Big lesson this weekend. Last summer I made cheese from raw Jersey milk. I won't have milk from those cows until June. But I am getting milk now (also raw) from Brown Swiss cows. I made a Gouda with the exact same recipe. It was only about half the size of the wheel from the Jersey milk. Of course it is white. My Jersey wheel it quite yellow. Will try to post pictures later but he first on in vacuum bag. Look like totally different cheeses.
So clearly I will have to adjust my recipe based on the milk. I am thinking I will use this Brown Swiss milk to make cheese that require skim milk. There isn't alot of cream to skim and I could probably use it straight. Makes me wonder about recipes that call for extra cream. I could probably just use Jersey milk straight. There must be some sort of standard in commercial milk that one would know how much cream would need to be added? I guess I will just have to figure it out with trial and error.
I have thought alot about tweaking recipes with various cultures, curd size, etc. It seems the milk is just as big if not bigger variable. My BS milk has about 1/4 inch cream on the gallon. The Jersey can have 5" or more or 40%+ of the gallon. That has to make a big difference. Any thoughts?
Susan
Hi Susan;
A friend of mine uses milk from Holstein cows and I use Jersey milk. My yields are much bigger than hers, esp. in cheeses like Camemberts. I partly skim the cream for Tommes and Mozz, but use it whole for soft, moldy types. I hardly ever add extra cream to recipes.
It's nice to have a choice of fresh milks!
Pam
Different breeds have different Fat content in their milk, assuming all are fed the same thing.
Holsteins are the lowest Fat content averaging around 3.7%, Brown Swiss average about 4% and Jersey about 5%. 20% more fat per gallon is a big deal. There are other breeds and genetic factors as well. Kappa Casein is the primary Cheese factor.
It's not just the cream itself, it is also the protein to fat ratio. We have raised milking shorthorn, brown Swiss, jersey and Holstein and not only do the breeds have different fat to protein ratios each individual cow does as well. I have found that no matter the breed, each cow's milk is unique and will be different in those specs. Also, time in lactation and feed as well as health/gestation will all play into that as well.
Quote from: coffee joe on April 11, 2011, 01:38:27 PM
Different breeds have different Fat content in their milk, assuming all are fed the same thing.
Holsteins are the lowest Fat content averaging around 3.7%, Brown Swiss average about 4% and Jersey about 5%. 20% more fat per gallon is a big deal. .
The difference really is amazing. I've seen these numbers. It just seems like a bigger difference. When it separates, the Jersey milk seems to have at least 10x more cream on it. The yield on my cheese wheel was about 75% greater (not quite double, but nearly). I have also read that Brown Swiss have ideal PF ratios for some types of cheeses. Looking forward to learning! I appreciate everyone's comments and experience. Keep 'em coming!
Susan
Of the 6 major dairy cattle breeds in the USA, Holsteins produce the largest volume of milk as well as the highest annual yield of fat and protein. The average annual output for Holstein cows is 24,032 lb of milk with 3.7% fat and 3.02% protein.
By comparison, the average annual output for Jersey cows is just 16,835 lb of milk but it has 4.84% fat and 3.59% protein. Jerseys are known for producing milk with a high content of milk fat and milk proteins especially suited for cheese production.
Average cheese yields from Jersey milk are 11.33% for Jersey milk compared to 9.67% for Holstein milk. The milk that I use is from Holstein-Jersey crosses and I average just over 11% yield. Jersey milk has higher proportions of long-chained saturated fatty acids and lower proportions of long-chain unsaturated fatty acids, which means harder fat. Milk from Jerseys also has up to 19% additional casein and whey protein, so Jersey milk coagulates faster and forms firmer curd than Holstein milk.
And of course Jersey milk is yellower because the higher fat content maintains a higher concentration of β-Carotene.
Thanks Sailor! Great information. If the yield from Holstein vs Jersey is 9.67 vs 11.33% does it make sense that my cheese from Brown Swiss milk (which should fall in between) was only a little more than HALF the size of the wheel make with the exact same recipe from Jersey milk?
Susan
Jersey is definitely good stuff, but a drop of almost 50% doesn't make sense to me. I personally get about a 20% drop from Jersey to Holstein. I used Brown Swiss one time on a custom make for a local farmer. It had a fabulous flavor and the batch had a really good yield - 11.5%.
Yield is definitely something to seriously consider when buying local milk. If Jersey costs a little more, but you get a higher yield, then it's worth it.
I don't truly 'buy' it. That is illegal and I'm a goody-two-shoes. So they give it to me and I help them out with other things when I can. In both cases it gets thrown out if I don't go get it. The Jersey cows aren't due to have their babies until June (but then should be milking all winter). For the next 2 months I'll have to learn to understand the Brown Swiss milk. I'm excited to try the same recipies with the different milk and see what I get. Looks like I will need 4-5 gallons of the BS milk for the mold I am currently using. Now that I know that I can make adjustments accordingly.
I will try to send pictures of both wheels this weekend. The difference is surprising.
Susan
We have Holstein x Brown Swiss and Jersey. I have sent their milk for testing. HxBS had exact protein:fat ratio that is ideal for Gruyere and Emmenthal. If I mixed in Jersey milk, I had to remove some cream (fat) to get the ratio right. I do know that our Jersey is holding the cream for the calf - that rascal is getting the hind milk with all the cream!
Quote from: Erkki Juusto on April 13, 2011, 02:58:34 AM
I have sent their milk for testing. HxBS had exact protein:fat ratio that is ideal for Gruyere and Emmenthal. If I mixed in Jersey milk, I had to remove some cream (fat) to get the ratio right. I do know that our Jersey is holding the cream for the calf - that rascal is getting the hind milk with all the cream!
I have read that the BS were ideal for these types of cheeses and am anxious to give it a try. A friend has family in Switzerland that make cheese. They make just those types and have only BS cows.
What do you mean by the Jersey 'holding the cream for the calf' and 'hind milk with all the cream'? More cream is produced in the back of the udder? I thought is was the same through out the milk, just varied by cow.
Susan
The cream is the last milk to come out of the quarter. It is reffered to as the hind milk. When you leave a calf on the cow most of the time the cow will "tighten" so to speak the teat canal and not let the last of it out. It's really amazing that they know to do it and depending on the operation you have can be a problem.
OMG! That's it!!! I did some reading on the internet to undstand 'hind milk'. After working with the Jersey milk I sworethis Brown Swiss milk is like skim. And today I ready MrsKK yeilds 10-12% mozzarella with skim milk. I got 11.5% today but was about half of what I got previously. And hardlly ANY cream when it settle. Like skim.
But here's the thing. These cows have calves. They are separated from them all day. Come in to milk, then go with the baby for the night. They don't let down their milk very well so I read that holds back cream. Also, we are not milking them all the way out so we are leaving behind the cream! On the bright side, I can make parmesan and not have to skim the milk! So I am guessing this will change dramatically when the babies are gone. Or we should start milking them out all the way. I LOVE this forum!
Susan
We don't leave the calves on the cows for a lot of different reasons. But it can be done if managed well. How much milk is she producing. You will need to milk all four quarters out completely and make sure to monitor the calf to see if it is getting enough. Udder congestion as well as mastitis are huge problems if you aren't getting her milked out all the way. Let me know if I can help...
The farmer goes to work very early in the morning so the calves are left with the mother so that he can milk once a day. At least for now. The calves have had problems with what we thought was scours. Maybe they are drinking too much cream when we milk mom out partially and then put them back together? But if mom is holding back and won't let milk down how do you avoid this?
Susan
In a commercial dairy, the calves are removed from the cow at birth. This has many reasons, most of all ease of management. Some cows, especially first birth heifers, can take a stronger than normal attachment to the calf and "hide" milk. Some can even go as far as to not allow milking without the presence of the calf.
Here, we bottle feed Colostrum for 5 days then train the calves to drink milk, 2X/day, from a small bucket. This way we know exactly how much milk the calf is getting. We start our calves on pellet feed at 5 days and wean as soon as they are consuming 2 lb/day and 1 lb of hay, normaly 60-70 days.
In cases where the cow won't let milk down, rare with European breeds, 1/2ml of oxytocin fixes the problem. Talk to your vet. Retained milk can cause udder problems, excess milk for the calf can cause diarrhea.
Personally I would not give the oxy, she is not having a problem letting the milk down, she is holding back on purpose and you would have to give it each milking which is not cost effective and also not good long term. Oxy is great if you have a stressed first time heifer or something along this line that needs physical help/training to relax the teat canal. Your problem is very normal with all cows that have had the calf left on them. Once done you can try different methods of milking her to find what will work the best for her and the calf. I would try to separate them until you milk, then bring the calf in next to her but don't put the calf on her. With the calf so close that should stimulate her to release the milk (this doesn't always work though, they are very smart). Milk her out completely then put them together until night if you milk in the morning visa versa. So you are seperating them for about 12 hours before you milk. Also, if that is not an option, just massaging the udder and rubbing with warm water and peppermint oil will also stimulate her to let it down. You could pull the calf now and try to teach the calf to be bottle fed but this is very hard this late in the game.
Info posted here has been very enlightening, many thanks.
I've been buying 100% Jersey milk, albeit homogenized, from a new local dairy. I have assumed higher fat because it's Jerseys. Foolish me. Today when I bought some, I looked at the label to see what the fat% is. Now I'm really annoyed, because it is just 3.3%. Obviously they skim a LOT of the cream off. I knew they sold excess cream to another local dairy for ice cream, but I assumed that was what came from their skim and non-fat milk.
Store bought whole milk is not straight out of the cow that has been pasteurized. They skim like crazy and standardize the fat content. So from a fat content perspective, there is not much difference between breeds of cows. The larger milk producers bring in milk from hundreds of farmers and blend it together anyway.
The whole homogenization thing was a marketing ploy from the beginning so the dairies could skim as much cream off as they wanted. Since the cream no longer floated to the top, nobody could see what they were/are missing. They spun the PR to convince everyone that homogenization was a good thing.
Quote from: Mountain Maiden on April 14, 2011, 01:20:50 PM
So you are seperating them for about 12 hours before you milk. Also, if that is not an option, just massaging the udder and rubbing with warm water and peppermint oil will also stimulate her to let it down. You could pull the calf now and try to teach the calf to be bottle fed but this is very hard this late in the game.
Farmer told me he got 7 gallons (2 cows) last night so I was optimistic. But darn if they wouldn't let their milk down. We got less than 3 gallons from both. So we got the babies out and parked them by momma. (Massaging did not help). Got another gallon and a half. They are holding out on me! Moms are away from babies all day until milking then with them all night. Another farmer told me his cows will always let their milk down when they hear country music. Has to be country. I don't know. That's what he says. At this point may be worth a try.
Darius... sounds like someone is holding out on you too!
Susan
How funny with the music! Most cows get used to their routine and when you change things up on them it makes them very uncomfortable...which makes them stressed which changes their hormones which then makes the teat canal tighten. This is referred to as "parlor stress". Keeping them comfortable (country music :)and so on will help with that. That is why oxytocin was brought up. To me it's not a good fix though. It will be hard for you to change anything at this point other than reversing the set up, depending on the age of the calf each calf will consume about 3 or so gallons a day. So you can see that if she milks out about three gallons for you then she is probably producing about 6 a day which is normal. If she was my cow that I just got with the calf on her, I would pull the calf if the calf was young enough. It would be a hard day or so, but it doesn't take much time for everyone to adjust. If however the calf is older, it is next to impossible to do this. We never put the babies on the moms although I know a lot of people do. Dairy cows have been bred up so much that they produce far more than they originally produced. In the 1700 dairy cows produced about 3 gallons a day. There for the calf could completely empty the udder and the cow would have a very healthy udder. With how much they produce now, the calf can no way empty the udder they will nurse one quarter out then mess around with the others and you will end up with a low producing cow with irregular teats and issues with congestion and mastitis. So, to have a maximum yeild, an even udder and teats and a healthy calf it really is best to pull the calf. But like I said it can be done to leave them on...it's just a lot of work to make sure the udder gets milked out completely and so on....as you can see. Sorry if this isn't a quick fix. Let me know how things go! Good Luck!