Cheese From Milk The first step in the life cycle of cheese is milk. Cheese is actually made from curdled milk - the warmer the milk, the better the cheese. Many cheese-makers will take fresh, pasteurized milk straight from the cow and use it to make cheese; however, if the milk is cold and store-bought, they will warm it up on the stove to get it warm.
Farming Practices
Dairy Farming - Milk Dairy farming has been a big part of agriculture for many, many years. Farmers have been taking milk from dairy cows and making delicacies for a very long time. However, farmers are just now starting to breed cows specifically for dairy farming, or in other words, milk. Milk is only produced from dairy cows after they have given birth to calves. To keep producing milk, cows must have one calf a year! After the cows can no longer produce milk (around 3 years of milk production) they are killed and used for beef. The milk produced from a dairy cow must be collected and pasteurized by a farmer before distribution.
More Intensive Dairy Farming Dairy Farming has become more intensive over the years in order to collect more milk from dairy cows. It has become so intense, in fact, that milk production has doubled per cow over the past few years! On average, the milk produced by each cow is about 7.5 gallons - 6.5 gallons more than needed by a dairy cow to feed her calf.
Commercial Cow Milking Versus Farm Cow Milking There is a big difference between the huge metal factories and feedlots that house cows commercially and the small red barns that hold a few cows comfortably in small farms. FARM MILK PRODUCTION: Nowadays, almost all of customers that buy milk are disconnected with the source of their milk. They all believe the 'urban myth' that all milk is produced on small farms with big red barns by loving farmers pulling the teats of their shining cows. However, not all milk is produced like this. In the milk production industry on farms, as time wore on, it got increasingly harder to make a profit. First, the government set a minimum price for Grade-A milk - the price of milk dropped severely. To keep making a profit, farmers had to produce more milk, and for farmers to produce more milk, they needed more cows. To keep these new cows healthy, they needed lots of grain; however, high protein grains like soy and alfalfa grass were very expensive. It was either buy terrible, low price grains or buy the expensive grains over and over again. Some dairy farmers were grain producers, but as the cows needed more grain, they also became 'grain purchasers'. The price for grain and fuel also went up, making it close to impossible to actually make a profit in the milk industry as a dairy farmer. COMMERCIAL MILK PRODUCTION: Commercial milk producers were able to make more money, but at what cost? These companies produced much more milk than the small farms, but the cows were kept in terrible conditions. They were fed only a little grain each and were kept in small feedlots with no grazing and damp hay beneath their feet. After all this milk was being produced in non-sanitary conditions, many people started to get diseases. This is when the process of pasteurization was created. However, this process made the milk not be technically a 'pure product.' These commercial farms were also very selective on the type of breed of cow their factory housed. Many factories preferred the fertile, strong Holstein cows. After all, the Holstein breed holds the record for most milk production (by breed) in a year! However, commercial milk factories are evident to be producing much of the greenhouse gases that fuel global warming. This commercial milk is not considered organic - the factories are losing business because many consumers are switching over to the brand of 'organic' milk, whatever that may be.
"Zero Grazing" Most dairy cows are kept and bred without access to pasture - otherwise known as 'zero grazing'. In farms and other operations where 'zero grazing' is practiced, the cows are kept in small sheds. Some of these places also have outdoor yards. This practice is becoming increasingly popular in many places with big milk farms like places in North America and the UK.
Milk Processing
Pasteurization and Homogenization in General Pasteurization is a process in which the substance that is being pasteurized is heated to a certain degree to remove all pathogens existing in the substance. This basically means heating every particle of the milk or milk product that is being pasteurized. Homogenization is the process of combining two non-soluble liquids to make them the same throughout the liquids' chemical compositions. Homogenization is achieved by turning one of the non-soluble liquids into a state of extremely small particles and then having the particles distribute evenly into the second non-soluble liquid.
Pasteurization and Homogenization In Milk Pasteurization in milk is when the raw milk from a cow is heated up to a certain temperature to eliminate all pathogens from the milk. Pathogens are microorganisms (tiny organisms) like bacteria that make us sick when we consume them. According to the law, all milk sold to the general public must be pasteurized and packaged in a licensed dairy plant. Homogenization in milk is when the milk fat globules are reduced in size and then distributed evenly throughout the rest of the milk. This process is executed so that the fat globules in milk stay integrated with the rest of the milk and do not separate from the rest of the milk as cream. This process is a purely physical process, meaning that no outside substances are added to the cream. The law does not require all milk to be labeled as 'homogenized' or all milk sold to be homogenized.
Ultra-Pasteurized Milk Versus Pasteurized Milk The most simple way to voice the difference between ultra-pasteurized milk pasteurized milk is the amount of heat used to rid the raw milk of pathogens. This is also why ultra-pasteurized milk has a longer expiration date (possibly a few months) than normal pasteurized milk (around a week). Pasteurized Milk: This milk is usually pasteurized at 161 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 seconds or 146 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes. This long pasteurization time allows the majority of the bacteria and pathogens in the raw milk to be exterminated. Even though all the equipment used to commercially pasteurize milk is sanitized, some bacteria still manage to sneak into the milk. Thankfully, these remaining bacteria are tame are temperatures under 45 degrees Fahrenheit (which is way over what your refrigerator at home should be at) and won't cause the milk to spoil. Ultra-Pasteurized Milk: The big difference between ultra-pasteurized milk and pasteurized milk is the temperature it is heated to. While pasteurized milk is heated to 161 degrees Fahrenheit at best, ultra-pasteurized milk is heated to 280 degrees Fahrenheit at the minimum. This crazy temperature is to kill almost all of the bacteria (almost, not all) that pasteurized milk couldn't kill. The flavor is a little different; however, the flavor change is not drastic. These amazing expiration dates, from 30 days to 90 days, are only until the carton is open. After the carton has been opened, the milk has to be finished within a week, tops 10 days.
Ultra-Filtered Milk Ultra-Filtered Milk is a milk product that claims to have increased protein, increased calcium, decreased sugar, and no lactose (or is lactose-free). The increased protein and calcium are the result of cold-filtration (removing the impurities from the milk). After cold-filtration, the milk is separated into its five parts - water, minerals, lactose, protein, and butterfat. After the parts are separated, they are recombined to create the perfect mixture of milk with the perfect amount of nutrients.
Raw Milk and Raw Milk Cheese It is illegal in New Jersey to sell raw milk - milk that is not pasteurized or homogenized; however, when cheese is made from raw milk, it is allowed to be sold in New Jersey as long as it has been aged for a certain amount of time. The aging process makes the cheese safer and gets rid of some of the consequences of consuming raw milk. *Note: Raw Milk is milk that has NOT undergone any processes.*
Dairy Cows
Different Cows For Different Purposes There are many different types of cows, from the well-known black and white Holstein cow to the soft brown Jersey cow. Click on the button to find out about all of the different types of dairy cows!