MONROE - Whey has come a long way from being just a waste by-product of cheese that's fed to farm animals or dumped in fields.
Today, whey processing is an industry in its own right, and its resulting products are feeding the world.
"Whey is huge," said Ken Harwood, director of Lafayette County Economic Development Corporation. "It's a protein source in countries where there are not enough cows and dairy. China, Japan - Asian countries are very interested in protein supplements and products."
"Where we drink Coke, they drink protein drinks," he added.
Even Coca-Cola is now in a U.S. distribution pact with Fair Oaks Farms Brands to make and market a high-protein, workout-recovery shake called Core Power for athletes and fitness buffs.
Support for local economies
Because of the large number of cheese producers and the plentiful supply of whey in the area, Lafayette and Green counties have great opportunities to cash in on the whey products market.
Wisconsin Whey Protein is currently building a processing plant in Darlington, which will need about 50 to 60 new employees, Harwood said.
The plant will produce "clean, pure whey protein," Harwood added, which will be used in meal replacements, infant formula, baby food, sport drinks, health foods and geriatric nutritional drinks.
"From the cradle to the grave, you need protein," Harwood said.
The company is also researching a higher grade of sweetener product from whey for use in candy bars.
Spin-off industries of whey processing are also on the map.
Harwood noted a by-product of drying whole whey is a syrupy, salty liquid used in place of road salt.
And Wisconsin Whey Protein is planning to bring a portion of its stainless steel manufacturing division to Darlington, where it will be more centrally located for the needs of its dairy production customers, Harwood said.
Grande Cheese Co., a manufacturer of Italian cheeses, just bought its third whey plant in August from PGP International. This latest acquisition is next to its Juda cheese plant in Green County. Grande had been a whey supplier of the plant. The sales agreement stipulated that all employees will be retained, according to PGP International.
The plant will continue its significant role in the stability of the Green County dairy industry, because it receives whey from several other local cheese plants.
The acquisition is expected to support Grande's future growth and diversification, according to Wayne Matzke, president and chief executive officer of Grande. Grande's Custom Ingredients Group is an international producer of Grade A whey protein isolates, whey protein concentrates and lactose. Marketed under the Wisconsin Whey International brand, its whey protein ingredients are intended for sports nutrition, weight management and infant nutrition applications.
Return value to livestock
Whey is not just for people food. What was once considered hog slop is now going into value-added animal feed.
International Ingredients, in business for about 18 years in Monroe, makes fortified, granulated lactose for young animals' food.
"You could say our product goes into feed for multiple species, except aquaculture and poultry, but not pet foods - not here," said Phil Vosberg, plant manager.
International Ingredients' Monroe plant receives and dries the lactose portion of whey. The protein portion of processed whey is moving into the food sector, Vosberg said.
Much of its liquid whey lactose supply is from the southern third of the state. Green County had the concentration of milk cows, cheesemaking and whey pre-processing that the company needed to see to originally locate in Monroe.
International Ingredients uses a roller-drying technology to "steam roll" lactose liquid.
What comes off is just the steam, leaving behind a dry source of lactose that is highly transportable domestically and overseas, Vosberg said.
It is a very digestible source of lactose for calf milk replacer and baby pig feed, he added.
Added value for milk producers
Whey uses are putting value back into milk prices, Vosberg noted.
The minimum price cheese plants are required to pay for milk used in making cheese is derived from current market values for butterfat and protein, plus an additional value based on the current dry whey market price.
The January 2012 Class III price was $17.05. Of this amount, 16.8 percent was the whey solids value of $2.86. By June of 2012, the Class III price had dropped to $15.63. The whey solids value fell to $1.77, 11.3 percent of the total.
But while an increase in milk prices is good for dairy farmers, cheesemakers are getting caught in a squeeze.
Spiking dry whey values in late 2011 and early 2012 pushed up the Class III milk prices, forcing Wisconsin cheese plants to pay higher milk prices and placing a greater competitive disadvantage on smaller cheese plants that are unable to extract much value from their whey, according to the Wisconsin Whey Study, released in April 2013.
But not all cheese plants can process whey. The study noted smaller cheese plants face significant barriers to entering the whey processing business, including low whey volumes, high capital equipment costs, high transportation costs and increasing quality requirements.
Because of Wisconsin's practice of paying dairy farmers premiums above minimum Class III milk prices, actual payment prices were much higher than the national minimum prices. Cheesemakers in the state competing on a national basis saw their historical competitive cost disadvantage grow substantially larger, compared to California and Idaho, which were not participating in the national system, the study pointed out.
The study recommended small cheese factories consider a joint effort to process whey or to transport it to a facility, rather than dumping it, to get greater returns on their whey.
A future whey
Removing lactose from whey allows production of whey protein concentrate (WPC) and whey protein isolates (WPI). Product values increase as the protein composition rises.
There is a trend of increasing production of 80 percent protein WPC and its higher concentration in WPI, according to the Wisconsin Whey Study.
The study pointed out that, as the largest cheese producer in the nation, Wisconsin is also the largest whey producer.
On a state-wide level, the whey production and processing sub-sector accounts for more than 16,300 jobs per year, with indirect economic benefits extending to surrounding rural communities, as most producers and processors are located in rural areas.
The highest value of whey is in food ingredients and pharmacological applications.
The lowest-value use of whey is land-disposal. This yields zero or negative value to the cheesemaker in two ways.
Environmental regulations for spreading whey on land are restrictive and likely to become more so; and the value of whey is now reflected in gate prices for milk (paid to the farm), so cheesemakers who are not recovering that value are at a financial disadvantage.
To keep Wisconsin's competitive advantage in the rapidly-growing subsector of the cheese machining industry, the study made several recommendations, which include eliminating land disposal of salable whey; increasing education and technical knowledge in whey processing; encouraging more research to develop technical processes during cheesemaking that maximize utilization of whey; creating best practices for shipping raw whey; and encouraging more collaboration between dairy companies and local authorities for whey processes or for energy production.
The Wisconsin Whey Study was a research report from the consortium of the Wisconsin Whey Opportunities Working Group. Participating organizations in the group included USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service; UW-Madison College of Agriculture and Life Science; Wisconsin Center for Dairy Research; Wisconsin Cheesemakers Association; Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection; Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation; and Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board.
Today, whey processing is an industry in its own right, and its resulting products are feeding the world.
"Whey is huge," said Ken Harwood, director of Lafayette County Economic Development Corporation. "It's a protein source in countries where there are not enough cows and dairy. China, Japan - Asian countries are very interested in protein supplements and products."
"Where we drink Coke, they drink protein drinks," he added.
Even Coca-Cola is now in a U.S. distribution pact with Fair Oaks Farms Brands to make and market a high-protein, workout-recovery shake called Core Power for athletes and fitness buffs.
Support for local economies
Because of the large number of cheese producers and the plentiful supply of whey in the area, Lafayette and Green counties have great opportunities to cash in on the whey products market.
Wisconsin Whey Protein is currently building a processing plant in Darlington, which will need about 50 to 60 new employees, Harwood said.
The plant will produce "clean, pure whey protein," Harwood added, which will be used in meal replacements, infant formula, baby food, sport drinks, health foods and geriatric nutritional drinks.
"From the cradle to the grave, you need protein," Harwood said.
The company is also researching a higher grade of sweetener product from whey for use in candy bars.
Spin-off industries of whey processing are also on the map.
Harwood noted a by-product of drying whole whey is a syrupy, salty liquid used in place of road salt.
And Wisconsin Whey Protein is planning to bring a portion of its stainless steel manufacturing division to Darlington, where it will be more centrally located for the needs of its dairy production customers, Harwood said.
Grande Cheese Co., a manufacturer of Italian cheeses, just bought its third whey plant in August from PGP International. This latest acquisition is next to its Juda cheese plant in Green County. Grande had been a whey supplier of the plant. The sales agreement stipulated that all employees will be retained, according to PGP International.
The plant will continue its significant role in the stability of the Green County dairy industry, because it receives whey from several other local cheese plants.
The acquisition is expected to support Grande's future growth and diversification, according to Wayne Matzke, president and chief executive officer of Grande. Grande's Custom Ingredients Group is an international producer of Grade A whey protein isolates, whey protein concentrates and lactose. Marketed under the Wisconsin Whey International brand, its whey protein ingredients are intended for sports nutrition, weight management and infant nutrition applications.
Return value to livestock
Whey is not just for people food. What was once considered hog slop is now going into value-added animal feed.
International Ingredients, in business for about 18 years in Monroe, makes fortified, granulated lactose for young animals' food.
"You could say our product goes into feed for multiple species, except aquaculture and poultry, but not pet foods - not here," said Phil Vosberg, plant manager.
International Ingredients' Monroe plant receives and dries the lactose portion of whey. The protein portion of processed whey is moving into the food sector, Vosberg said.
Much of its liquid whey lactose supply is from the southern third of the state. Green County had the concentration of milk cows, cheesemaking and whey pre-processing that the company needed to see to originally locate in Monroe.
International Ingredients uses a roller-drying technology to "steam roll" lactose liquid.
What comes off is just the steam, leaving behind a dry source of lactose that is highly transportable domestically and overseas, Vosberg said.
It is a very digestible source of lactose for calf milk replacer and baby pig feed, he added.
Added value for milk producers
Whey uses are putting value back into milk prices, Vosberg noted.
The minimum price cheese plants are required to pay for milk used in making cheese is derived from current market values for butterfat and protein, plus an additional value based on the current dry whey market price.
The January 2012 Class III price was $17.05. Of this amount, 16.8 percent was the whey solids value of $2.86. By June of 2012, the Class III price had dropped to $15.63. The whey solids value fell to $1.77, 11.3 percent of the total.
But while an increase in milk prices is good for dairy farmers, cheesemakers are getting caught in a squeeze.
Spiking dry whey values in late 2011 and early 2012 pushed up the Class III milk prices, forcing Wisconsin cheese plants to pay higher milk prices and placing a greater competitive disadvantage on smaller cheese plants that are unable to extract much value from their whey, according to the Wisconsin Whey Study, released in April 2013.
But not all cheese plants can process whey. The study noted smaller cheese plants face significant barriers to entering the whey processing business, including low whey volumes, high capital equipment costs, high transportation costs and increasing quality requirements.
Because of Wisconsin's practice of paying dairy farmers premiums above minimum Class III milk prices, actual payment prices were much higher than the national minimum prices. Cheesemakers in the state competing on a national basis saw their historical competitive cost disadvantage grow substantially larger, compared to California and Idaho, which were not participating in the national system, the study pointed out.
The study recommended small cheese factories consider a joint effort to process whey or to transport it to a facility, rather than dumping it, to get greater returns on their whey.
A future whey
Removing lactose from whey allows production of whey protein concentrate (WPC) and whey protein isolates (WPI). Product values increase as the protein composition rises.
There is a trend of increasing production of 80 percent protein WPC and its higher concentration in WPI, according to the Wisconsin Whey Study.
The study pointed out that, as the largest cheese producer in the nation, Wisconsin is also the largest whey producer.
On a state-wide level, the whey production and processing sub-sector accounts for more than 16,300 jobs per year, with indirect economic benefits extending to surrounding rural communities, as most producers and processors are located in rural areas.
The highest value of whey is in food ingredients and pharmacological applications.
The lowest-value use of whey is land-disposal. This yields zero or negative value to the cheesemaker in two ways.
Environmental regulations for spreading whey on land are restrictive and likely to become more so; and the value of whey is now reflected in gate prices for milk (paid to the farm), so cheesemakers who are not recovering that value are at a financial disadvantage.
To keep Wisconsin's competitive advantage in the rapidly-growing subsector of the cheese machining industry, the study made several recommendations, which include eliminating land disposal of salable whey; increasing education and technical knowledge in whey processing; encouraging more research to develop technical processes during cheesemaking that maximize utilization of whey; creating best practices for shipping raw whey; and encouraging more collaboration between dairy companies and local authorities for whey processes or for energy production.
The Wisconsin Whey Study was a research report from the consortium of the Wisconsin Whey Opportunities Working Group. Participating organizations in the group included USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service; UW-Madison College of Agriculture and Life Science; Wisconsin Center for Dairy Research; Wisconsin Cheesemakers Association; Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection; Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation; and Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board.