At this Mohawk farm, they milk sheep

PHOTOGRAPHER: Marc Schultz

Sheep inside barn on the farm of Kendall and Marsha Foote located at 658 Old Trail Rd. in Fonda. The construction of sheep milk/cheese facility is being built attached to this barn where the sheep are housed.

A town of Mohawk family plans to give overseas farmers some competition in 2012 with the production of sheep’s milk cheese, a product that’s imported by the ton.

The Montgomery County Industrial Development Agency recently approved a $57,500 loan for Footehill Farms, an operation that raised veal calves for more than 20 years before shifting to meat goats and now sheep.

Kendall Foote on Monday said there are only a few farms in Montgomery County raising sheep, and those he’s aware of sell their sheep’s milk to other operations. He expects to be one of a few, if not the only, to start marketing sheep’s milk cheese made right on the farm.

The farm is adding a new facility currently under construction and the loan will pay for cheese-making gear and other equipment.

Sheep’s milk cheese is a popular product in the United States, he said, adding that “We import hundreds of tons of sheep’s milk cheese from Europe.”

According to the Wisconsin Sheep Dairy Cooperative, the United States imports roughly 70 million pounds of sheep’s milk cheese each year, which provides the bulk of U.S. consumption. Cheeses made from sheep’s milk include feta, ricotta, pecorino Romano and Roquefort.

Agriculture is a major industry in Montgomery County, but it’s been difficult to find financial support for farms through regular economic development funding channels, county economic development director Ken Rose said.

The county maintains an economic development loan fund but the bulk of that money is directed toward manufacturing and warehousing operations that are able to demonstrate the ability to create more than a few jobs.

Many agriculture operations are family-owned businesses where family members do the bulk of the work, so it’s often difficult to demonstrate large job numbers and tie farms to current economic development funding, Rose said.

“It’s extremely difficult to find a program that really links up for the agriculture community, but this was one that fit,” Rose said.

The Footehill Farms project proposes to create three positions within three years.

The loan money comes from a small fund of about $90,000 in federal money provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Years ago, the loan fund was administered by the now-defunct Montgomery County Economic Development Corp. before the USDA took away the administrative duties.

Now, the fund is back under local control under the auspices of the county IDA, with this being the first project to be funded by the program since it returned to local administration. Rose said he hopes it will serve as a case example of the benefits of making loans available to agricultural operations.

Foote said the farm on Old Trail Road is caring for 100 female dairy sheep expected to lamb in April and, though it seems a long time away, there’s a lot of work to be done to prepare for the new season.

“We hope to be ready,” he said.

Foote said he’s also working on developing a website to help promote the local product.