Leprino cheese factory to open in Greeley, a big break for Weld County dairy farmers

Galeton Dairy's Mike Faulkner checks on his herd Friday. The operation will be one of the dairies supplying the milk for the Leprino plant slated to open in Greeley. ( RJ Sangosti, The Denver Post ) GALETON — About half the state's dairy cows live in Weld County. But experts say those 50,000 cows can't produce nearly enough milk to satisfy the demands of the new Leprino Foods mozzarella cheese factory that will open Nov. 1 in Greeley. They estimate it will take another 60,000 cows to supply the Leprino operation, which will eventually process 7 million pounds of milk each day. "We have to get more cows," said longtime Weld County dairy farmer Mike Faulkner. "Current...