Shepherd's Way Farms

In 1994, Steven Read and Jodi Ohlsen Read established Shepherd's Way Farms in rural Minnesota with a small flock of dairy sheep. One of the founding members of the Wisconsin Dairy Sheep Collective, the farm originally produced only milk. In 1998, Shepherd’s Way Farms released their first wheel of cheese and their operation slowly began to grow. In 2001, looking for a larger property, the farm moved to its current location, right across from Minnesota’s Big Woods State Park. Unfortunately, tragedy struck in 2005, when an arson fire destroyed all of their animal housing and killed the majority of their flock, all but stopping production. With massive community support and perseverance, Shepherd’s Way Farms was able to slowly rebuild and resume their cheese production in 2011. Today, the farm is still family run with Steven & Jodi’s four sons helping to assist in maintaining the farm as well as the cheese business.