WW Homestead Dairy

In 2011, two NE Iowa families, decided the time was right to enter the local food market with dairy products made from milk produced on their farms. WW Homestead Dairy is owned by Tom Weighner, Paul Weighner, and Tom Walleser. Between the three of them they have over 90 years of experience in the dairy industry. “We work hard to produce dairy products that are natural, have great flavor & taste, and are as fresh as possible,” say the WW Homestead Dairy owners.

WW Homestead Dairy is nestled in the town of Waukon, Iowa. This community is rich in history and surrounded by fertile farm land. Not only does the creamery offer its customers the freshest products with extraordinary flavors, but tours are available and visitors are encouraged to watch how products are produced. The back hallway was built with large viewing windows that allows customers to see the hard work, effort, and quality that goes into making their cream-line milk, ice cream, cheese, and butter.

At WW Homestead Dairy we produce cream-line milk or non-homogenized milk. Our milk comes straight from the two local farms outside of Waukon & Lansing, Iowa to our creamery, so on every other day pick up our milk is never more than two days old when it makes the trip. This helps us to provide a higher quality fresher product to you!

Besides our milk we also produce over 30+ flavors of delicious premium ice cream, with more flavors being developed every season. All of our ice cream is made from the farm fresh, cream-line milk that we process at our creamery and care goes into making sure each recipe is made with top quality ingredients.

Our small batches of cheese curds and block cheese are made 2 - 4 days a week with attention details to make the best cheese possible. Our customers love the fresh squeaky cheese curds! We also produce various types of cheddar cheese in blocks that are just as tasty as our curds.

Our farm fresh butter is churned weekly (when cream supplies allow) and is as rich and creamy as any you will find. It is also great for baking and cooking.

In 2018 we added fresh, small batch cottage cheese to our product line. This 4%, small curd cottage cheese is made from our non-homogenized milk and is the best cottage cheese you will find in the tri-state area.

Our Cows & Farms

All of our young stock and dry cows are on large pastures. The milking cows are housed in a free stall barn that is bedded with deep sand, which is very comfortable for them. They also have sprinklers and fans to keep them cool during the summer months, and large curtains we can pull up on days when it's cold and windy.

We grow all of our own feed on our crop ground. The cows are fed a TMR (total mixed ration) diet, which is high in haylage that we produce ourselves, some grain, minerals, & vitamins. We are not certified organic, but our cows receive no rBST or hormones and we strongly believe in raising our cattle as naturally as possible. We do not use any antibiotics in the feed ration and try to use very few antibiotics. If one of the cows gets very sick we will treat her with an appropriate antibiotic, then she is out of the milking herd until she is completely recovered and has been tested negative for antibiotics. We have cows that are 10-15 years old and quite a few of them stay with us for 7-10 years. Our cows comfort and well being is our top priority. Our herdsperson (who is a daughter of one of the owners!) takes care of the cows and calves. She is passionate about cow comfort and overall natural health of her cows.

If you would like to visit our cows and farm during the summer months, just give us a call and set up a tour. Farm tours are available April through October, depending on the weather. We would also love to show you are processing plant. Processing plant tours allow you see right where our products are made. We take pride in offering an all natural, high quality, locally produced line of dairy products to our community. Tours are available Monday through Friday and must be set up ahead of time by calling or emailing our retail store.