[Sca-cooks] Cream, has evolved to discussion about milk and dairy cattle

[Kathleen Madsen]

Plus, you need to realize that the medieval animal is
completely different that what is available today. 
Most of today's milking animals were bred for their
"turbo" milk production and were introduced by
necessity between WWI and WWII.  A lot of the older
breeds were phased out at that time because they just
didn't make enough to meet demand of a needy country.

I think there's a bit more to May milk than just the
sweet spring grasses and terroir.  Cows and goats give
birth in late January and much of February and are
weaned about 4 weeks later.  Much of the
commercialized dairy producers try and wean within
10-14 days so that they don't lose much of their
production.  The chemical makeup of the milk is shaped
in a kind of skewed bellcurve with most of the
butterfat and proteins being in the milk in the first
third or so of the milking cycle.  It tapers off over
time to where there is little left at the end of the
season and the animal is ready to be dried off.  May
milk just happens to fall at the best part of the bell
curve where there is the most proteins and butterfat. 
This composition of milk naturally makes the best
cheeses and butters.  At the end of the cycle you get
the not so good cheeses, the ones that the paste looks
anemic and pale.  This milk is really, really
difficult to work with and you tend to get mixed
results.

The month of May is the best month for cow and goats
milk, however, sheep milk is at it's best toward the
end of April and into June.  Why?  Because sheep give
birth and freshen about 6-8 weeks after cows and goats
do.  This improved quality of milk can't be traced
back to good, sweet grasses and herbage.  Rather, it's
because of where their freshening cycle lands and what
the lamb needs nutritionally from the mother.

Now don't get me wrong, a lot of the flavor that comes
through the milk is from terroir (all the
environmental and physical factors that the animal
experiences that day) and what it eats.  It does play
a role, but it doesn't affect the makeup of the milk
as far as butterfat and protein content go.  We have a
local guy that feeds his cattle on stale bread at
times and then switches over to orange peels.  You can
taste the change.

Back to my morning cup of tea,
Eibhlin

****************************

BTW - butterfat also varies based on the diet of the
cow.  Ingestion of 
certain types of "roughage" or grasses makes it go up.
 New spring 
grass is 
the best.  Hence, the month of may is often the "cream
of the crop," if 
you 
will, for cream production in pasture-fed cattle.  I
suspect this may 
be why 
markham sings the praises of May as the best month for
making butter.

Probably much MUCH more than you wanted to know...


~F