Maytag Dairy Farms

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Maytag Dairy Farms is a manufacturer of blue cheese and other cheeses based in Newton, Iowa. It was established in 1941 by Frederick Louis Maytag II.

[edit] History

The farm got its start in the early 20th century when E. H. Maytag, son of Maytag Corporation founder F. L. Maytag, formed a dairy farm to produce milk for the family and company.

In the early 1940s, F. L. Maytag II and Robert Maytag, sons of E. H. Maytag, created a cheese plant and storage caves on the farm to take advantage of a process developed by Iowa State University researchers to make blue cheese out of cow's milk instead of traditional sheep's milk.

[edit] Present day

Maytag Dairy Farms is now owned by eleven members of the Maytag family and is no longer connected with the Maytag Corporation. The dairy produces approximately one million pounds of blue cheese per year and its annual gross sales total $5 million.

[edit] External links

• Maytag Dairy Farms
• The big cheese, article in the Des Moines Register (November 28, 2004)
• Little Big Cheese: Maytag's Growing Niche Market, story on NPR (January 4, 2005)