David Fertig
Posts: 693
Joined: 3/26/2010
Status: offline
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Welcome.
Here's the crate. Probably has a value between $5 and $40. Most likely $5 to $10 or $15, unless someone really wants it.
http://ocj.com/ffa/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/DLivestock26.pdf
BY KYLE SHARP
For more than 80 years, a milk plant has
existed at 220 N. Fulton St. in Wauseon, the
county seat of Fulton County. Thanks to
community pride, and the efforts of the
plant’s employees and community members,
the facility is still processing milk and
dairy products today.
In 1926, Peter Goldsmith and his brother-
in-law started selling eggs, cream and
poultry on the site. Six years later, the pure
focus became dairy products, with the
business known as the Sterling Creamery.
ASwiss immigrant who helped start
the dairy brought his knowledge of dairy
processing with him from Switzerland. His
recipes and techniques for making sour
cream and cottage cheese are still used by
the plant’s current employees.
In the 1950s, the business became the
Sterling Milk Company and led changes in
Ohio’s dairy industry. The company created
a cash-and-carry milk business with
about 30 convenience stores throughout
northwest Ohio and pioneered the use of
hard plastic milk bottles in the ‘60s.
In the 1980s, Sterling Milk Company
conducted a contest to name its 11-foot
fiberglass cow mascot that promoted the
company in local parades, at fairs and
other events. Sterlena was chosen, and
the cow developed a loyal following in
the community.
The company eventually changed its
name to Sterling Stores when it was sold to
a Wisconsin company. In April 2007, it was
announced that the plant was to shut
down in June, and the company’s convenience
stores were sold to Circle K.
“Rumor was the cow (Sterlena) was
going to go to Wisconsin, so some local
students started a Web site to save
Sterlena,” said Dale Nagel, who was in
charge of quality control at the plant.
“More than 320 teens pledged about
$10,000 to buy the cow and keep it local.
All those kids grew up with the cow in
their parades and things, and there was a
groundswell to keep it here.”
That pride in the mascot and a strong
product loyalty within the community
prompted employees at the plant to look
into buying the facility and operating it as
an employee-owned company, Nagel said.
The idea eventually shifted to a locally
owned cooperative with 50 common
shareholders as voting members and a
few preferred shareholders who are not
voting members. A group of local people
or people with local ties, including plant
employees, dairy farmers, business people
and city leaders, began to form.
The new effort’s steering committee
consisted of Nagel (secretary and quality
control manager), Randy Baker (production
manager), Monty (president) and
Jessica Lorntz, Steve and Lynda Bachelor,
Roger and Mabelann Crossgrove, and
Bruce (vice president) and Ruth Ann
Yancey. Together with the Fulton County
Economic Development office, county
commissioners and USDA Rural
Development, they worked on the development
of a business plan, and helped
recruit members and secure financing.
“I think we sold our last common shares
in the middle of the summer, and most of
them came to us through word of mouth,”
Nagel said. “We didn’t have to advertise.”
USDA Rural Development’s Debbie
Rausch setup the coop structure and guided
them through the creation process. On
Nov. 28, 2007, the newly formed cooperative
bought the Wauseon plant.
“In honor of all the kids’ efforts to
save Sterlena, we decided to name the
new cooperative Sterlena Pride,” Nagel
said. “When we bought the plant, the
cow was part of the deal.”
The processing plant started up again
on Feb. 15 of this year, and a week later,
the new coop celebrated a grand reopening
with the community. The plant, with
12 employees, processes four to five days
a week. About 350,000 pounds of milk
per month is processed from nine small,
family-owned dairy farms in Defiance,
Fulton, Henry and Williams counties.
“This helps with our loyalty connection,
because all these farms have good
reputations in the community,” Nagel
said. “The families have been here, and
their kids grew up here.”
When they opened, Sterlena Pride
sold product to about 25 retail outlets,
and that number has since doubled to
about 50 outlets in northwest Ohio,
northeast Indiana and southern
Michigan. About 70 to 80 retailers are
needed to get things firmly established.
“Because we’re a wholesaler, the idea
is to get word out to the public that we’re
back in business,” Nagel said. “Most
retailers who’ve started with us tend to
have a lot of product loyalty.”
He attributes that to the Swiss processing
techniques held over from the
plant’s origins.
“Our sour cream is the only one in the
Midwest to still use our unique process
to pasteurize, which makes a unique
product with a creamier texture,” Nagel
said. “Most retail salesmen say it’s the
best party dip in the Midwest. We’ve had
people who have moved away from the
area call us from Texas and Arizona to
have our product over-nighted to them
for parties and things because they say
you can’t duplicate the taste.”
Sterlena also is known for its unhomogenized
chocolate milk, egg nog and
cottage cheese. Taking note of a growing
market trend, all milk is from cows not
treated with rBST. Other products
include white milk, several iced tea varieties
and pure Valencia orange juice. The
coop also is a member of Ohio Proud, the
Ohio Department of Agriculture’s marketing
program that promotes Ohiomade
products.
Down the road, the coop is considering
processing yogurt and ice cream, if a
niche can be found to make the products
unique, Nagel said.
Steering committee members Bruce
and Ruth Ann Yancey are excited about
the cooperative and its potential. They
are former dairy farmers who used to
produce milk shipped to the Wauseon
plant from the 1970s through mid 1990s.
“It’s been a dream of Bruce’s ever since
we came to Ohio from Florida years ago,”
Ruth Ann said. “His father was one of 11
owners of a milk plant in Sarasota, Fla. So
he grew up knowing what it was like to be
involved with a milk plant.”
Mostly, he appreciates that the plant is
producing local products from the local
milk supply, which satisfies a growing
consumer interest in local food products.
“I’m very optimistic about it,” Bruce
said. “I think it will really come around
as time goes on. We just need to really
work at it, see where our opportunities
are and proceed.”
For more information on Sterlena
Pride Dairy Cooperative, contact Nagel
at 419-337-2015 or visit
sterlenapride.com.
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OLD unusual Milk Bottles in Crate - any info or value? - 
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