People
'I love my job'
Quality team lead Sue Tesch reflects on her 47-year career at our Melrose dairy plant
The year was 1978. Jimmy Carter was president; roller disco took the nation by storm; and a gallon of gas cost 63 cents. It was the same year that Sue Tesch started working at the local dairy plant in Melrose, Minnesota.
At 21 years old, Sue was one of just four women on the production floor making cheddar, parmesan and Romano cheese. It was a highly manual job—weighing 60-pound pails of cheese, putting the cheese in stainless steel hoops to squeeze out the whey, dropping the wheels into brine tanks and onto drying racks before dipping them in wax.
“It was a man’s world back then. You had to prove yourself in everything you did,” Sue remembers. “Since I was born and raised on the farm, there wasn't much I couldn't do. I was never scared of work.”
The youngest of seven and self-described “tomboy,” Sue grew up with five brothers on her family’s 200-acre farm in a small town between Grey Eagle and Burtrum, Minnesota. “I would rather go out to the barn than do the dishes,” she says. “I would feed the calves, milk the cows and bale hay. I liked working out in the fields.”
At 21 years old, Sue was one of just four women on the production floor making cheddar, parmesan and Romano cheese. It was a highly manual job—weighing 60-pound pails of cheese, putting the cheese in stainless steel hoops to squeeze out the whey, dropping the wheels into brine tanks and onto drying racks before dipping them in wax.
“It was a man’s world back then. You had to prove yourself in everything you did,” Sue remembers. “Since I was born and raised on the farm, there wasn't much I couldn't do. I was never scared of work.”
The youngest of seven and self-described “tomboy,” Sue grew up with five brothers on her family’s 200-acre farm in a small town between Grey Eagle and Burtrum, Minnesota. “I would rather go out to the barn than do the dishes,” she says. “I would feed the calves, milk the cows and bale hay. I liked working out in the fields.”
“It was a man’s world back then. You had to prove yourself in everything you did."
Sue Tesch/Quality team lead
Sue became a full-time employee at the Melrose dairy plant in 1983, working in a variety of roles before becoming the facility’s quality team lead—a position she still holds 27 years later.
“Every job I did in the plant, I was a relief person. That way, I could learn more jobs and wouldn't get bored,” she laughs. “I learned all seven jobs in the lab then got my certification. That's how I got the job I'm doing right now.”
Today, Sue starts her shift at 2:30 a.m. She leads a team of seven employees working 10-hour shifts in the quality production lab, testing things like moisture, fat, solids, salt and pH levels—a critical quality step before the bulk cheese goes out the door.
Sue is not only a veteran Dairy Foods frontline employee, but a longtime consumer of Land O Lakes® products. “I see how our cheese is made. I know the strict process it goes through here in the plant,” she says. “I buy it to feed my family, so it's got to be safe.”
Forty-seven years later, Sue has no plans to retire anytime soon. “I love my job,” she says. “These guys all know me well, and I'm not ready to leave them behind just yet. When I'm ready, they'll know.”
“Every job I did in the plant, I was a relief person. That way, I could learn more jobs and wouldn't get bored,” she laughs. “I learned all seven jobs in the lab then got my certification. That's how I got the job I'm doing right now.”
Today, Sue starts her shift at 2:30 a.m. She leads a team of seven employees working 10-hour shifts in the quality production lab, testing things like moisture, fat, solids, salt and pH levels—a critical quality step before the bulk cheese goes out the door.
Sue is not only a veteran Dairy Foods frontline employee, but a longtime consumer of Land O Lakes® products. “I see how our cheese is made. I know the strict process it goes through here in the plant,” she says. “I buy it to feed my family, so it's got to be safe.”
Forty-seven years later, Sue has no plans to retire anytime soon. “I love my job,” she says. “These guys all know me well, and I'm not ready to leave them behind just yet. When I'm ready, they'll know.”
