Meyenberg Goat Milk has been operating a goat milk processing plant in Yellville, Ark., since 1954. However, the plant has a history even before that.
The Yellville plant originally opened as a milk co-op and cheese-making facility in the 1940s. Named the Ozark Milk Product Company, the company was established by several businessmen in the area.
Many who have lived in Marion County Ark., for a lifetime remember the cheese-making plant of the 1940s. Verl Doshier has childhood memories that include a pickup truck coming regularly to their Yellville farm to pick up their family’s cow milk. It was delivered to the co-op in town. He said his dad would sell 10 to 20 gallons of milk a day. He also remembers that the next day the pickup would come back with either their cans clean or full of whey. The whey was mixed and fed to their family’s hogs.
When the cheese making plant began, the owners hired a German cheese maker. He did a fine job, but because it was during the 1940s and the second World War was still alive in peoples’ minds, the German cheese maker wasn’t there for long. Stories vary, but locals believe he was probably fired. After that, the cheddar cheese that was produced wasn’t the quality that it had been previously, which contributed to the closing of the plant in the early 1950s.
Not long after the plant closed its cheese operation, it was leased by Meyenberg Goat Milk and the company began the process of converting the factory to a plant that produced condensed goat milk. Jackson-Mitchell bought the plant and the Meyenberg name in 1977 and has operated it continuously since that time.
In order to process the goat’s milk and aid in the cleaning of the equipment, a steam boiler unit was built behind the factory. Glenda Treat, another long-time local, says that her father, Virgil Dewey, operated and maintained the boiler for the plant for 30 years. The story goes that Virgil was so serious about his boiler room that exactly on the 8 a.m., noon and 5 p.m. hours, he would blow a loud whistle over town – just so everyone knew what time it was.
Mike Mason, who has been plant manager for 17 years, says that Meyenberg is the only company in the world that processes goat milk in exactly this way. The unique difference is that Meyenberg goat milk is condensed and preserved without using sugar. The condensing process removes 50 percent of the water in the goat’s milk.
This process was brought to this country in the late 19th century by a young Swiss man named John E. Meyenberg. His son, John P. Meyenberg, was the first American to evaporate goat milk. In 1934, Meyenberg started selling his evaporated goat milk to Jackson-Mitchell, which was founded to distribute the product. Today, Jackson-Mitchell is still the leader in processing and marketing of goat milk, and has retained the name Meyenberg.
The process starts locally with goat milk being picked up from 25 suppliers. The goat farms stretch, through Missouri and to Fort Scott, Kan. Mike says he could always use more suppliers. Most of the dairy goat farms are ran by people who raise the milk goats as a hobby or as a second income. However, Mike said, “I’m starting to get more actual farmers who want to do it to make money.”
The pay isn’t bad. The base price is $50 per 100 pounds of milk. The price is based on the butterfat.
“The more butterfat we get, the less water we have to take out of the milk,” Mike explained.
Mike has a contract hauler who picks up the milk once a week from each producer. When he delivers it, the goat milk is checked for bacteria and pumped from the tanker into giant holding tanks. A series of pipes and valves transfer the milk to a giant separator which evaporates the water from the milk. The milk goes through heating and cooling cycles, which are strictly regulated by state laws and the FDA. The evaporated goat’s milk is then packaged in cans and shipped.
The Yellville plant produces 90 percent of the canned milk produced by the Meyenberg Company. Its sister plant in Turlock, Calif., produces cheeses, butter, fresh whole goat milk, powdered goat milk and fresh low-fat goat milk. Goat’s milk is rich in calcium, vitamin A, potassium, phosphorus and niacin.
For those with cow milk sensitivity, soy milk sensitivity or ulcers, goat milk is usually a safe alternative.
Many long-time residents of Yellville have family ties and fond memories of the processing plant. It’s definitely a place where history is still alive and well, jobs and a good product are provided, while continuing to be a valuable part of the community.
