About Us
Danz Ahn Dairy is a woman owned micro dairy on 12 acres in Orwell, VT with a seasonal herd of 50 Saanen/LaMancha-cross goats. Milk from the herd is hand-crafted into small batch artisanal fresh and aged farmstead cheeses. When the goats are dry, cows’ milk is sourced locally and made into a variety of delicious aged cheeses.
Our focus is on the traditional, artisanal aspects of cheesemaking, sustainable agriculture, and education. We hope to demonstrate to our visitors where food comes from, the benefits of small farm production, and how quality dairy products can be made in small batches from milk from healthy animals to provide a wholesome, delicious and healthy food. We choose to make cheeses that will appeal to many, including fresh chévre, bloomy rind cheeses, and several alpine style aged cow milk cheeses.
Our mission is to make the best quality, delicious cheeses that will appeal to many and in doing so will sustain a business that will support our family and our farm.
We hope you will enjoy our cheeses as much as we enjoy creating them.
Our Story
In August of 2021, Danz Ahn Dairy was licensed to produce and sell cheese. What began as a dream had become a reality.
Our story began in 2005, when owner Julie Danyew had a desire to work from home and put her 12 acres of mostly wooded land to some sustainable, agricultural use. While she was teaching nursery school, a wonderful field trip to a local goat farm had planted the seed–at that time, goat milk was getting $30/CWT (about $2.58/gallon) and the goats showed themselves to be hardy, inquisitive, friendly animals. She considered building a goat dairy herd and shipping milk, but after further research, realized 12 acres could not sustain the necessary number of goats to make a living from milking. Cheese making was the alternative, but having never made cheese, she was not sure this was the path she wanted to take.
As is so typical in Vermont, word of mouth connected Julie to a farm that needed weekend help feeding that year’s crop of kids; new-born goats, that is. This farm was also beginning to produce cheese and needed help in the creamery, so she soon moved into the make room and learned the fundamentals of cheese making and, more importantly, found that she thoroughly enjoyed the craft of making artisanal cheese. From there, Julie spent over 10 years honing her skills in the craft of cheese making and gaining experience in all aspects of running a successful dairy business while working at several local creameries and even co-founding one.
Through all this she hung onto her dream of one day owning her own goat dairy and creamery. Her yard became dotted with a collection of stainless steel dairy equipment and goats began taking up residence in small truck cap shanties. Julie’s first two goats came across Lake Champlain on a Boston Whaler from Savage Island in northern VT. Inga and Elsa were two year old Saanen sisters. They became the foundation of the herd at Danz Ahn Farm.
So while Julie was learning about cheese making, she was also learning how to feed, breed, and manage a herd of dairy goats. A repurposed greenhouse replaced the shanties as her herd grew, and a big, range-y, mild dispositioned Saamen buck took up residence in one of the shanties.
Julie had dreams of building a 30’x40’ classic post and beam barn, quite an endeavor, but settled on building a small timber frame building to serve as a milkhouse, and hired out the framing of a 30’x40’ building to serve as the creamery. Julie and her partner Richard spent the next several years outfitting the milkhouse, and building out the interior of the creamery, adding walls, applying Trusscore, painting, plumbing, wiring, and then installing the many pieces of stainless steel equipment that had dotted the yard.
In the fall of 2021, Danz Ahn Farm passed inspection, and Danz Ahn Dairy became a licensed plant and, with milk from her own goat dairy herd, the cheese making began, a dream come true.
Recently added to the farm is Richard Waite Ironworks where Julie’s partner Richard creates decorative, practical hand-forged iron work for home and garden.
