Wagon Creek Creamery

Website: wagoncreekcreamery.com

Dairy products: Greek yogurt, yogurt cheese, yogurt, butter, buttermilk, cream, ricotta, cheesecake, mozzarella, jack cheese, grass fed beef

Ron and Barbara Crain have been operating Crain Dairy in northwest Oklahoma since 1991. In 2001, Barbara began experimenting with cheese making. She found a recipe for yogurt cheese (labaneh) and when all the Crain kids liked it, she knew she was on to something. As she began to learn more about the nutritional benefits of yogurt cheese, she was even more impressed. The Crains worked with the Food and Agricultural Products Center at OSU and with Pladot, an Israeli dairy equipment supplier, to bring their dream to reality. Wagon Creek Creamery is a certified production facility, and has been in production since the summer of 2005. Their product line includes: Greek style yogurt, plain nonfat yogurt, creamline yogurt, butter, fresh buttermilk, cream, ricotta,mozzarella, jack and yogurt cheese (original, garlic and jalapeno). The creamery also includes a certified kitchen and one of their specialties is yogurt cheese cheesecakes (lemon, chocolate chip, raspberry wine). In 2007, the Crains added grass fed dairy beef to their listing. The cows and steers are raised on the farm and are not fed grain nor have they ever been given growth hormones (rBST). In 2009, a friend asked if we’d considered making Greek style yogurt. Since Barbara knew nothing about it, she did a little research on the internet and discovered that yogurt cheese and Greek style yogurt are essentially the same product, so they began manufacturing it immediately, starting with the whole milk variety. Because far more people are familiar with the name “Greek style yogurt” this product quickly outpaced the yogurt cheese and has become one of our most popular items. About that same time, Barbara began processing some hard cheeses, starting with mozzarella and later adding monterrey jack and pepper jack.

Wagon Creek Creamery only uses milk from Crain Dairy, the family farm. The cows are grassfed—no grain in their diet. Research indicated that grassfed milk is higher in CLAs (conjugated linoleic acids) and has the right balance of Omega 3 fatty acids.

The original yogurt cheese contains nothing but cultured milk. The garlic and jalapeno flavors are made the same way, but with the addition of the spices and/or peppers.

Greek style yogurts contain nothing but our grass fed cultured milk. We manufacture 3 varieties: whole milk, lowfat and nonfat.

Wagon Creek Creamery nonfat yogurt contains nothing but cultured skim milk from Crain Dairy. Creamline yogurt contains only cultured whole milk. No fillers or preservatives are added.

The cream is about 40% butterfat. It can be whipped, used in coffee, casseroles, homemade ice cream, mixed with a little milk for cereal, or made into butter and buttermilk.

The butter and buttermilk are made by beating the cream until it separates. The yellow color in the butter comes from the beta carotin in the cows’ grass diet. The greener the pastures, the yellower the butter.

The cheesecakes are made from our original yogurt cheese (instead of cream cheese). This gives it a rich creamy taste, but without the heaviness of cream cheese. We use a commercially prepared graham cracker crust.

Ricotta comes in two varieties: creamy and curd style. It’s wonderful in lasagne, manicotti, etc. We start with our grassfed, very lowfat milk and add vinegar and salt.

Buttermilk is the byproduct made when we turn cream into butter. Our buttermilk is fresh—not cultured—and is frozen in 8 oz. containers. Great for baking; use it just like you would use cultured buttermilk. If you want to make the fresh buttermilk into cultured, add 1/4 cup of our yogurt or our original yogurt cheese and stir.

Our grass fed beef comes from our own cows and steers. We phased out feeding grain to our cows in January 2006. Dairy beef is quite lean and is very tasty.

The Crains have been using a rotational grazing system with their cows since about 1994. Because the cows are kept on pasture, they have very few health problems. Their diet consists of grass and hay; no grain. This produces a tasty milk of a higher quality than that of confined, grain fed cows. Research has shown that milk from cows that consume green grasses contains more vitamins than that of cows fed only grain and hay. Grass fed dairy products are higher in CLAs (conjugated linoleic acid—thought to help fight cancer) and have the right balance of Omega 3 fatty acids.

Our cows have never been given rBST (growth hormone). They are vaccinated against disease. Cows or calves will be treated with an antibiotic if they become ill or injured. If this occurs in a lactating cow, her milk is dumped (it never enters the creamery) until the antibiotic has cleared her system. (By the way, ALL milk in the U.S. is tested for antibiotic residue before it is accepted by any processing plant.) Replacement calves are raised on the farm. In the winter of 2009-2010 we began leaving the newborn calves with the mothers and having them raise their babies to weaning age. This cuts down on our milk supply (the calves drink an enormous amount of milk when given free access, but has eliminated the twice a day chore of feeding calves ourselves, has produced very robust calves, and has also given us the opportunity to produce some pasture raised veal.br>
The land that the dairy is situated on had been in wheat for many decades. It has been converted to both cool season and warm season grasses to provide green grasses year round.

OSU has done a nutrition analysis on Wagon Creek Creamery yogurt cheese. The files are printed on the packages and are available on our website: wagoncreekcreamery.com Yogurt cheese contains 25 calories per 2 TBS serving and has 1 g. fat. The nutritional benefits of yogurt cheese are outstanding when compared to similar products (eg. dips, cream cheese, mayonnaise, sour cream) and it tastes great. In addition, yogurt cheese contains live, active cultures.

Our creamline and nonfat yogurts are made from cultured milk; we add no fillers or preservatives. Nutrition facts are now available on the new yogurt labels.

If for any reason you are not satisfied with any of our products, you can request a refund and I will be happy to send you a check or arrange with the coop to credit your account next month.

We greatly appreciate your support of our family’s farm.