Over the past several weeks, our customers may have noticed that our cheese prices are inching upward. Here’s why: Last fall a ton of hay cost $90; now we’re paying $200 per ton, a 122% increase. We’ve heard of some folks paying up to $260 per ton! A bag of rolled barley cost $8.49 in [...]
Posts under ‘Dairy’
Milking Stand
We’re often asked where to get a stand for milking goats. Our current one is metal and came from Caprine Supply. Wood is not permitted in a licensed dairy. The most important thing for a milking stand is that it support the goat, hold her in place without hurting her, and be affordable for the [...]
Tips on Sanitation for Home Dairying
If you want to make great cheese, you have to start with good, clean milk. When we first started milking for our own use, we used a simple wood milking stand and mostly plastic equipment. This would never pass inspection for a licensed dairy, but works well for home dairying. The main thing is, anything [...]
How others do it
We’ll be milking ten goats this year– more than we’ve ever milked before, but not enough to keep our equipment busy. So we’ve been looking for a cow dairy from which to buy milk for making other varieties of cheese.
This week, we came to an agreement with a dairy out west of us. It’s a huge facility with state of the art equipment– and the owner has a reputation for doing things right.
Here’s a look at how a large but ethical dairy does things.
How does this thing work?
We bought our new (used) pasteurizer last fall, never thinking that it didn’t come with a manual. After weeks of internet searches, emails, and phone calls, we finally found someone who knows how it works. It turns out the hot water (yes, thankfully it’s designed for hot water, not steam) is delivered under pressure, sprays [...]
Solar Dairying
The United Nations FAO offers this analysis of solar-powered dairy projects. Their conclusion: It’s feasible, but not cheap. Note that, in 1981 dollars, a cheese facility of the size we’re building would cost over $150,000. That’s over $355,000 in 2008 dollars. Using innovation, used equipment, comparison shopping, and just plain Yankee frugality, we’re putting ours [...]
Buying Milk Isn’t Easy
As part of our expansion, we want to buy milk from a local dairy farm. That’s not as easy as it sounds. Almost all the farmers in this area contract with the local dairy co-op, and their contract says they can’t sell to anyone else. So even though they’re losing money because the wholesale milk [...]
New England Artisan Cheesemakers 4: Jasper Hill Farm
Located outside Greensboro, VT, Jasper Hill Farm not only makes cheese, they operate the largest cheese cave in the region– an amazing underground structure with seven climate-controlled vaults.
