Partners Henry Rekers and Renee Davy have been making moo-ves since they first opened the doors to South Cowichan's Cowichan Station Creamery just before Christmas time in 2021, and started their first batch of cheese earlier that year in September.
The couple's journey with their vertically integrated cheese company where they grow the grass, milk the cows, and make the cheese, then sell directly to their customers, all began with their son's desire to become a dairy farmer.
"I was like, great, I'll do the cheese, and you can do the farming, but then he decided to join the military instead, you know kids," laughed Davy.
Davy, who was born and raised on the mainland, said she has called the the valley for quite some time, while Rekers, a prairie boy from Alberta, moved to Cowichan in 1988. Neither had a background in farming. Rekers has spent the last 30 years working as a manufacturing engineer with Schneiders and said his experience with them has definitely made it easier to do some of the work inside the plant at the creamery.
"It's a process, right," said Rekers. "There's process engineering whether you are building electronics or building a food product, there are a lot of the same concepts involved."
While Davy also had no prior experience with farming she did have a history working with animals as she spent 20 years as a farrier. But the couple had a desire for some good quality dairy food, so they started with their first cow, Anne, who was five when they got her in 2010 and Rekers said it snowballed from there. Anne sadly moved on to that greener pasture in the sky earlier this year — she was 19.
"She was the boss of the farm for sure, all of the cows listened to her," said Rekers. "When we first got Anne she made way too much milk, much more than we could drink so Renee started playing around with cheese."
"We are one of the rare ones who weren't born into it," said Davy.
Cowichan Station Creamery started with four milking cows when they first opened their doors and quietly grew their herd from there. With 33 cows in total they are currently at six milking cows, which Rekers said should soon increase as a few of them are expecting. He said that one's herd should roughly be three times the amount of cows you are milking and expect to have close to 10 milking cows within the year. They are milked twice a day, and have unlimited access to grazing year round.
"They eat as much as they want, which is very important for their digestion," said Davy.
"With being grazers they need to be able to nibble all day long," said Rekers. "We also have a lot of male cows who are just living the good life."
What makes Cowichan Station Creamery the cream of the crop when it comes to their products is their focus on science and animal welfare. The cows socialize, as Rekers and Davy put their emphasis on a low-stress environment.
"We truly feel that it's all in the cow care and the kindness to the cows really makes a difference in the cheese," said Davy. "We keep the calves with the cows and by doing so they will produce more immunoglobulins, which also lowers their cortisol levels for stressors. We are very much focused on a low stress farm that will show in the quality of milk. It's also about being kind to their bodies and not demanding too much of them before they even have their adult teeth."
Davy, who describes herself as cow and science curious, said when she first sunk her own teeth into the business she spent a lot of her time genetically testing each of the cows, as well as analysis, and reading up on scientific papers.
"It took me years of genetically testing every one of the cows to talking with both microbiologists and scientists and then putting it to the test inside my own house kitchen and really navigating top quality," said Davy. "There is so much more to learn than the average person knows, so I utilize Google Scholar a lot, and will often reach out to those who write scientific papers, and am currently working on a few different things with some different university professors."
When Davy first began trying her hand at cheese she looked at things in an analytical way, and has always found her inspiration through science, good health, and most importantly quality over quantity. All their cheese product are made with the basic ingredients of milk, bacteria culture, and vegetable rennet and sometimes a little salt depending on the cheese type. Most of their cheeses take a minimum of four to six months to prepare for purchase, while some of their old cheddars can take anywhere from a year and a half to two years to properly age.
"There are different processes for different cheeses," said Davy. "We are more focused on quality rather than just pumping it out the door."
She said the entire process depends a lot on the genetics of the cows, as well as the feed, care, and cleanliness given to them. Once the cows are milked, their milk is then transported into a large refrigerated tank called a 'bulk tank'.
"We then gravity feed to the plant in order to keep the cells whole rather than decimating though pumping," said Davy. "That is really important when it comes to quality and then it is processed in our little cheese plant."
Cowichan Station Creamery only has the quota to make butter and cheese as the BC Milk Marketing Board Quota Management team controls all the supply of liquid milk, and in order to ship it one needs to buy quota, which the couple said is very expensive, and simply beyond their capacity. They said that one of the biggest challenges of starting their small creamery from scratch has been the bureaucracy, and the amount of licensing they have needed — they have eight licenses including a milk transport licence Rekers needed to obtain to drive only a short distance of 300 feet.
While running the creamery has had its share of challenges, it has also had many rewards and one of the biggest for the couple is when they come across a customer who is over the moon that they can eat cheese and dairy products again.
"A lot of people who can't eat regular cheese are fine with ours," said Rekers. "I'd have to say one of my favourite parts is interacting with the cows, they are really interesting creatures."
"It might be the quality or just how we are doing it we don't actually know," said Davy. "It's just nice to hear people say they can enjoy cheese again without feeling sick, which is always great to hear because we all deserve to enjoy good food."
Davy has created 65 different cheese varieties to date and can carry anywhere from 15 to 20 different selections at any given time. Some of their most popular products are their Koksilah Cheese and Shawnigan Cheese.
"These two cheeses have very specific probiotics, and are based on scientific papers from Europe," said Davy.
They also make special selections such as their Winter Frost which has an alpine crystal texture, and is just one of their cheeses started in the summer to be paired for the holiday season. Over the last couple of years Cowichan Station Creamery has been partnering with Blue Grouse Winery for wine and cheese pairings which is a natural collaboration since their dairy cows graze from the same region in which Blue Grouse harvest and grow their grapes.
"There are actually several different scientific names for it but because Blue Grouse is so close we have something that the French call territoire," said Davy. "Different grasses hold different bacteria within a valley. It's like Parmesan cheese, which is officially called Parmigiano-Reggiano, which refers to the specific region in Italy where it is produced. We have that here as well, we just haven't honed in on it."
"Our favourite part about collaborating with Blue Grouse has been finding out that people are quite interested in food," said Davy. "Sometimes geeking out about food is a good thing because it allows people to become more educated, and to have more of a sense on what to look for. I think it's very interesting that we are starting to see more people focused on that. They want quality, not to just throw away their money because it has a specific label."
All of the creamery's cheeses have a QR code on their labels which Rekers wrote the code for.
"You can scan the code and it will let you know what cow's milk made that cheese as well as everything about the cheese," said Davey. "You also look up the profile on each cow."
Bio-security is a huge concern for the couple. Since it is always possible for people to carry a variety of diseases through their shoes and clothing that could be harmful to their animals they do not allow visitors to get up close and personal with their cows. However the public can see what they are up to, and how they are living their best life through the creamery's 24-hour live cam which can be accessed through their website at cowichancream.ca.
"We have such a small herd that it would be devastating if they were to be affected by any kind of disease," said Davy. "You can go online and watch the cows in the barn, transparency is very important to us."
Moving forward something else that is important to Davy is the focus that she will be putting on the quantification of lactiferous, which she describes as part of the immunoglobulin in the milk. It is her hope to navigate different genetics in their qualities without losing intellectual property.
Priding themselves on their healthier products and being a local supplier as much as possible, Cowichan Station Creamery's property is also home to hives which are tended to by the expert beekeeper from Happylow farm and the creamery carries their Happylow honey.
"He keeps his bees here, and in turn we sell some of his honey," said Rekers.
That is just one of the several sweet items they sell for local artisans of the area. They also carry local art, Pacific Eco Soap products, which are handcrafted in Sooke, as well as Lavender bunches that come from a farm just up the road.
"We are here for everyone in the neighbourhood," said Davey.
Curd connoisseurs will want to find themselves in the neighbourhood of the Cowichan Station Creamery just after 1:30 p.m. every Friday as they are sold fresh from the vat for $7 per 200 grams. They take seven hours to prepare and the couple jokes that they have been put to the test by real French-Canadians.
"They were like yup, those are them," laughed Rekers. "Just like home, they'd say."
"They are fresh and good, and I'm pretty proud of myself for getting them to that level," said Davey.
Looking into the future, Davy said she would be open to collaborating with other local wineries for perfect pairings and would also like to expand on her cheese toppers, which is similar to creating a jam. Davy began creating her toppers just over a year ago and shares that one of their most popular is their dandelion topper, made from dandelion petals, and quite a lot of work.
"Jams, honey, lots of things go with cheese and they are fun to mix," said Davy.
Come see the difference that kindness makes in the products sold at Cowichan Station Creamery, located at 4354 Howie Rd. Their shop hours are Friday to Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The creamery's vending machines are open seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., and take all kinds of payment including cash, debit, credit, and Google Pay.
"Some people like to come in to sample but once they know what products they like they can just hit the vending machine," said Davy.
For more information on the cows and the products at Cowichan Station Creamery visit cowichancream.ca.
"My hope is that our customers always enjoy our products and the taste of a really good natural food," said Rekers. "I hope their experience opens their mind on how good food can be if it is done properly."
