Castle Rock - Silage?

[ArnaudForestier]

Shot in the dark to midwesterners....

My winter raw milk supply has slowed, won't be able to get it in quantity until February.  Want to continue with some Abondance trials and wondering if anyone knows if Castle Rock uses silage or not?  Queried them, just in the off chance someone has used the milk and knows about this before I hear back.  Thanks.

[MrsKK]

I have used their milk for cheesemaking classes, but I don't know the answer to your question.  Silage definitely affects the flavor, especially in cheesemaking, no?

[ArnaudForestier]

Hey Karen -

Really nice people.  I actually contacted them and they confirmed they do use silage.  I too made some cheese with their milk, but it's been a long time now and I can't recall the type of cheese, or what I experienced using it.  I do know nothing weird came from it, as I think I would have remembered that. 

With silage my concern is late blowing, clostridium.  Alp can confirm this but Swiss alpines prohibit its use something like at least 6 weeks before beginning the pasture-based alpine production season, and the cheese I model from, Beaufort, prohibits the use of silage at any time. 

[MrsKK]

Interesting!

I've only used their milk for the cheese classes, never for any type of aged cheese.  And I believe it was mostly in the spring and summer, so it wouldn't have been an issue.