Why not try to discover what terroir you have under your own feet? "Engineering" could work if you let your pastures go to grain, allowing them to reseed. Not very practical, but if you have enough land, could be feasible with an appropriate rotation. The swiss have taken this question seriously ( suisse melange fourragers) and have a few things on the market.
Another point is that the soil up in beaufort is not very deep, employing tough growing root systems which can not be emulated in prairie situations. Snow cover allows for short growing seasons up there as well.
I've a couple PM's and posts I want to reply to (Bear - that's some awesome cheese, man - congrats, such a beautiful, perfect knit...), but wanted to post the following, while it's fresh, and if it's interesting to others. In a word, Frotture, of course you're right. Nature can't be bested, and terroir is the best cheesemaker.
Triple tasting of Uplands's Pleasant Ridge Reserve, a Beaufort d'été, and an Abondance.
I don't know if it's the seasonality or what, but the Uplands absolutely bowled me over. Extraordinary. Lanolin, earth, tongue-tip zing of acid and nice tyrosine crunch. It was missing some grassiness I like, but I do wonder if this was really late summer or so. I don't know I've enjoyed this fine cheese, as much as tonight.
Abondance was light and pretty, I'd say. What a delightful, delicate cheese, like the faintest whiff of grass and crushed violets.
The Beaufort has this immediate, green-oil character that zinged me, and it's driving me mad to know what that is. Like aromatics from herbs, or something in tandem with sweet nut oils. But very strong, and evanescent, fills the palate large and roundly. This, with a stronger gruyere funk, not in any way delicate, more assertive but entirely in balance with this green quality. It's so fleeting, these descriptors, wish I could better pin down.
I tell you, I'd be proud to own either the Uplands or this Beaufort's quality. Two very close cousins, with clear but nothing earth shattering, differences. That green oil quality of the beaufort does send me, along with it's pate - don't like the Uplands or Abondance pate as much, too snappy - a very pliant plant in the beaufort, and really creamy. Makes me think on floc multipliers and acid...wondering if 3.5x might be something to try.
Which raises the final point....Frotture, of course you're right. I think it's probably lunacy for me to study alpine species, understand they lend a character to the sensory quality of the highland Beauforts v. valley wheels, and in reductionist fashion take it to management of my own eventual pastures. I'd love to get this green-oil quality, if I can, but bluntly, it's lunacy, I think, to work for anything but seeing what nature - what forages and my breeds - will give me, and by using whey cultures and made-rennet, doing what I can, truly (not just talk) to get out of the way and let the terroir express itself. I'm very curious if a colored breed - Normande, Tarentaise, Abondance - will evince these differences. As well, my little micro-biome, on my paddocks.
Just an experience, guys, hope it's interesting.