With more than 2,500 acres and 750 Holstein, Jersey, and Jersey-Holstein cross breed milking cows, the Tresch Family Farms, located in beautiful Sonoma County, is Straus Family Creamery’s largest milk supplier. Joe and Kathy Tresch own the farm, working alongside their three adult children Joey, Lindsay, and Lydia. Joe and Kathy are deeply connected with their land. In 1995, they started the conversion to organic and in 1996, their cows became the second certified organic herd in California.
The Tresch family has been in the California dairy business since Joe’s family emigrated from Switzerland to California in the 1870s. The family’s journey led them to their current location in Petaluma, where Joe’s grandmother, Olympia Nonella Tresch, arrived as a 15-year-old with her family in 1905. They also brought two Holsteins, tied to the back of a springboard wagon. After Joe’s father passed away, he purchased the 320 acres from his stepmother in 1988 and leased an adjacent 1,189 acres.