Kelsey’s Cash Cow

1 / 6
Kelsey milks Iris.
Kelsey milks Iris.
2 / 6
Prior to milking, Kelsey Kozak gets ready to give Iris a much-enjoyed brushing.
Prior to milking, Kelsey Kozak gets ready to give Iris a much-enjoyed brushing.
3 / 6
Mo, now 18 months old and more than 1,000 pounds, is trained to ride and pull. A Jersey-milking shorthorn-cross steer, he is Iris' third calf.
Mo, now 18 months old and more than 1,000 pounds, is trained to ride and pull. A Jersey-milking shorthorn-cross steer, he is Iris' third calf.
4 / 6
Kelsey's butter with locally made artisan bread.
Kelsey's butter with locally made artisan bread.
5 / 6
This blue cheese is Fort Bantam Creamery's original cheese product.
This blue cheese is Fort Bantam Creamery's original cheese product.
6 / 6
Clockwise from top left, raw whole milk, yogurt, butter, fresh mozzarella with tomatoes and herbs, and strawberries with creme fraiche.
Clockwise from top left, raw whole milk, yogurt, butter, fresh mozzarella with tomatoes and herbs, and strawberries with creme fraiche.

Kelsey Kozak of Vashon Island, Wash., was 8 years old when she got a subscription to Fine Cooking magazine and started talking about buying a cow so she could make her own cheese. Brie was what she had in mind — a traditional soft French cheese with a distinctive white rind.

Now 16 years old, Kelsey has her cow — Iris, a 6-year-old Jersey with a silky tan coat and soulful brown eyes. She also has established Fort Bantam Creamery, a one-cow dairy based on a self-designed and profitable cow-share program. With Iris’ milk, Kelsey makes deep-golden (no color added!) butter, creamy yogurt, luscious ice cream and an array of flavorful cheeses, including her personal favorite (brie), as well as farmer’s cheese and mozzarella.

To find Iris, Kelsey says, she researched raising cows, particularly dairy breeds, and visited dairy farms in her area. She settled on a Jersey because it’s one of the oldest dairy breeds and is well-known for high-quality milk and butterfat production.

The visits to dairy farms proved useful in another, unexpected way. Some of the dairies were confinement operations, Kelsey says, where the cows were milked without any human touch and fed a grain-based diet that can cause health problems for the animals.

“Unfortunately,” Kelsey says, “the reality of the average dairy cow’s life is a far cry from the image of a contented cow amid a sea of green that adorns most advertising labels.”

  • Published on Oct 1, 2005
Online Store Logo
Need Help? Call 1-800-234-3368