Beecher's Handmade Cheese

Cindy Callahan, a retired nurse, had moved to the country in West Marin County and realized after some time that she needed a way to keep the growth in her rolling, green pastures down. She bought some sheep. Originally Cindy thought she would raise beef cattle but a livestock expert advised her to move forward with sheep instead because it would be a higher volume business. And with that suggestion, in 1985, Bellwether Farms was founded. Over the next few years, Bellwether sold sheep to restaurants throughout the bay area including Chez Panisse (their first customer). The cheese, and eventually yogurt, came into the picture when a friend visiting from Syria told her there was nothing in the world like sheep milk yogurt. This was enough to peak the Callahans’ interest and send Cindy and her husband to Italy in 1992 for visits with a series of sheep dairies and creameries to observe milking and cheesemaking. Her son Liam joined the operation shortly thereafter at his mother’s suggestion and has become the head cheesemaker, allowing Cindy to focus on caring for their flock. Today, Bellwether produces aged farmstead sheep milk cheeses, fresh and aged cow milk cheeses with milk from a neighboring Jersey dairy farm, and a line of sheep milk yogurt.

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