Today we’d like to introduce you to Willis Schrock.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
JD Country Milk is a family owned and operated dairy farm and processing plant located in Logan County, Kentucky. Willis and Edna Schrock have created quite a niche market for their milk, and over the years they have raised eight children. Seven of them work on the farm, and all eight (Justin, Joni, Jared, Jannette, Joel, Jason, Jennifer and Jeffrey) share the middle initial D, so the name was an easy decision.
So what is so different about JD Country Milk? At first glance, the answer is easy. Glass bottles. Reusable, returnable, and very little waste to go into a landfill, along with the absence of a plastic taste some people notice when drinking milk from plastic containers are all good reasons to choose glass bottles. The nostalgia factor doesn’t hurt sales, either.
But Willis says that while the glass bottles help to market the milk, it’s the product itself that is the main point of differentiation. “We only pasteurize our milk at 145 degrees for 30 minutes instead of the high temperature/short time method used by most processors,” he said. “This process keeps the good bacteria alive and allows the milk to keep more of its natural flavor.”
Products in the JD retail line include skim, 2 percent milk, whole milk, half-and-half, cream, chocolate milk. buttermilk. Another big seller is their ice cream mix. Willis said that the sales of JD Country Ice Cream Mix doubles each year. That, combined with the amount of retail product that is sold in the farmers markets and retail outlets, is a pretty hefty amount of milk.
“We don’t buy from just anybody,” he said. “We like to get our excess milk from other small family farms that share our way of thinking and use the same good practices that we do.”
Just as Willis Schrock is particular about the partners he buys milk from, he is also a good partner to the retail outlets that carry JD Country Milk. “We do not have guaranteed sales like some milk companies do,” he said. That means that if a store orders ten cases and only sells eight, the processor would not charge for the two unsold cases. With JD Country Milk, the retailers purchase milk for resale, and once they buy it, they own it. When a new retailer comes on board, Schrock said he views it as a partnership and will work with them to get their quantities adjusted to meet demand.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
This niche market has allowed JD Country milk to survive and thrive while so many dairies in Kentucky and other parts of the United States are experiencing hard times. Many dairies have closed their parlor doors and transitioned to other endeavors.
“We knew that we had to get into something to make more money,” Willis said, “and we decided to figure out a way to make more money per cow, rather than just have more cows.” In 2005, he wrote up a business plan for what is now JD Country Milk. Concrete was poured in April of 2006, and the operation has expanded and grown steadily since then.
There have been many changes in the business model over the years, and the Schrocks have proven themselves to be savvy business people. “We figured out that the way to get our products into retail stores is not to go to the store and say ‘hi there, will you sell our milk?’ but to develop a loyal customer base at the farmers market and then encourage the customers to ask their grocers to carry our products,”
Contact Info:
- Website: https://jdcountrymilk.com
