Wisconsin Agriculture Secretary Ben Brancel spoke to Milk Products employees and customers at the Milk Products plant on Dec. 20 to celebrate the first 100 years of the Chilton business.

Wisconsin Agriculture Secretary Ben Brancel was on hand to wish Milk Products of Chilton a happy first 100 years in business at a gathering at the milk replacer manufacturing plant on Dec. 20. It also gave him the opportunity to talk up Calumet County's important role in agriculture, which is why the company first located here in 1911.

"How many companies do you know that have served the public for 100 years? Think about it," Brancel said before launching into a roundup of the role agriculture plays here in Calumet County.

"As far as we know there are still 153 active dairy farms here in this county," Brancel said. "Twenty-three percent of all the income in this county comes from agriculture. That's pretty substantial."

He added that 99.5% of Calumet County farms are family owned and operated, and that farming generates $117 million annually in this county.

"So it's a family network. It's a community," he said.

Milk Products President Dave Kuehnel gave a brief history of the business, which began in 1911 when the Pacific Coast Condensed Milk Company – later to become the Carnation Co. – chose Chilton as a milk supplier for its access to fresh milk and rail lines. From 1911 to 1954 the plant produced condensed milk for Carnation.

In 1954 the plant was converted to produce powdered milk for Carnation, which it did until 1978 when it was converted again to make milk replacer products for calves and, eventually, other young farm animals.

Carnation was purchased by Nestle in 1985, which wanted to focus on human food manufacturing, so the next year Mann Pro was formed in a management-led buyout of Nestle's feed division, including Milk Products. In 1992 Milk Products was sold to a privately held company and remains under that ownership.

Today Milk Products makes more than 700 different products for numerous independent feed manufacturers and wholesale distributors. The company is the only ISO (International Organization for Standardization) certified manufacturer of baby animal nutrition products in North America.

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