Capital Newspapers
COLUMBUS - Cows have star status at the Sassy Cow Creamery, as evidenced by their own baseball-style collector cards that come attached to every gallon of milk.
The cards, which can be detached, have a picture of a cow, her name and a few details about her personality.
Nellie, for example, "takes milk production very seriously, along with everything else," according to her card. And Pepper's card proclaims that "her fiery personality keeps the other cows at bay."
"We want people to connect the cow and the farm and the creamy to our milk," Kara Kasten, the creamery's sales manager, said of the cow-card marketing.
The cards are a way for people who might not be able to visit the creamery and see the operation "to have a connection to the cows," she said.
Sassy Cow Creamery, W4192 Bristol Road, which sits on the Dane-Columbia county border, started bottling and selling its organic and traditional milk in April 2008. The company started attaching the cow cards about a year ago. About 80 cows have been featured in four batches of 20.
"Whatever cows I can catch on camera are the cows that we use initially," Kasten said. Most of the cows have names, but some don't, she said. If not, a moniker is given once her picture is taken.
Cows already featured are tracked by their number so no cow is given double exposure.
The co-owners, brothers James and Robert Baerwolf, encourage people to meet the cows during special events at the farm, and they pride themselves on the freshness of Sassy Cow products.
A big window in the creamery's storefront and bottling facility offers people a glimpse into the manufacturing process.
"Our customer base, we let them know right away that this is a dairy farm that has a creamery on it," James Baerwolf said. "(The cow cards) are a nice way to get that message across," he said.
The brothers are third-generation dairy farmers who have two herds, 400 traditional cows and 100 in the organic program.
The creamery bottles all of its organic milk and just more than half of its regular milk, James Baerwolf said. The remaining milk is sent to a butter company, where it is pooled with milk from other dairies.
Sassy Cow milk and ice creams are sold in about 120 stores throughout the Madison, Milwaukee and Chicago areas.
Kristen Christian, of nearby Columbus, was at the creamery earlier this month buying milk and said she enjoys the cards.
"My daughter likes them, too," she said. "It's a nice touch for a local creamery. That's not something you get at a grocery store."
Jan McCarthy, who works in the creamery store, said when Sassy Cow was selling ice cream at the Taste of Madison this summer, people familiar with the cards would ask "What cow did this come from?"
"Our goal is to differentiate ourselves from the large dairies," James Baerwolf said. "Cow cards will, I'm sure, be around for a while."