Crave Brothers Farm, LLC
Tier 1 participant since 12/11/2012
While the Brothers have been involved in dairy farming in one way or another their entire lives, it wasn't until the late 1990's that Crave Brothers made their home in Waterloo. Within years of establishing the farm, the brothers discussed how to grow the business and offer opportunities for future generations. It was this discussion that eventually led the brothers to build a cheese factory in 2001. Currently, the farm has over 1,000 cows, producing over 2 million pounds of Mozzarella and Mascarpone Cheese annually.
Environmental activities
In addition to the farm and cheese making enterprise, the Crave Brothers utilize a computer-controlled anaerobic digestion system to generate electricity - enough to run their rural Wisconsin farm and cheese plant and power up to 120 homes. The digester helps manage the farm's manure, provides clean, renewable energy for the farm and produces excess electricity, which Clear Horizons sells on the electrical grid. What's more, the digester provides some saleable byproducts. The Crave Brothers use the liquid manure as a fertilizer, applied directly to nearby fields. The solid manure byproducts are used as animal bedding and potting mixes.
Crave Brothers Farm and Farmstead Cheese Plant have identified goals to work on as Green Tier participants: including maximizing efficiency of anaerobic manure digesters, reduce odors associated with farm operations, reduce feed leachate and establish baseline information concerning water consumption. They will strive to establish environmentally friendly practices that balance financial, environmental and social needs in a way that supports succession planning. Their goal is to work with employee, neighbors and the community to help them be good stewards of the land and communicate in ways that promote learning from each other.
Documents
Annual reports
Commitment outline
Acceptance letter
Applications
- Crave Farm
- Crave Farmstead Cheese
| DNR contact | Company contact |
|---|---|
| Mike Sorge 3911 Fish Hatchery Rd Fitchburg WI 53711-5367 608-275-3247 |
Charlie Crave W11550 Torpy Rd Waterloo WI 53594-9652 920-478-3812 |
