canadienne breed...cheese & butter making

Started by billshaver, May 01, 2014, 08:03:26 PM

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billshaver

hello all.

  Like to hear from some who have this breed of cattle & their trials 7 tribulations on chees & butter production.

TW

I have this breed and am new to the butter/ cheese making. I would love to hear more as well.

Tara

WovenMeadows

Well, I don't have the cow, though if one came my way I would snatch it up :)  It sounds like it should be an excellent cheese-making milker:
From http://www.vachecanadienne.com/characteristics_of_the_breed.aspx:

"Average dairy production for cows is 5000 kg of milk, which contains 4.3% butterfat and 3.6% protein." Component wise, high protein like Jerseys, Guernseys, and Normande, but not the super-high fat of a Jersey (which can actually be problematic for some hard cheeses if unskimmed).

And, the type of proteins are further cheese-friendly:
"Kappa-casein is an interesting and specific protein in the cheesemaking process. In fact, the Kappa-casein (or K-casein) gene is expressed by two alleles, or alleles A, B or E. The presence of allele B in heterozygotes (AB or BE) or homozygotes (BB) is what significantly improves the cheesemaking properties of Canadienne cow's milk. For the same quantity of milk and an equal percentage of protein, allele B found in Kappa-casein increases the quantity of cheese produced. Currently, the Canadienne is at the heart of a project featuring permanent follow-ups aimed to restore the frequency of allele B within the cattle population, and to further improve cheesemaking properties of Canadienne cow's milk in Charlevoix."

bill shaver

yes had looked north of the boarder when i was theorizing on milking 40, ship to oragnic valley, and eventually reduce myself down to about 10 & do chees & butter on my place, but have since discared that thought, has to do with THE CETA trade policy and where it will take farm gate prices, in canada & usa, doing the artisinal cheese & butter for touristy regions along with working with the breed is my goal now, but you'd have to look at customs as to how to bring animals across the frontier, it can be lengthy process & a great deal of jingos at us customs...its typical of those in usa , hate to say it but they blame canada for the mad cow crisis...but its been in usa all along..in usa its dont ask , dont tell, complete complacency & when you do find it...hide the evidence...anyway you can, dig a hole in back 40 & bury it....strange but true...