Local dairy farms suffering during COVID-19

Reynoldsville, PA — Cherish Creamery in Reynoldsville produces goat cheese and drinkable yogurt. Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, officials said business slowed down and they laid off all of their employees.

Paula Keswick, Manager of Cherish Creamery, said in order for people to know how good goat cheese is, customers have to taste it.

Customers get that opportunity at wine events and Amish markets but with the spread of the coronavirus, those events were cancelled.

A profit of $6-7000 a week, gone because of this pandemic.

Keswick said loyal customers are still buying from them but they're still suffering financially.

She said she's combined with another farm, who's doing home deliveries but if people can't taste the cheese, they don't know what they're getting.

She's seen farms in her community suffering as well.

Farmers can't get their animals processed and they're forced to dump their milk.

"I see a lot of small farms closing, I don’t see how they can sustain themselves. We're doing everything we can to keep going but it gets harder by the day. We had to lay off all our employees,” said Keswick.

Keswick said she doesn't know how long this will last, but she encourages the community to support their local businesses during this hard time

ncG1vNJzZmivmpawtcKNnKamZ56axLR7y6iamqRfobykrctmm5qhoq56p63Rpqpmq6Wbs6a%2ByKeeZpylp7avs4ycpq%2BhlGJ%2Beg%3D%3D