Author Topic: Milk from a different Cow  (Read 1777 times)

tnbquilt

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Milk from a different Cow
« on: April 20, 2013, 09:54:01 PM »
I usually buy my milk from one farm, since it's the only one that I knew of. Today I bought milk from a different farm that I found out about last week. The two milks are so different from each other. At farm #1 the milk puts off a yellow butter fat later while it's heating up, and when I add the culture to the milk I always try to stir it down into the milk. The cheese is also yellow, even though I don't dye it. The whey smells like butter.

The milk I used today was raw milk, just like the other, but it was a little whiter than what I have been buying. There was never a yellow layer across the top of the milk. The whey was greener, and the cheese is not yellow, it is whiter than I am used to. The curd tasted different when I put it in the press. It had a stronger milk flavor to it. I've never considered that before, that something could have more milk flavor, but it did. The whey running out of the curd after I had cheddared it and was slicing it up, was a creamy white.

The biggest difference was that the PH level seemed to drop a little faster than it did with the other milk. OI have read a lot of expected PH levels at specific points, and I record my PH levels, and the PH levels were lower than they have been. I actually drained it sooner than I usually do because the PH levels had dropped to the correct level already and I didn't want to risk getting a tangy cheese.

I am interested in seeing the difference in the flavor of the cheese.

WovenMeadows

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Re: Milk from a different Cow
« Reply #1 on: April 20, 2013, 11:15:15 PM »
Here are my guesses:

Possibility #1: The first farm may have milked Guernsey type cattle - "Golden Guernseys" are known for their richly yellow-gold milk. This is because they produce more beta-carotene, and vitamin-A precursor, and which pigments the milk, and especially fat (cream) yellow. If not Guernsey, then perhaps Jerseys - heavy cream producers, which might cause the early separation of fat from milk. The second farm, by contrast, might have another breed, probably Holstein, whose milk is lower in both fat and protein. This also explains why the pH seemed to drop quicker: milk protein (casein) buffers acidity; with less casein around, acidity will rise faster. You would probably also notice a reduced yield with second farm's milk compared to the first's.

Possibility #2 (mostly in regards to yellowness): First farm grazes their animals more, feeds more hay and alfalfa, and less or no corn or grain. Again, the yellow coloring comes from beta-carotene, and green feeds are higher are in this than the more starchy, less nutrient-dense corn (silage or grain). Also, feeds with long fibers contribute to higher fat levels in the milk.

hoeklijn

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Re: Milk from a different Cow
« Reply #2 on: April 21, 2013, 01:06:52 PM »
Hi Tammy, are these farmers also delivering to diaries? If they do so, I guess that the milk is tested on a regular base to determine fat percentage etc. Here in Holland the price the farmers get for the milk also depends on fat percentage. Maybe it's worthwhile to ask the farmers if they know. And indeed the food will have impact on the milk as well ...

tnbquilt

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Re: Milk from a different Cow
« Reply #3 on: April 22, 2013, 12:06:44 AM »
I did notice a reduced yield in the cheese of the second farmer. The first farmer has Jersey cows, and I will ask the other farmer about theirs, because it is interesting to me, and I will ask about the feed.

Neither farmer delivers to dairies, they sell raw milk as part of their farm stuff. They can do that if they pass the cleanliness guidelines and all that stuff.

The first farmer told me that his milk was around 5% fat, but he didn't have anyway to control that. He has had it checked obviously but he doesn't do anything with the information.

Having said all of that, is it better to make cheese with the higher fat content? I wouldn't think that to be necessarily true, because not all cheeses are high in fat. I wish I didn't have to wait so long to find out what the cheese tastes like. I hate to be doing a year long experiment on what milk to buy.

Erkki Juusto

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Re: Milk from a different Cow
« Reply #4 on: April 22, 2013, 03:10:13 AM »
Hello Tammy, we have brown Swiss and jersey crosses. One thing I learned that the spring pasture with clover makes the pH drop a lot faster.  I like to make gruyere and emmenthaler. Th recipe is totally different in the spring.