Vendor Highlight: Fuzzy Udder Creamery
Continuing the Legacy of Fuzzy Udder Creamery
Written by Jan Heimlich
What do you do when you love cheese, are fascinated with cheesemaking, but have no experience doing it? Start making cheese, of course! That’s the challenge Jacqui and Michael Segura took on when they purchased Fuzzy Udder Creamery in April of 2024. Hundreds of wheels of cow, goat, and sheep cheese later, they have never looked back.
Not that there weren’t challenges. Jacqui and Michael began by milking the goats and sheep themselves on the nearly four-acre farm. “As we began to produce more and more products, it became clear we would need to supplement milk production with purchased milk. Then it was obvious that it would work a lot better to let dairy farmers do the livestock management and leave us to produce the cheese,” says Jacqui.
She says the couple had much experience in operations management and logistics but not cheese production scheduling and planning, which is the know-how needed to ensure that all cheese varieties are available when they’re ready to be sold. To get up to speed, Jacqui and Michael worked with the business’s former owner and founder, Jessie Dowling, who mentored them on processes and recipes.
Today, Michael works with an employee to make the cheese, and Jacqui focuses on developing new flavor recipes, packaging them, and managing sales at farmers markets. “We currently use between 300 and 400 gallons of milk each week to make our cheeses and love that we have an opportunity to support three other cow and goat farms and a sheep dairy in the process.”
Fuzzy Udder makes a wide variety of cheeses, some of which may not be all that familiar to many Mainers’ cheese-loving palettes. Their aged goat gouda, Frost Heave, just received a bronze medal at the American Cheese Society’s Annual Conference. “While people are familiar with fresh goat cheese, trying something seven to nine months old is a new experience for many,” says Jacqui.
Customers can purchase Fuzzy Udder cheese at the Good Tern Co-op and other local retailers around the state. They also sell directly to customers at three farmers’ markets: Belfast on Fridays, Bath on Saturdays, and Bar Harbor on Sundays, and their farm stand is open year-round for drop-in purchases. Online-order customers are contacted so they know when they’re ready for pickup. “We ask that people come in while we are there if they have placed an order online,” says Jacqui. “If they want to buy directly from the cooler, they can come any time.”
If you’d like to sample many of Fuzzy Udder’s varieties, along with other producers’ cheeses from around the state, head to the 2025 Maine Cheese Festival on September 14th in Pittsfield.
Learn more about Fuzzy Udder Creamery by visiting their website, and following them on Instagram and Facebook! Visit their farm stand at 35 Townhouse Road in Whitefield.