with that project well underway, he got a call: Arps Dairy was for sale. “It figures,” he said ruefully. He and his wife joined several others including Ida Arps, “the last of Arps family,” and purchased the dairy. Vandermade said he knew they would not be able to compete on a large scale with the major retailers.
“We’ve really been trying to work on our story,” he said. “People want to know where their food is produced. We tell a truthful story.”
Arps milk comes from 15 local farms, all within 25 miles of Defiance. The farms range in size from 12 cows to 400. That’s part of the Arps’ story. Doing business locally, Vandermade said, 68 cents of each dollar stays in the local economy.
None of the milk at this point comes from the Vandermade farms. When he bought the business, people were concerned the Vandermades would have enough milk they would “boot” the local operations. It’s been 18 months, and they haven’t, he said.
He said he would like to grow the business enough at some point to send some of his milk to Arps, but for now he sells it through a coop. His milk goes into Kroger’s store brand.
They changed packaging, but much stayed the same. The dairy, for example, has always used granulated sugar, including in its soft serve ice cream mix. The cottage cheese is still produced in the traditional hand-cut way.
Arps was even able to win back a school milk contract. Though the dairy didn’t submit the lowest bid, they were able to tell their story – local products mean more local employment, which is good for the district.
“It’s good to start seeing some of that happen,” Vandermade said.
Vandermade brought containers of chocolate and strawberry milk to share. Those products have helped the company move into the Toledo and Columbus markets. Obes’ Country Carryout on Otsego Pike is the sole Wood County outlet. That kind of mom and pop store is typical of where Arps products are sold, though, he said, they are doing business with The Andersons.
For some outlets, price is not an issue. He said he’s been told by some store owners in Columbus that their customers expect to pay more. “If it’s too cheap, it’s no good.”
Nutritionists are finding that for those who exercise chocolate milk is as a good as sports drink for recovery after exercise. That opens up a new market.
Karen Bakies, a nutritionist with the American Dairy Association, confirmed those benefits. She also noted that chocolate milk is a big seller in schools.
The company also maintains its guaranteed sale policy. “If you don’t sell it … we take it back the next week,” Vandermade said.
Asked what he drinks, he said, his family consumes the Arps product returned to the dairy.
