aboutUs
Family Farming Values
Our goal is to provide you and your family with farm-fresh cheese. Pagel’s Ponderosa Dairy, LLC is located in Kewaunee, Wisconsin and is a third-generation family farm that has been owned and operated since 1946.
We are passionate farmers who lead the way in progressive dairy practices and focus on sustainability. We carefully tend to the soil and feed only the best ingredients to our cows, like grass and alfalfa. The result is the freshest milk production possible which is the secret to our rich, creamy, preservative-free farmstead cheese.
With the cheese plant being located on the farm it makes it a true farmstead cheese operation—meaning the cheese is made on the farm with milk exclusively from our own cows. We pride ourselves on healthy, pampered cows raised on the Ponderosa from birth—allowing for total quality control and traceability. We don’t take shortcuts in providing the best possible care for our animals. This comfortable and contained lifestyle helps yield the best cheese-making milk possible for our Ron’s Wisconsin Cheese and Ponderosa Farmstead line of products.
Ron’s Wisconsin Cheese is now owned and operated by Pagel Family Businesses. Ron and Marilyn Renard started Ron’s Wisconsin Cheese in February of 1976.
In 2005 they sold their half of the business to their sons who operated Ron’s for the next nine years until the company was purchased by John T. Pagel.
The Pagel family continues to carry on the Renards’ legacy of innovation and dedication to wholesome products. In addition to the Ron’s product line, they are the exclusive producer and distributor of their Ponderosa Farmstead award-winning cheeses.
Ron’s Wisconsin Cheese and Ponderosa Farmstead have grown significantly under the direction of Bryan Pagel, son of dairy visionary John T. Pagel, and Wisconsin Licensed Master Cheesemaker Ben Shibler. Their goal is to provide you and your family with farm-fresh cheese.
Ben leads the on-farm creamery, closely monitoring every batch of artisan cheese that runs through the plant for the perfect taste and texture. His love for cheesemaking took him from a novice role in plant sanitation at age 21 to now graduating from the elite Wisconsin Master Cheesemaker program decades later. His commitment to fresh, quality ingredients and the Dairy State is what drew him to Ponderosa Farmstead.
“It’s a cheesemaker’s dream—to be this close to the milk source and use it within seconds. If you gave any cheesemaker a blank check and said, ‘Here, design your own plant,’ they’re gonna build a plant on the farm, I’ll guarantee it.”
Ben Shibler
Wisconsin is the only place outside of Switzerland where Cheesemakers become official masters in their craft.
Award-Winning Cheese
When all aspects of the cheesemaking process are ideal, the outcome is World Class Cheese.
Recent awards we have won are:
2016-2017 World Cheese Awards – 3rd place Ponderosa String Cheese
2018 World Championship Cheese Contest – 2nd and 3rd place Ponderosa Mozzarella Whips
2018 Wisconsin State Fair – 1st place Ponderosa String Cheese
2018 American Cheese Society Contest – 2nd place Ponderosa String Cheese –
1st place Ponderosa Mozzarella Whips
2018-2019 World Cheese Awards – 2nd place Ponderosa String Cheese
2019 United States Cheese Championship – 1st place Ponderosa Fiesta String Cheese
2019 American Cheese Society Contest – 3rd place Ponderosa String Cheese – 2nd place Ponderosa Mozzarella Whips – Farmstead Cheeses Class
2020 World Championship Cheese Contest – 3rd place Ponderosa Cheese Curds
2021 Wisconsin State Fair – 1st place Ron’s Cheese Curds
2021 World Dairy Expo – 1st and 2nd place Ron’s Cheese Curds
– 2nd and 3rd place Ron’s Mozzarella Whips
2021/2022 World Cheese Awards – 3rd place Ponderosa Snow Cheddar -3rd place Ron’s Mozzarella Whips
2022 Wisconsin State Fair – 3rd place Ron’s Cheese Whips – 3rd place Ron’s String Cheese – 2nd place Ron’s Jalapeno Cheese Whips – 3rd place Ron’s Garlic and Dill Cheese Curds
2022 American Cheese Society Contest – 1st place Ron’s Mozzarella String Cheese – 3rd place Ron’s Mozzarella Cheese Whips – 3rd place Ron’s Cheddar Cheese Curds
2022 World Dairy Expo – 1st and 3rd place Ron’s Mozzarella String Cheese – 2nd place Ron’s Ranch Flavored Cheese Curds – 3rd place Ron’s Garlic and Dill Flavored Cheese Curds
2023 Wisconsin State Fair -1st Place Ron’s Mozzarella Cheese Whips
2023 World Dairy Expo – 2nd Place Ron’s Mozzarella Cheese Whips
