By Stephanie Schupska
University of
Georgia

When Sweet Grass Dairy in Thomasville, Ga., was considering
adding milk to its
successful goat and cow cheese business, Desiree Wehner contacted
the University
of Georgia Center for Agribusiness and Economic Development.

The family-owned dairy wanted to know the best way to market
their milk. Their
answer wasn’t exactly what either they or the center were
expecting.

Before interviewing 674 respondents in the Atlanta and
Tallahassee area about their
personal milk preferences, “we figured their top pick would
probably be organic,”
said CAED economist Kent Wolfe. The other two choices were
locally produced milk
and grass-fed milk.

Instead, consumers responded that they were more interested in
buying grass-fed
milk than either organic or locally produced products. They also
considered the
grass-fed milk more unique.

Wolfe thinks it has something to do with the mental image of
“happy cows.”

“Grass-fed milk conjured up the image of happy cows, that these
cows have a better
quality of life,” he said. “I think that’s what people think.”
That, he said, and many
people are taking more interest in health issues.

Sweet Grass Dairy, which operates both a cow and a goat dairy,
reflects this growing
trend. Before changing to grass-fed milk and starting cheese
production, they ran a
conventional dairy.

Now, the family says they’ve completely changed the way their
cows and goats live.
Instead of spending their days inside or receiving hormones or
stimulants, the
animals “live outdoors, get exercise and enjoy grazing. Our
philosophy is carried
over to our goat herd as well.”

In the past, this was reflected through the organic food label.

“Different factors are important to various consumer groups,”
Wolfe said. “Natural
and other production characteristics can be more important to a
consumer than true
organic production. We found that even the locally produced milk
is more important
to this sample of Atlanta and Tallahassee consumers than the
(U.S. Department of
Agriculture) organic stamp.”

Differences between the markets that CAED surveyed do exist. The
Tallahassee
respondents were much more interested in grass-fed milk than
their Atlanta
counterparts, who leaned more toward locally produced milk. But
overall, the
tendency was toward grass-fed.

On average, women were more interested in grass-fed milk than
their male
counterparts.

Other items CAED asked about were willingness to pay, willingness
to pay a
premium and uniqueness of the products. They also questioned
participants about
different kinds of cheese and fortified yogurt.

The Tallahassee and Atlanta areas were chosen because of their
proximity to the
Thomasville dairy, which is located in southwest Georgia.

As for Sweet Grass Dairy, the grass-fed title they plan to attach
to their milk “is kind
of unique,” Wolfe said. “They’re probably the only one in the
state going under that
label.”

A secondary result of the study, he said, was that the dairy
decided to put in a
facility to process their grass-fed milk on the farm.