FAIR OAKS, Ind. — Forget amusement parks. For families looking for adventure and reality, a trip to Fair Oaks Farms may be just the ticket.

Going on two years in business now, the educational enterprise — owned and operated by several dairymen and investors — features tours of a large dairy farm, a cheese and ice cream plant and a visitor center with 60 interactive exhibits where children and adults alike can learn about the dairy industry. For now it’s free, too, and there are more interactive exhibits on the way.

Not only do visitors get to learn about the dairy industry, they also get to taste what is some of the best cheese in the United States. Randy Krahenbuhl, maker of the grand champion cheese in the U.S. Championship Cheese Contest this spring, is Fair Oaks’ cheesemaker and plant manager.

Each day, Krahenbuhl and his team of plant employees make several varieties of cheese under the watchful eyes of consumers. They use a fraction of the more than 2 million pounds of milk produced daily by the approximately 27,000 dairy cows that make up Fair Oaks Farms. Presently, Krahenbuhl says the cheesemaking operation uses about 20,000 pounds of milk each day, with the capacity to reach about 50,000 pounds of milk a day.

Although Fair Oaks is a large dairy farm business with nine milking sites, the cheese business will likely always remain on the small side, focusing on what Krahenbuhl does best: artisanal cheesemaking.

Krahenbuhl, a Wisconsin native who once owned and operated Prima Käse Cheese in Monroe, Wis., was certified in Swiss and Gouda as part of the Wisconsin Master Cheesemaker program. He was approached by Fair Oaks in 2001 in large part because of his reputation as a specialty cheesemaker.

Being part of the dairy plant from the ground up has been rewarding, Krahenbuhl says.

“I was involved in the design of the cheese plant. It’s new. It’s clean. I have complete artistic freedom in what I make,” he says. “It was everything I dreamed of doing.”

And the master cheesemaker learned something along the way, too. While the plant was being constructed, Fair Oaks sent Krahenbuhl to dairy short courses where he learned to make ice cream as well.

About 10-15 percent of the cheese and ice cream at this point is sold at the plant. Product also is sold locally for retail and foodservice in Indiana — including a seasonal kiosk at an Indiana mall — but there is one big wholesale account in New York and demand is growing, Krahenbuhl says. There also are plans to bottle milk in the future.

Krahenbuhl gets to dabble in a number of different cheeses. In addition to the Emmentaler that won the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association-sponsored contest this spring, Krahenbuhl makes Edam, Gouda, Asiago, Muenster, Cheddar, Feta and several other varieties. There is a small batch vat specifically for cheeses for the store located on the premises, as well as two Double O vats for making larger batches of cheese for sale off-site.

Julie Basich, who manages the dairy adventure and retail aspects of the multifaceted Fair Oaks business, says Fair Oaks hopes to develop a strong brand for its cheese and ice cream, noting that the products show off a great ingredient — high quality milk — in an artisan form.

Krahenbuhl says he enjoys having visitors watch the cheesemaking process through the large viewing windows, and he’s hopeful that an under-construction I-65 off-ramp near Fair Oaks Farms will make Fair Oaks an easier exit for travelers from Chicago and Indianapolis. He sees Fair Oaks as an excellent opportunity to educate these urban consumers about the world of cheese.

“A lot of people in northwest Indiana know Colby” and aren’t as familiar with other cheese types, he says.

That desire to educate consumers about milk “from grass to glass” — which also is the name of a movie at the education center — is what motivates the owners and staff of Fair Oaks Farms, says Mike McClosky, an owner.

“As generations get farther from farming … there are a lot of urban kids who don’t have a clue where food comes from,” he says. Tours are available for schools and other large groups.

Fair Oaks Farms got its start in 1999 when several dairymen moved their dairies from the Southwest United States and Michigan because they saw Indiana as a good location for large-scale dairy farming.

“We believe this part of the country is a fantastic place to dairy,” McClosky says, citing favorable feed costs, a good climate for cows and access to large population centers.

“We’re doing things as good as we can do them, and we’re proud of them,” McClosky adds.

The adventure center portion opened in 2003, focusing on communicating three core messages: the safety, quality and nutritious value of dairy products, the high quality of animal care on the large dairies and that large dairies can co-exist with the environment.

When visiting, consumers not only can take a self-guided tour of the education center and watch cheese being made, they also can take a bio-secure bus tour of the farm and see cows being milked in a carousel parlor.

During a tour, visitors learn what the dairymen do to keep the cows comfortable and healthy, including having staff veterinarians, nutritionists and herdsmen available 24 hours a day to attend to the cows’ health needs.

Basich says one of the favorite parts of the tours for many people has been the drive through the maternity barn and the opportunity to see cows calving.

However, because the bus tours have a schedule to keep, they don’t always coincide with cows’ calving. Always on the lookout to make the dairy adventure a more complete experience, this fall Fair Oaks Farms will open a birthing center where visitors, at their own pace, can watch through glass windows cows calving, Basich says. With an average of 80 calves born daily, the odds are good that visitors will see at least one newborn calf.

During a tour, visitors also might learn that Fair Oaks Farms includes approximately 17,000 acres used to grow corn silage and alfalfa hay, and that the farmers use environmentally-sound nutrient management practices to protect the soil and water. In addition, some of the farmers use anaerobic digesters for manure management systems, turning manure into electricity, heat and an odorless topsoil product.

Many people are concerned about how animals are treated and agriculture’s effect on the environment and the tours are a great way to build up the image of farming, McClosky says.

Later this year, the adventure center also will be adding fun new components, including animatronics and a 3-D/4-D movie. Basich says that this fall the visitor’s center will begin charging an entrance fee to cover some of the upgrades. Visitors still will be able to watch cheesemaking for free.

At the end of a tour, visitors can browse the gift shop and buy Krahenbuhl’s cheese and ice cream creations as well as enjoy prepared foods such as gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches, cheesecake and Starbucks coffee in a seating area.

CMN