Foremost Farms sells bottling business

Foremost Farms dairy cooperative ended a long run in the bottling business by selling its Waukesha and Ashwaubenon bottling plants to Dean Foods this week. In the acquisition, Dean not only acquired the processing plants that employ 282 employees, but the sale also includes the Golden Guernsey and Morning Glory brands. The plants sold to Deans have been part of Foremost and its predecessor cooperatives for nearly 80 years.

Foremost Farms is the nation's ninth largest dairy cooperative with 2,400 members and 4.697 billion pounds of milk which represents 2.5 percent of the nation's milk supply. In 2008, the cooperative had $1.6 billion in revenue. The cooperative was formed in 1995 when the former Wisconsin Dairies and Golden Guernsey Dairy Cooperatives voted to merge. One year later, the Morning Glory region of Associated Milk Producers, Inc., merged into the newly formed cooperative. It was through those mergers that Foremost acquired the well-known Golden Guernsey and Morning Glory brands.

Foremost officials say the sale allows the cooperative to focus on wholesale markets for cheese, butter, and dairy product ingredients. The cooperative has 10 cheese plants, six dairy ingredient plants, a butter plant, and two farm-milk transfer stations.

Meanwhile, Dean Foods continues to grow its fluid business as the nation's largest dairy processor. Worldwide, Dean ranks fourth for dairy product sales with Nestle (Switzerland), Lactalis (France), and Groupe Danone (France) above it. In the fourth quarter of 2008, Dean posted the strongest quarter in company history with profits of $66.4 million or 42 cents a share. That compares to $32.6 million or 24 cents a share a year ago.