About Us
About Weyauwega Star Dairy
Weyauwega Star Dairy has been owned and operated by the Knaus Family since 1975. They are artisan cheese makers which specialize in handcrafted Italian cheese such as Parmesan, Asiago, and Romano. Star Dairy is in the tiny central Wisconsin town of Weyauwega. Jim Knaus is the president and is passionate about cheese making and takes great pride in his cheeses.
This passion also includes a sense of fun. Jim made the Guinness Book of World Records in 1995 for making the longest string cheese in the world (1.5 miles long). Strong men and women carried it through the town on their shoulders.
Jim was born into cheese making. His father and grandfather, and possibly his great-grandfather, were cheese makers. Now his sons Dan, Gerard, and Mike work with him. He literally grew up in a cheese vat. His parents put him there so they could watch him while they worked.
Our Italian cheese must be top quality, whether a wedge, grated, shaved, or shredded, all our cheese comes from the same traditional brine-cured 22-pound mother wheel, which we age for a minimum of 10 months.
We have a wonderful relationship with our dairy farmers. All are within a 50 mile radius of our cheese factory and we’ve known most of them for over 40 years. We also have an excellent relationship with our customers which we’ve established over the years. We’re very quality oriented and really care about our products. We’re all working toward the same thing – turning out an excellent product for our customers.
Weyauwega Star Dairy will be around for many years to come. We’ll never retire. It’s who we are.
The Knaus Family