The Cooperative was incorporated February 29, 1924, as the Ladysmith Milk Producers' Co-operative Association, to process milk produced by northern Wisconsin farmers and market dairy products for them. The new organization took over the indebtedness and plant facilities of the financially-troubled Ladysmith Creamery. E.L. Jay was elected president of the new cooperative, with George Leonhard, Jr. as secretary, and directors Job Miller, C.E. Goode, H.J. Gavin, and George Leroux. At first, only butter was manufactured. During the first year of operations, 290,270 pounds of butter were produced for a total sales of 109,082 dollars. In 1926, the Ladysmith cooperative joined the Wisconsin Creamery Federation, a statewide marketing cooperative. At that time it was discovered that the Ladysmith butter was of poor quality and non-uniform composition. The federation's field staff helped the Ladysmith cooperative overcome these deficiencies.
The cooperative constructed a new plant in Ladysmith in 1927, and later owned processing plants at Stanley (purchased in 1939), Prentice, Fifield, and Sand Creek. Eventually, fluid milk, cream, butter, cheese, and dried milk products were added to the line of dairy products produced for the Chicago market and for markets in other states. Dried milk products were also produced and sold for animal feed.
By 1955, the cooperative was serving about 2000 milk producers and handling 14.5 million pounds of milk annually. The organization's name was changed to Flambeau Valley Farms Cooperative on November 29, 1955. Changes in the dairy industry and farming in general decreased the cooperative's business. In December 1965, the cooperative had 713 farmer members and 2 farmer cooperative associations as members, down from a high of 1280 farmers and 6 farmer cooperative associations as members in January 1958. The last date of operation of the Flambeau Valley Farms Cooperative was March 5, 1970. The cooperative officially dissolved on December 31, 1979, and held its final meeting January 25, 1980.
