While on the Comte tour, we visited four farms that produce milk for making Comte AOP Cheese. How can you not love cows and especially the calves? Some of the cows were shy but some interacted with us and a couple even gave my hand a lick… with apologies to Katy Perry… a cow licked me and I liked it.
To buy Comte AOP on line, click here.
One of my first observations was the passion from everyone along the “Comte AOP Food Chain”; from the Farmers to the Cheesemakers to the Affineurs and at every stop along the chain.
Our first farm stop was the farm owned by Jonathan Martin and his mother. It was milking time when we arrived and while Jonathan visited with us, his mother prepped and milked their entire herd of 40 Montbeliarde cows. Through our interpreter I, along with others in our group, asked a lot of questions (probably annoying the interpreter) but it’s not often we get the opportunity to get up close and personal with a Comte fermier.
Here’s some of what we learned from Jonathan (while his mother milked the herd):
- Jonathan and his mother’s farm is 160 acres. The farm was originally owned by his grandfather and has been passed down through the family. They currently have 40 milkers with 40 heifers and a few calves “waiting” in the wings. Their herd produces 300,000 liters of milk a year which is primarily used for making Comte AOP. (The rest goes into making Morbier AOP, Raclette and a specialty cheese of the Cheesemaker.) Their herd and farm is the average size of the farms in their fruitiere, a cooperative style group that pools their milk to make cheese.
- In his fruitiere there are twenty farms (40 farmers) which produce about 7,000,000 liters of milk yearly. Each farmer has voting rights based on their yield within the fruitiere. The fruitiere hires the Cheesemaker, who is an employee and has no voting rights. I’ll get into this more in my next posting about the fruitieres and the Cheesemakers.
- The governing association that controls the entire production of Comte AOP is referred to by everyone as “the PDO”, a term that seemed to be interchangeable with the actual rules and regulations governing the production of Comte AOP.
- The PDO requires that each cow have 1 hectare of grazing land (about 2.5 acres) and be fed only local grass and flora in the summer and local hay in the winter. No fermented silage is allowed; however certain supplements to balance the diet are allowed. Jonathan provides 1.2 hectares per cow in the spring/summer and 2.5 hectares per cow in the fall. He grazes his cows a minimum of 14 hours per day.
- The PDO allows only Montbeliarde and French Simmental breeds be used to make Comte AOP. 95% of the herds within the PDO are Montbeliarde with only 5% are French Simmental. The first two farms’ herds we visited were all Montbeliarde. The third was 100% French Simmental and the fourth was a mixed herd. According to Jonathan, the cows must have good feet because they walk a lot on both pasture and roads (as they go from pasture up to the alpage for summer grazing).
- His cows produce about 25 liters each per day over two milkings. If the cows produce more than 25 liters, then Jonathan adds supplements to the diet of that cow. The milking machines record the amount produced and the pace at which it is produced. With the extreme heat in the Juras this summer, yield has dropped and the cows spend more time under the trees looking for relief from the heat.
- The PDO requires that the farmers physically touch each cow at least twice a day. This occurs at milking time because the first squirt must be done by hand before the milking machines are hooked up. This physical touching is important to keep the farmer familiar with the health and well-being of each animal.
- When the cows first come out in spring to pasture, they only spend the day in the pasture for the first 10 days; after that they spend 24/7 in the pastures and Jonathan moves them to different pastures halfway through the day to allow balance in feed and to relieve the pressure on the pastures.
Some other pieces of cow trivia from Jonathan:
- They artificially inseminate the cows rather than owning a bull. Jonathan feels it is safer for the herd and more practical… not as much fun for the cows…
- Calves go to pasture at 4 months. The male calves are sold to Spain where they are fattened for sale.
- In the summer, 75% of the hay is cut and put up for the winter. Jonathan stores his hay above the barn. A few of our group climbed a steep ladder into the attic to view the hay… I passed…
Our next farm visit was a surprise. We were visiting the Fruitiere at Bonnetage and the President of Fruitiere was there to meet our group. After our tour of the facility, he invited us to visit his farm.
To buy Comte AOP on line, click here.
His farm had been in his family before the Village of Bonnetage began keeping records in the 1600s. His herd was out in the pasture and the barn was incredibly clean. Including heifers and calves, he has 100 Montbeliarde cows. He also raises rabbits for consumption. While we were touring his daughter drove up to get a pail of milk for her children. He let us taste the milk in the stainless steel holding tank; it was very sweet… I don’t drink milk so I have no comparison.
This fruitiere consisted of 9 farms.
Our third farm was owned by a farmer who had previously worked in the hospitality business and fell in love with farming twenty years ago when he interned with the farmer who owned the farm before him. The old farmhouse attached to the barn had been converted into a four-room B&B which his mother helped run. Four of us stayed there and we all ate dinner and breakfast there. Both meals were prepared by the farmer. When we arrived he was out in the field baling hay. We voted him our favorite “Super-Farmer”; working the farm and cooking for the B&B.
His herd of 40 cows was 100% French Simmental; one of only 3 or 4 farmers in the PDO milking only French Simmentals.
In his “free” time, he paints cows. He had one hanging in the B&B, but it was not for sale.
On our last day we visited two young brothers whose herd was up in the alpage. Our hosts had visited them the year before. Since that time they had built a new state-of-art barn and milking facility and moved the old milking parlor up to the alpage.
We met the calves and that was when I was licked… after the tour of the new facilities, they piled their two dogs into their truck and we followed them several miles up into the alpage.
They had purchased the land and an old… really old… building from a writer that they referred to as “The Communist”. Part of the building they kept for their use and the rest they converted into the new milking parlor.
The two brothers have invested a lot into their production, plus they received a grant from the EU to assist them via a program to encourage young people to stay on the farm. They practice organic farming; however currently their organic milk is pooled with non-organic milk. They are working with the PDO to develop an organic Comte AOP. They are also working on cross-breeding the two breeds to create a third with the best attributes from both.
Some of our group walked twenty minutes across the alpage to help bring the cows in to be milked; the rest of us waited up at the milking parlor, cheering them on.
As I mentioned earlier, the PDO requires touching twice a day. After attaching the milking machine, both brothers would lovingly pat the hindquarters of each cow. When I commented on that, the younger brother said that they learned a lot from that patting; how the cow reacted indicated mental and physical well-being. These young men, who said they have no time for dating, have dedicated their lives 24/7 to their herd and making better cows and better milk in order to make better cheese.
These brothers wiped the teats with straw prior to starting the milking. Another reg of the PDO prohibits using chemicals to clean the teats. The PDO believes that the bacteria contributes to the unique taste of Comte AOP.
To buy Comte AOP on line, click here.
My next posting will be about visiting the two fruitieres and one fromagerie in the Jura Mountains.
My next cheese event is Saturday, August 17th at Blue Haven Bee where I will be slinging cheese plates from 1-6pm. Random Acts Party Band will be providing the music on the patio. As always, the cheese plates will be $10 and I’ll have my homemade pimento cheese available.
In addition to being an American Cheese Society Certified Cheese Professional, I am a Certified ServSafe Food Production Manager with certifications that also include ServSafe Certified Instructor and Proctor. I am available for cheese events, cheese program development, cheese training, food safety training and 3rd party food safety auditing. See my About Me and Resume pages for more details or call me at 360 921 9908 to discuss availability.
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