Steckler Grassfed bringing Dubois County local organic cheese choices

ByFree Press Staff Reading Time: 5 minutes
The 8 oz. block of cheddar sits ready for sale at 9 area locations, including Steckler's farm.
The 8 oz. block of cheddar sits ready for sale at nine area locations, including Steckler’s farm.

Wayne King stood baffled in front of the cheese case in the back of his store in Huntingburg.

“It should be here,” King said staring at the middle of the refrigerated case.

A label with a content-looking cow advertising Steckler’s Grassfed raw milk cheese stuck out from the shelf. Instead of Steckler’s cheese, a national brand of organic cheese from Wisconsin sat smugly in 3 columns.
“We must be out,” the owner of Mor 4 Less in Huntingburg said.
King told me a lot of his customers like the cheese from Jerry Steckler’s nearby Dale farm. Steckler began producing the organic cheese on January 9 of this year and hosted a grand opening of the on-farm store on June 9. The store features all of their pasture-based products including aged raw milk cheese, 100% grass-fed beef and lamb, pastured chickens, turkeys and free-range eggs—all of which are hormone and antibiotic free.
Although Steckler produces raw milk, currently they can’t sell it commercially but the cheese can be legally sold after a 60-day aging period. Because of the potential for harmful bacteria to manifest in unpasteurized milk, Indiana law prohibits the sale of raw milk to human consumers. But Steckler and other dairy farmers can still sell their raw milk directly to customers if they label it as pet food.
Mor 4 Less just started carrying the raw cheese a few months ago. Steckler received his permit from the Indiana Board of Animal Health to make the cheddar on his farm in January. He says they still have a lot to learn about making different styles of cheeses.
The raw cheddar is also USDA Certified Organic. Steckler’s cows not only stay away from drugs, but they also eat only perennial grasses, a ruminant animal’s favorite food. Steckler and other grass-fed operations claim this gives the food a nutritional boost and keeps the animals healthier. He claims his organic cheese contains higher levels of of health-promoting fats, including omega-3 fatty acids and conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) and a much higher percentage of carotene, because of the cow’s grass diet.

“A growing number of consumers are looking for what we are doing here, and they are willing to support it.” Steckler said. “So many young people are coming out to find better food to feed their family. It feels good to be one of the suppliers.”

King picked up the top Organic Valley cheddar to reveal the remaining two half-pound blocks of Steckler’s cheese hiding underneath. The price of the national brand is higher than the local cheese.

“We tried to make his cheaper,” King said, showing his support of Steckler’s Grassfed cheese. “We don’t mark it up very much.”

King and his family eat the local cheddar at home. He says his wife doesn’t like to use any other cheese.

“It tastes like cheese, unlike some of this other stuff,” He said, waving his hand at the cheese case.

King says Mor 4 Less tries to carry as much organic products as possible in the store he has owned since 1974. He claims that Steckler’s cheese and eggs sell as well as other products at the store.

Besides King’s store, Steckler sells his cheese at Grounded in Jasper, Sanders in Celestine, Monkey Hollow winery near Fulda and Winzerwald winery in Bristow. The dairy product will be on the shelf of Holiday Foods in Jasper, Ferdinand and Santa Claus later this month. The Steckler’s also sell their cheese directly off their farm, which Jerry describes as practically in Dubois County.

“I like the idea of keeping things as local as possible,”Steckler. “I wouldn’t mind if St. Henry would eat all of our cheese, but I don’t think that will happen.”

Steckler says local distribution keeps transportation costs down as well. This has allowed the cheese producer to branch out. A new pepperjack variety of raw milk cheese will be available in stores by July 21.

“Our goal in what we are doing here is to provide healthier, more nutritious food in harmony with nature to people who appreciate it,” Stecker says.

He believes in the sustainable farming methods practiced on his farm. Although Steckler’s family has been raising cows for generations —he grew up on a conventional dairy farm—, he saw a market advantage for organic milk. According to the Indiana State Department of Agriculture (ISDA) organic food is one of the fastest growing food sectors in the state.
He says the transition to organic grass-fed cows progressed naturally and easily. His brother Stan Steckler also chose to raise cows organically. They both hope to preserve the natural system for future generations and hope to keep the farms in the family.
He sees the health benefit of promoting raw milk, despite its regulation. Stecker says his family has been drinking raw milk for generations. He explains that like antibiotics, exposure to small quantities of bacteria allows the body to become immune to them. He says no one in his family has become sick from raw milk.

“I don’t know of anyone who has ever become ill from drinking raw milk products,” Steckler says. “And you know everyone in the farm industry.”

He claims the potential for dangerous pathogens come from unhealthy cows eating nontraditional diets. And he’s not the only one making these claims. The debate has been fired up recently with the increase in antibiotic resistant pathogens.

The state recently started taking comments on the legalization of raw milk sales. Until August 31, comments are being accepted through the Raw Milk Virtual Public Hearing (http://www.in.gov/boah/2615.htm). They can also be mailed to:

IN State Board of Animal Health (BOAH)
Attn: Raw Milk Comments
Discovery Hall, Suite 100
1202 E. 38th Street
Indianapolis, IN 46205-2898

BOAH staff will review the comments as part of a report for the Governor and the Legislative Council. The report, which must be completed by December 1, 2012, will be posted online.
Proponents of raw milk claim that homogenized milk might even cause more harm than unpasteurized milk. The heat of pasteurization removes enzymes such as lactase, which helps the body digest milk.
After buying a block of raw Steckler cheese, I offered it to a friend who has been lactose-intolerant all of her life. She usually becomes seriously ill when she consumes standard dairy products. She gladly munched on it, telling me raw dairy products don’t make her sick.

Here is the Steckler Grassfed website. They can also be contacted at 683-3098.

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6 Comments

  1. Amazing to see how government intervention has messed up even the food we eat and what we can shop for.

    1. This is typical response from Adrian. If there is a problem he wants to blame government. The truth is that farmers see their corn crop that cows eat devastated by a certain insect and in the end the farmers got BT corn that when the insects eat the corn stalk it kills them. Commercial farmers are the ones that created the problem of all of the chemicals in our food supply and in doing that they created the market for products like these that people care enough to not put chemicals in their products produce and sell. Not wanting chemicals in their vegetables is just one of the reasons that people have their own gardens.

      1. I can't speak directly for Adrian, but perhaps one point he is referring to is the fact that the state has deemed raw milk sales illegal. Just speculating though.

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