When a dairy co-op informed Orleans County Fair officials that it would no longer buy milk from the exhibiting cows at the fair, organizers faced a major problem that they’d turn into an incredible opportunity: Dairy on the Moove, or what’s thought to be the only mobile pasteurizing and cheesemaking unit in New England.
Without someone to buy the milk, not only would there be the issue of how to dispose of hundreds of gallons of milk, but exhibiting dairy farmers would lose that income and maybe stop coming to the fair.
So last November, they began brainstorming, and decided to raise funds and build a mobile cheesemaking unit so cheese could be made and sold at the fair — paying farmers for their milk and providing an excellent educational opportunity.
After a lot of hustling, and raising $75,000 from donations and grants, the facility debuted at the Orleans County Fair here Thursday, and the 8-ounce bags of cheddar cheese curds were selling as fast as they could be made.
Children and adults peered through the window, watching cheesemakers take the milk through the various steps of the process. Both an economic and an educational goal were being met.
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