Gov. Evers visits Thorp cheesemaker, touts dairy assistance

Jun. 8—THORP — Marieke Penterman beamed as she gave Gov. Tony Evers a tour Tuesday of the $3 million expansion of her cheese factory in Thorp.

Penterman said the expansion has doubled the size of Holland's Family Cheese from 14,000 square feet to 28,000 square feet. The new building is a cheese aging room. Her current building stores 9,000 wheels of cheese, but the new aging room will hold another 50,000 wheels. Construction on the expansion began last fall, and the building should open by the end of June, storing all the wheels at about 55 degrees Fahrenheit until they are ready for consumption, she said.

A year ago, Holland's Family Cheese produced 660,000 pounds of cheese, almost entirely gouda cheese.

"We hope to triple that, to 1.5 million to 1.6 million pounds of cheese this year," Penterman said.

Holland's Family Cheese, also known as Marieke Gouda, was a recipient this year of the state's Dairy Processor Grant program, receiving $22,000 toward the expansion and marketing of their product.

Evers was impressed by the growing business. He had been there once before.

"What better place to be. Every time I've been here, there has been an expansion," Evers said. "Obviously, dairy is a huge part of our economy and our culture."

Evers toured a 60-cow operation and a 4,000-cow dairy on Tuesday, before heading to Thorp.

"First of all, it's dairy month," Evers said. "We talked a lot about farmer-led initiatives, and taking care of the land and the water."

Penterman was thrilled to have the state assistance, as well as a visit from the governor.

"It's very exciting. It's very important for people to see what is going on," she said. "We are so thankful for the grants available to us."

Penterman opened her cheese operation 18 years ago, and she routinely wins a top spot at the U.S. Championship Cheese Contest.

"We were very little and were able to grow," she said. "We started with one team member, and we now have 40 working with us."

Penterman has about 400 cows on site. An underground pipe takes their fresh milk directly to a creamery building.

"In the past, 40% of our milk goes to cheese," she explained to Evers. "Now we will be able to make all of our milk into cheese."

Penterman makes about two dozen different varieties of gouda. Cheese is stored for at least 60 days. A cheese wheel weighs about 20 pounds. Penterman said they all must be flipped at least once each week. The ribbons for all the contests hang in the shop for customers to see.

Marieke and her husband, Rolf, are natives of the Netherlands and grew up on farms there. She operated the gouda store as Holland Family Cheese on a farm southeast of Thorp for six years before she moved to their current location in 2013, wanting the visibility along Highway 29.

Thorp officials gave them a conditional use permit to have up to 435 cows on their 100-acre parcel in city limits, although it's not in a residential area.

Before leaving, Evers said he wants to revist gun safety legislation during the next session, and look at ideas from red flag laws to universal background checks. Evers noted that Florida implemented red flag laws in recent years. He added it would be far easier to implement if federal legislation moved forward.

"It's all about gun safety," Evers said. "We tried it before with a special session."

Evers also said he wanted to stay out of the debate on if Republican governor candidate Tim Michels has submitted enough legal signatures to the state. A Democrat-led effort claims most of the signatures are invalid.

"It's important to follow the rules," Evers added.