6 Things That Happen at a Wisconsin Cheese Plant Before Sunrise

On Nov. 4, the sun rises over Fremont at 6:37 a.m.

At Union Star’s cheese plant, the milk’s been in the pasteurizer since around 4.

Here’s what happens at a Wisconsin cheese plant before sunrise.

1. Cheesemakers Clocking In

A cheese plant’s workday can start hours before you’d think of getting up.

Kerry Henning’s day at Henning’s Wisconsin Cheese in Kiel often begins at 3:20 a.m., a 2015 University of Wisconsin–Madison profile of Master Cheesemakers says.

The job includes preparing ingredients for cheese making and packaging cheese.

Alan Greunke arrives at Maple Grove Cheese in Milladore well before dawn to prepare for that day’s cheese.

If your alarm goes off at 6 a.m., Kerry Henning’s day has often been underway for more than two hours.

Emmi Roth in Monroe has a research and development technician at work by 3:30 a.m., according to a sponsored 2023 Saveur profile.

Her tasks include cleaning, sanitizing, hooking up pipes and weighing cultures and enzymes.

2. Milk Tankers Unloading

Before you can make cheese, a cheese plant has to get milk through the door.

At Edelweiss Creamery in Monticello, a June 2009 blog post has a semi already unloading a tanker of milk by 3:30 a.m.

That day’s make used 8,250 pounds of milk.

At Chalet Cheese Cooperative in Monroe, milk haulers arrive by 4:30 a.m., a 2021 Wisconsin Humanities profile of Master Cheesemaker Jamie Fahrney says.

If you wonder where that milk starts, the haulers drive to each of the plant’s 13 farms first.

3. Pasteurizing at 4 a.m.

About 10,000 pounds of milk is pumped into Union Star’s cheese factory in Fremont and pasteurized in a machine, an NBC26 report said in 2023.

Employees there start each day at 4 a.m., before the sun rises.

Union Star heats that milk to 161°F for 15 seconds.

From there, the milk moves into a giant vat for a few hours of mixing.

From start to finish, the whole process takes about five hours.

By 6 a.m., the milk in the vat has changed into a yogurt-like consistency.

4. Culture and Rennet Going In

Culture and rennet go into a cheese plant’s vat once it’s full of milk.

At Edelweiss Creamery, the post logs the vat full at 4:25 a.m., with the culture added right then.

Rennet followed at 4:30.

By 4:45, giant cheese forms were going together.

Culture is a starter of good bacteria.

Rennet is an enzyme that thickens the milk.

If you’ve ever seen rennet on an ingredient list, you’ve read about this step.

Bruce Workman, the cheesemaker on that log, has 12 Master medals.

5. Curd Cutting

What do you think a cheese plant does once the milk has set?

It cuts the curd.

The post logs that cut at 5:00 a.m. at Edelweiss Creamery.

When the curd is cut, you get whey, the liquid, and curds, the milk solids.

At 5:10, the heat went up to cook the curd for an hour.

The sun started to rise at 5:15.

6. Checking Swiss Cheese in the Warm Room

If you picture a cheese plant before dawn, you probably picture a vat.

The same Wisconsin Humanities profile has Jamie Fahrney arriving at Chalet Cheese Cooperative by 3:45 a.m.

He then checks the Swiss cheese in the warm room.

There, he looks at how its eyes, the holes, are developing.

He also talks to the cheesemaker who started at midnight to see if there are any issues.

He names the pasteurizer and the automatic cleaning system as places where trouble can show up.

Cheese Plants That Run Differently

If you’re planning a visit, cheese plants don’t all run on the same clock.

In January 2025, Bass Lake Cheese Factory in Somerset didn’t make cheese every day, so calling ahead was the way to get its schedule.

Widmer’s Cheese Cellars in Theresa starts its cheesemaking shift at 4:30 a.m., a 2022 Dairy Foods article reported.

Its packaging shift doesn’t start until 6:30 a.m.

Union Star’s Fremont plant makes cheese five days a week, starting at 4:00 a.m.

Cheddar and cheese curds come on Monday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, with mozzarella string cheese on Tuesdays.

Union Star’s Willow Creek location in Berlin makes cheese on Wednesdays.

Union Star’s free tours start at 8:00 a.m. on those same four days, so you’d arrive four hours into the make.

Among the plants above, cheesemakers start between midnight at Chalet Cheese Cooperative and 4:30 a.m. at Widmer’s Cheese Cellars.

Sunrise in November

Sunrise at Union Star's cheese plant in Fremont comes at 6:37 a.m. on Nov. 4, 2026, according to U.S. Naval Observatory data.

Civil twilight, the first light of morning, begins at 6:06 a.m.