Traditions run 100-years deep at Tillamook County Creamery

Rural Cooperatives, July-August, 2009 by Anne Todd

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The two photos were taken 93 years apart. But the grainy, black-and-white photo taken on the Hurliman dairy farm in 1915 and the color digital photo snapped at the same location in 2008 tell a story of an unbroken chain of traditional, pasture-based dairy farming and cooperation among producers in the Tillamook Valley of northwestern Oregon.

For 100 years now, the story of dairy farming in this beautiful slice of coastal Oregon has been the story of the Tillamook County Creamery Association (TCCA), a dairy cooperative that is celebrating its centennial anniversary all year long.

The technology in the milking parlor may have changed greatly over the years, but it all still boils down to dairy farmers who know their craft and maintain well-cared-for dairy herds that produce high-quality milk, then processing it into a line of award-winning cheeses sold under the farmers' own brand.

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Nick Hurliman's family has a relationship with TCCA that stretches back four generations, almost to the very beginning of the cooperative. In 1915, Hurliman's great-grandfather and his two sons bought their dairy farm in Woods, on the northern coast of Oregon, about a mile from the Pacific shore and 20 miles south of Tillamook.

TCCA was formed in 1909, just six years before the Hurlimans started their farm. At the time, many small, independent cheese plants dotted the county. Ten of these independent cheese producers founded TCCA, deciding to join forces in a farmer-owned cooperative that could control cheese quality.

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Another goal of the new co-op was to market cheese as a product coming from the county itself, instead of one coming from the various individual plants.

The Hurlimans' farm is pasture-based, as are most of the co-op's dairy farms. Cows graze outside and are milked twice daily. The family milks about 80 to 85 cows, mostly Holsteins, and has 120 acres of bottomland, 90 acres of hill land and rents 80 acres from neighbors.

Like other dairymen across the country, Tillamook farmers have been affected by the steep drop in milk prices this year and the overall economic downturn. "Obviously, we're not making as much as we have in past years," Hurliman remarks. "But we live conservatively and we'll get through it. Farming has always been an up-and-down occupation."

Early days of co-op

The TCCA story begins in the 1850s, when the first settlers arrived and began establishing farms. But it took a giant leap forward in 1894, when a successful dairy entrepreneur named T. S. Townsend started the first commercial cheese plant in Tillamook. He took 30 orders for cows from local farmers, then went to Portland, Ore., to purchase the cows and equipment he would need to start a milk pool and run a cheese plant. He also hired Canadian cheesemaker Peter McIntosh, who was experienced with the cheddaring process and brought a recipe for cheddar cheese with him.

By 1909, when the TCCA cooperative was launched, Tillamook County was already well known for its cheese. Although Townsend was the first in the county to establish a commercial cheese plant, other organized, commercial cheesemakers settled there too. By 1904, cheesemaking in Tillamook County had advanced in quality to the extent that a cheese from Tillamook County won first place at that year's St. Louis World's Fair.

In the late 1940s, four of the larger independent plants in the county merged. In partnership with TCCA, they built a large, centrally located plant north of the town of Tillamook. This plant is still part of the TCCA facility today.

By 1968, all of the smaller local cheese plants in the county had merged and consolidated their operations under TCCA and had moved their cheese production to TCCA's central plant. This marked the beginning of the cooperative's operations as a single unit with all of the smaller plants unified as one organization.

Hurliman's grandfather, father and younger brother have all served on the Tillamook board of directors at various times in the past. Hurliman, an avid outdoorsman, attends all member meetings and says he feels that his voice is heard on important issues. "We get very good communication from Tillamook. They have a really good management team," he says.

Marking the anniversary

Little did the 10 producers who banded together in 1909 to protect the quality of their Tillamook cheese know that they were creating a cooperative and product that would grow over the years into an award-winning, nationally recognized brand.

TCCA has scheduled events throughout the year to mark the centennial. The co-op launched a new website, TillamookFanClub.com, that is an on-line resource center and community for fans of Tillamook products. They also launched an online store that offers cheese, Tillamook apparel and other gifts. It is also offering a special limited-edition anniversary cheese.

"The name Tillamook is pretty famous," says Hurliman. "I feel privileged to belong with Tillamook. It's farmer-owned, dependable and gives us good prices."