Dairy farmers Amber and Joe McComish were looking for a value-added product to complement their dairy farm.
Not one to shy away from a challenge, Amber tried making cheese, yogurt, ice cream and eventually gelato, a frozen dessert that originated in Italy in the 14th century.
The McComishes leaned into their Irish heritage and believed in their dreams of creating Lucky Cow Gelato, selling ice cream to local restaurants, gas stations and grocery stores. It wasn’t long before the couple opened up Lucky Cow coffee and ice cream in the center of Darlington.
“When I started making ice cream, Joe exclaimed that he thought it was something I was good at and could be the value-added product we were looking for,” Amber said.
Gelato contains less fat than ice cream. They contain five to seven percent fat, while the fat content in ice cream exceeds 10 percent. Gelato is churned more slowly and contains about 25 percent air, while ice cream can contain as much as 50 percent air. Gelato has a sleek, silky texture and is served at a temperature of 10 degrees.
“Just as ice cream is churned slower, we took the time to develop our company and leveraged local resources,” Amber said. “Knowing our customers and realizing what they wanted, coffee was an easy addition.”
Lucky Cow Coffee and Gelato offers a wide selection of fresh ice cream flavors, baked goods and a wide range of coffee and non-coffee drinks. Additionally, they offer an assortment of cheeses from Cheese Miestera dairy processing milk from their farm into cheese.
In addition to managing Lucky Cow, Amber cares for calves on the family farm.
The dairy farm has been in the McComish family since 1848, when Wisconsin became a state.
The McComish family grows most of their crops no-till. No-till is a conservation practice used by farmers to minimize soil disturbance from the utilize of the plow.
The feed is tested on the farm, so we are sure that the cows have all the nutrients they need. They grow everything except the few protein sources they purchase, such as distillers grains, which come from local ethanol factories.
Lucky Cow is open seven days a week and is located at 333 Main Street, Darlington, WI. Follow the McComish family and their activities Facebook, Instagram, ICT Tok AND Youtube. Learn more about Lucky Cow Coffee & Gelato by visiting https://luckycow.net/.
Portions of this story originally appeared in the June issue | The July 2021 issue of the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation Rural route magazine.
