MADISON, WIS. — While the Dairy Business Innovation Alliance (DBIA) does much to assist traditional dairy businesses that focus on cow’s milk products, it also supports the growing sheep and goat dairy industry.
DBIA program coordinator Emily Slatter said sheep and goat dairy products offer “exciting opportunities” for both innovation and market expansion.
“DBIA is proud to support the growth of these unique dairy sectors in the Midwest through this cutting-edge research, as well as our targeted grants and ongoing technical support,” Slatter said.
The Dairy Business Builder grant program offered by DBIA – a partnership between the Center for Dairy Research and Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association – has provided $1.5 million, through 22 grants, to small business goat, sheep and mixed-milk producers.
Since 2021, DBIA has partnered with global market intelligence specialists at Mintel to gather insights to help US cheese makers compete in the goat and sheep market, which has a lot of European imports. A report on that work published in 2024 found the domestic market for goat and sheep cheeses to be favorable, and it advised partnering with retailers to increase the reach and availability of domestic goat and sheep cheeses that already are popular.
The report, which pointed out that leveraging existing popular brands will be an asset, also stated broadly applicable labeling best practices could make existing products more attractive to consumers in stores. The report also recommended further exploration into consumers’ perception of cheese products that combine milk types as a solution for price and scale improvements for the US goat and sheep milk supply.
DBIA shared that goat and sheep dairy processors requested analysis that led to the organization examining the composition of various domestic and imported product samples. DBIA said monthly sensory panels provide flavor and texture details to coincide with analytical testing, and results will be shared with the industry as it looks to develop common standards.
