Smaller yield with farm fresh milk

[Jimnb11]

I’ve been making cheddar and ricotta from store bought whole milk for a number of years but yesterday was the first time I used milk fresh from the farm. I batch pasteurized the milk then continued with the procedure as I usually did. For the first time the curds were firm enough not to fall apart with gentle stirring, I was rather pleased with the result when I put the cheese in the press. This morning when I removed the cheese from the mold, it looked smaller than usual. A quick check with the scale confirmed it was only 90% of the yield I typically had. On the other hand, the ricotta yield was significantly higher. I’m rather disappointed because I thought fresh, non-homogenized, batch pasteurized milk would produce more cheese, not less. Is this a problem with a solution? Thanks.

[Bantams]

What kind of farm - one cow or a whole herd? Hobby type or commercial?
Breed of cow?

If it's a small scale farm it could be that they are calf sharing and so you are being shorted cream. Or they don't know what they're doing (feeding improperly, storing milk too long, etc). Or their cows have an unfavorable protein composition that produces less casein protein and more whey protein. 

[paulabob]

Is it possible you stirred a lot more since the curd was less fragile?  Just an idea ...

[Jimnb11]

What kind of farm - one cow or a whole herd? Hobby type or commercial?
Breed of cow?

If it's a small scale farm it could be that they are calf sharing and so you are being shorted cream. Or they don't know what they're doing (feeding improperly, storing milk too long, etc). Or their cows have an unfavorable protein composition that produces less casein protein and more whey protein.

They milk over 150 dairy cows, not sure of the breed, and have been in business for a couple generations. They typically sell almost every gallon to a processor that picks it up on alternate days. Locals are allowed to bring their own container and self-serve. I questioned the owner about the milk and she said it is stirred in the refrigeration tank so the cream remains mixed in.

So far, I’m satisfied with the results. The curd looked fine and after removing it from the press, the round looked much better than all my previous efforts. I consider the cheese I’ve made to be much better than what I get in the stores. What I’m trying to do now is make it comparable to Cathedral City Cheddar, the best cheese I have ever tasted.

[Jimnb11]

Is it possible you stirred a lot more since the curd was less fragile?  Just an idea ...

Slightly more than before, but I stirred only enough to prevent the curd from sticking together.

[Bantams]

Sounds good! I would just assume that the herd's protein content is on the low side compared to what you used before. 

[Jimnb11]

Sounds good! I would just assume that the herd's protein content is on the low side compared to what you used before.

Thanks.

[mikekchar]

The fat in homogenised milk often sticks to the proteins, giving you more fat in the final cheese.  With the non-homogenised milk, you would end up with more fat in the whey.  This would explain both the lower yield in the main cheese and the higher yield in the ricotta.  I have been told that large scale stabilised paste bloomy rind cheeses are often made with homogenised milk because they get higher yield.  Also, due to the way that the fat sticks to the protein with homogenised milk, it retains more whey.  Having said that, I've done a fair amount of playing around with both homogenised and non-homogenised milk recently and I get pretty similar yields with both.  The curds are *completely* different, though, so I'm not that surprised that you see a difference.  You may just need to dial in your technique.

Also, as Bantams said, if you are getting milk from a small producer (possibly even from a single cow), you will get *much* higher variation in the milk than standardised milk from the supermarket.  Normally standardised milk will have a higher protein to fat ratio, but it depends.