Author Topic: washed rind style jumping ship and going into never,never land  (Read 7918 times)

linuxboy

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Re: washed rind style jumping ship and going into never,never land
« Reply #15 on: November 21, 2012, 07:25:54 PM »
The genetics in this country for casein subtypes means that for cheesemaking, it's either Lamanchas or Nubians (or NDs) if you want to make cheese on a small scale profitably. Other breeds, the volume is there but the solids are not (depends on the genetics though), which translates to less efficiency in the plant. Or more simply, there's higher yield with lamancha and nubian milk than with other breeds. The cheese profit margin is rather thin, and it's these 20-30% improvements in efficiency that often make the difference between just scraping by and doing reasonably well. Here on the west coast, we have excellent Lamancha and Nubian genetics (and NDs, too), so it was a pretty easy decision.

Lamancha crosses tend to have dominant ear genetics. Very rare that I get elf years even F1 crosses.

Offline Tiarella

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Re: washed rind style jumping ship and going into never,never land
« Reply #16 on: December 03, 2012, 05:05:37 AM »
Linuxboy,  Is there a reason you chose Lamanchas over Nubian when looking for a cross?  I have to get serious about this.  My ND milk supply will be dwindling soon and I have so many cheeses I want to make.  I'd like to be working towards a bit more milk to play with but no increase in animals to manage. 

linuxboy

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Re: washed rind style jumping ship and going into never,never land
« Reply #17 on: December 03, 2012, 05:05:32 PM »
Personality and evenness of lactation. I like Nubians, have one purebred, but she sure is a character. Lactation is fairly even but does drop off some midway. This is of course genetic, but tends to be a bit more common than with Lamanchas. I also like the thought of having an "American" goat breed. We don't have an extensive history of domesticated landrace types like Europe does, but Lamanchas are a close second. An F1 cross will usually still milk out 7-8 lb/day for me. ~4.6-5% BF, 3.8-4.5% protein (varies).

One other thing is that I have noticed Nubian milk to be "too" good for cheesemaking. The calcium structure is too strong due to the high solids and micelle size. In hard cheeses, unless you take measures such as overnight pre-acidification, or prolonging the pH curve lag in some other ways to solubilize the casein, it will give the wrong kind of minerality. Not chalky, more drying in the mouth and hard on the teeth when you bite down.

Offline Tiarella

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Re: washed rind style jumping ship and going into never,never land
« Reply #18 on: December 03, 2012, 05:42:31 PM »
Thanks!  Okay, you sold me.  I'll look for some MiniManchas as some call them.  I am fussy about starting with good bloodlines so I won't be in a hurry but I'll start looking to see who has what and maybe by next year I'll have some more volume.  I'm having so much fun playing with cheese that I'm saddened as the milk dwindles and I see my opportunity to make larger wheels diminish.

That's interesting about the Nubian milk.  I'll share that with my local friend who has Nubians and is having some cheese making challenges.  She's been after blue cheese and not having a lot of luck although her Feta, Halloumi, and Chevre work fine. 

Do you have a farm blog or website?  Would love to see photos of your animals and place.  Not sure if you'd want to see mine but I have some photos up on a blog I infrequently post on so I'll list it here to be reciprocal.  www.foxmountainfarm.blogspot.com  No farm website, just  my flower essence business website so I won't post that.
Thanks again!

linuxboy

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Re: washed rind style jumping ship and going into never,never land
« Reply #19 on: December 03, 2012, 05:55:12 PM »
It's my personal bias because of my personality and the cheeses I want to make and my climate. There are people who love the Nubian look and the temperament, and for them, it might make more sense to go back to Nubian landrace roots and follow a 2-3 year approach of doing 20% kiko, 50% ND, 30% Nubian to achieve a fairly mellow, even lactation, ultra hardy goat. Or go with a more traditional 50/50 cross. The important thing IMHO is to really love them and to make cheeses that fits the milk and environment you have.

Have your friend post here or email me if there are persistent issues. Great community here with a lot of collective experience.

I'm terrible about taking pics, and have little time for a blog right now, but email me, I'll send you some of this year's kids :).

Offline Tiarella

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Re: washed rind style jumping ship and going into never,never land
« Reply #20 on: December 03, 2012, 06:03:52 PM »
Okay, I'll private message you my email address.  Do you have any photos of your grown does?  I'd love to see what they're looking like.  I do love my goats......and the dogs that guard them.  I even love my sheep although they were terrified of humans when I got them.  Now some of them insist that I squat down so that they can lay their cheek against mine and I love how it tickles when they sniff my closed eyes.  I appreciate that the sheep are less bossy and nibbly than the goats but the goats certainly are the most fun.....especially as kids.  Maybe next lambing season I'll have more lamb contact and will find more fun with them too but there is something way cute about a 3 day old kid getting up on the "starter platform" in their stall  (I made some that are only 5-7" off the ground) and dancing around, lording it over their siblings!  :)

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Re: washed rind style jumping ship and going into never,never land
« Reply #21 on: December 15, 2012, 03:44:09 AM »
This batch of goat Reblochon style (sort of) actually has not been a complete disaster which is surprising.  Now, I didn't get my supple gooey interior but I did get some amazing flavor and some beautiful rind.

The first couple of photos are from a week or so ago.  The make made 3 Rebs of different sizes.  Can you tell I was scrambling for molds??   ;)  I'll continue to age the remaining bits and see what happens.  The flavor is a bit strong by itself for my palate but I'm not a huge fan of stinky cheese.  Wish I had someone I knew who could taste it and give me an opinion.


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Re: washed rind style jumping ship and going into never,never land
« Reply #22 on: December 15, 2012, 03:55:19 AM »
Hah!  Just realized I got my makes confused.  The just posted photos are from the batch just before the original make in this thread.  Same category of cheese but different recipe.  I haven't opened the ones that this thread started on.  They are certainly stinky though and quite interesting.....  I'll be sure to post about them shortly.  Remember that one was yellowish from an onion skin tinted brine?  Well, that one grew a lot of PC which I kept brushing off and now it's settled down.  The other has grown it's own color that is very similar to the onion skin color the other had originally.  I think t he air is too dry in their mini cave boxes but there's not a lot more I can do right now.  We're just finished up with all the butchering chores of the year and I'm pretty much flat out.  Taking time to post photos is my reward at the end of a long day.   ;)