BELMONT, Wis. — Staff reductions at a goat-cheese manufacturing plant in Belmont will begin today, ahead of the facility’s permanent closure early next year.

Saputo Cheese USA this week filed a layoff notice with the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development notifying the department of its plan to lay off all 187 employees at its plant in Belmont.

Layoffs will continue in phases until the plant’s closure in mid-January of 2024.

The notice was filed in compliance with the national Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act and Wisconsin Business Closing and Mass Layoff laws.

Saputo also plans to close its Lancaster plant, affecting roughly 100 employees. Both factories make specialty goat cheese products. The Lancaster facility is expected to close by the end of 2024.

The two southwest Wisconsin plants were closed as a result of the addition of a new facility in Reedsburg, Wis., with the ability to absorb the demand from the Lancaster and Belmont with increased efficiency.