The Rural Voice, 1980-09, Page 42THE YOUNG FARMER
Perth student says French dairy farm
works "every day the cows do"
(Editor's note: Don Melady, son of Mr.
and Mrs. Ted Melady of St. Columban
has spent the past year studying in
France. This summer he worked on a
dairy farm in his host country.
Following are some of his impressions.)
BY DON MELADY
After spending a year of studying
French at the Uni versite de Besancon, I
decided it would be interesting to see
how a French farming community
compared to its Canadian counterpart.
Through a series of happy coincidences
I am now spending several weeks
working on the dairy farm of Jean
Chopard near the tiny village of Le
Chauffaud. Looking out my window
across the Alpine meadows and fir
forest, I can see the Swiss border just
one kilometer away.
As everywhere, the type of farming is
strongly marked by the geography of
the region, the principal influence here
being the Jura Mountains, the moder-
ately high range of French mountains
which, 200 km. further on, melt into the
Swiss Alps. For example, the Chopards'
farm of 30 hectares (75 acres) is at an
altitude of 1100 metres (3600 ft.) very
mountainous, seldom hot, and often
damp. The result is that no cropping is
possible and even garden vegetables
have to struggle in the 31/2 month
growing season (as of the first of July,
the lettuce is still just a thin discouraged
green line in the cold soil).
Therefore, the only farm produce
possible is the milk of the hardy Mont
Beliard cows, bred and raised only in
this region.
The big -bodied chunky cows, red and
white with pure white legs and head,
are fed only hay with very little mineral
supplement and, of course, no grain.
The average production is 21 kg/day (50
Ib.) of 3.5% milk which is marketed at
$15/cwt.
NOT MILK DRINKERS
As opposed to Canadians, the French
drink very little milk (who would, with
all that good wine?) Thus as in most
regions of France, the milk from this
farm goes entirely to the production of
one of the 400 regional cheeses. In this
area, it is Comte, the cream-coloured
cheese with the Targe holes which
Canadians naively call "Swiss." But I
assure you, the rich -flavoured, metic-
ulously hand -prepared Comte bears
little resemblance to the glue -like often
tasteless Kraft product one buys in
Canadian supermarkets!
The nine dairy farmers of this small
community are grouped together to
form an association of cheese pro-
ducers. They own a small "fromagerie"
(cheese factory) and employ a profes-
sional cheese maker. Because my
employer is a part owner of this small
plant, I had the rare good fortune to
have a guided tour and thus could follow
the course of the milk from when it
leaves the cow to, almost one year later,
when the finished product is marketed
in the form of a 100 Ib. circular block of
delicious cheese.
REFRIGERATED
The milk of the Mont Beliards is
picked up at the gate after every
milking. The evening milk is refrig-
erated at the fromagerie until the next
morning's production arrives. The
cheese -master, a friendly bearded man
with the muscles necessary to throw
around 100 lb. blocks of cheese,
explained to me that he has to work
every day the cows do: in other words,
he hasn't taken a day off in the 10 years
he has worked there!
At 7:30 a.m., after the 500 I (125 gal.)
of milk have been put into 2 huge brass
vats, the natural curdling agent (from
the stomach of milk -fed calves) is
added. This product causes the milk to
curdle and draws out the butter fat in
the form of curd. The milk is then
heated to 70°C for 2 hours - the
"cooking" process which gives the
Comte its identifying solid body.
At 9:45, after the now -solidifying
mass has been agitated to separate the
curd from the remaining liquid, the
crucial and fascinating "drawing off"
process begins. Stripped to the waist,
the cheese -master holds a 4 ft. square
piece of porous material ("cheese -
doth") in his hands and teeth. With a
single movement, he plunges his arms
up to the shoulders into the curd and,
using the cheese -cloth as a scoop, draws
out 100 ib. of the dripping cheese.
Relying only on his sense of weight, he
is never more than 2 or 3 Ib. off. He
repeats this process 3 times more, 500 1
of milk giving on the average 4-40 kg
cheeses. As the milk must be slightly
skimmed to produce the 45% butterfat
content of the Comte, the surplus is
used to make delicious whipping cream
and home -churned, unsalted butter.
A MOLD
After the curd is drawn off, it is
packed into a 2 ft. mold and put in a
press to get out excess moisture. It is
turned several times and finally re-
ceives the date and stamp of the
manufacturer before resting in the
presses for the rest of the day. The next
morning, when the cheese -master's day
begins at 5:30, the already solid but
still -white cheeses are transferred to the
"warm cellar": a large room kept
constantly at 27°C with shelves of
cheese stretching to the ceiling. The
cheese rests here for one month to
ferment and to allow the hard crust to
form. It is here that I found the answer
to everyone's favorite question: what
forms the holes? The irregularly -spaced
and sized holes are the product of
trapped moisture in the cheese which
expands and evaporates as the cheese is
left in the warmth.
THE LONGEST STEP
The last and longest step in the milk's
progress to "cheese -hood" is its stay in
the "cold -cellar." Salt is rubbed into
the surface to preserve and flavour the
cheese and it can stay here as long as 9
months. It is said that a cheese -master's
quality lies in his hands. It is at this
stage, relying only on texture, weight
and consistency, that he must guide and
judge the cheese's progression to
perfection.
And so that's how the dairy industry
works in this small corner of France.
Although their produce is still converted
according to the old methods, the farms
themselves are quite automized, with
most having a pipeline milker and a silo
unloader, although complete auto-
mation is not yet the rule. Another
tradition which is dying quickly in the
area is the house and barn combined in
one building. Called the "Maison
comtoise" (after this region, Franche-
Comte), it is a concept which flourished
up until 20 years ago. Like everywhere
in France, and in the world, the
agricultural scene is changing, adapting
to new demands and markets but
retaining the best of the old ways.
THE RURAL VUICEISEPTEMBER1980 PG. 41