Six dairy farmers in Franklin County, Virginia, decided in 1999 that they should own the next step in the chain that took their milk to local families. Homestead Creamery opened in Wirtz in 2001 and, for four years, lost $40,000 to $60,000 a month, Farm Progress reports in a long profile of the business.

In 2004 the Farm Credit lender sent an ultimatum, and co-founder David Bower made what he calls a mayday call to Dave Kohl, professor emeritus at Virginia Tech and a well-known farm finance expert. Kohl came in as consultant, then investor. He calculated the volume the plant needed to move to make money, and the owners wrote a ten-point plan — eight points on efficiency, two on growth — and their first annual business plan, titled "Operation in the Black". They hit the goal that September; 2005 closed with a profit of $13,927.

By 2010 the creamery netted $5 million. COVID-19 cost it $600,000 in receivables and $1.6 million in revenue in 2020, and a second lender's letter followed. Sales reached $18 million in 2025 — one week in December sold more than the entire first year — and the goal is $25 million by 2028.

The lessons the founders pass on are blunt. "Farmers are hard workers, but we're typically not businesspeople," Bower said. Knowing the numbers meant cutting yogurt, which cost $1.66 for every dollar it sold. President Walt Frazier says the business thinks about people and process rather than money, pays contracted dairies more for competence, work ethic and care, uses identical 12-month exclusive contracts with published premiums, and brings in outside advisers and staff from other industries.

Reputation was protected even at a cost: when some customers refused eggnog bottles printed with scripture — the founders and their dairies are German Baptist — the creamery kept the scripture and offered different bottles. Knowing the market meant narrowing to milk, ice cream and butter when Greek yogurt and Amazon delivery changed the landscape; and then trying co-founder Donnie Montgomery's lemonade idea, which Kohl called the dumbest he had ever heard and which sold $1.2 million in 2025.

Their advice to farmers starting a side business: commit for the long run, do not stretch capital at the start, and have a marketing plan, an operations plan and a management team before taking on a million dollars of debt.

Source: Farm Progress