Westby Cooperative Creamery to build 50,000-pound cottage cheese container

When life gives you a 6,280-gallon silo, make cottage cheese.

Westby Cooperative Creamery announced Thursday it will be giving its silo on Main Street a facelift to resemble a giant cottage cheese container. The creamery said it pays homage to the area’s dairy heritage and designation as “The Cottage Cheese Capital of Wisconsin.”

“With 13 to 14 million pounds of cottage cheese leaving this facility on a yearly basis, we thought it would be fitting to create a visual representation of this work and the work of our 175 farmer-owners,” Creamery General Manager Pete Kondrup said.

Westby Cooperative Creamery is known internationally for its cottage cheese after securing the 2020 World Championship title for its 4 percent small curd in the cottage cheese category.

The project will be completed locally by Shawn Engh of Signs by Shawn in Viroqua. In a blog on the creamery’s website, Engh said this may be the most interesting project he has completed.

The installation is expected to be finished by the end of July. The creamery clarified the silo does not actually hold cottage cheese. It often holds yogurt, but the design will represent one of its most renowned claims to fame.