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about the town itself.. |
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Milk
production
Not all ewes will be suitable for the parlour so don't expect to
milk every ewe lamb produced. It must be taken into consideration
that as more dairy blood is introduced into the flock more management
is required to handle the higher producing ewes. The dairy ewe,
like the dairy cow, must be able to produce milk rather than put
on fat. The difference between meat and dairy sheep is identical
to that between beef and dairy cows.
Fransplaas
currently has 230 ewes for the dairy production. The lambing periods
of these ewes are staggered throughout a 2-year cycle to ensure
a continuous supply of milk. Three lactations in 2 years, each spanning
approximately 150 days, ensures each ewe provides an average of
220 days milk per annum. The maximum of 118 ewes twice a day was
been milked on occassion.
"Our goal is to establish a good solid gene pool of 300 ewes
to enable us to be more selective" says Koos.
Ewes peak in milk production at 35 - 45 days after giving birth
and, in optimum conditions, this will last for 2 weeks before tapering
off. Lambs remain with their mothers for 5 days until the beestings
has been drained, and are then only together during the day. They
are fully weaned at 35 days at which stage they are put on lamb
creep pellets.
Average
ewes deliver 300 - 400 litres of milk per year with top ewes providing
in the region of 700 litres. According to Koos it is purely a combination
of genes that differentiate between a top and an average producing
ewe.
The top ram of herd 's Grand dam produced 1100 litres and his dam
690 litres per year" says Koos.
Due to the intense cold experienced in the area during winter milk
production can drop dramatically - up to 50% , therefore high lactating
ewes must be sheltered. Like dairy cows, ewes in lamb are fed a
high protein concentrate which includes cotton - seed, mealies,
barley, and oats. On Fransplaas they manage to produce 5/6ths of
their own lucerne and ½ of their small grains .
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Fransplaas
Sheep Cheese Farm
50 km in the direction of Calvinia, is the
first dairy farm in South Africa to produce cheese from sheep milk.
In
South Africa sheep are farmed for their meat and wool production
rather than their ability to produce milk on a large enough scale
to market. However on the farm Fransplaas deep in the Roggeveld
Mountains Koos van der Merwe has been producing sheep milk cheese
since 1997.
How
it all started
As a geneticist, Koos' father Dr Ronnie van der Merwe decided, during
the 1980's, to research the possibility of developing a milk sheep
breed for South Africa. By later on crossing East Friesens with
local veld adapted breeds they eventually came up with one that
provided top milk production coupled with the hardiness required
to survive the harsh Karoo climate. It was from here that Koos took
up the challenge to successfully manufacture and market sheep milk
products. Today Fransplaas is the only place in South Africa where
sheep are milked for the production of cheese, and the range comprising
Sweet Milk, Feta, and Pecorino Romano, is marketed under the brand
name Terranova. The name - which means new earth - was decided upon
in respect of the Nuweveld region of the Karoo where Dr van der
Merwe originally started the research.
"As the breeding programme started 5 years ago it has been
difficult to finance the venture, as the banks have been reluctant
to provide a loan and lack of Capital has been a problem" says
Koos.
For this reason all the milking has been done by hand and, with
a lack of infrastructure it has been difficult to expand the business.
"Now though, with our market growing, and with a proven track
record things are changing" says Koos.
The
dairy process
Initially
a section of a barn was modified to suit as a milking
parlour. A raised platform onto which the sheep are herded
was constructed to facilitate milking while standing and
a hydraulic head clamp system with feeding trough was
installed to keep the animals confined during the process.
Currently 4 staff members carry out the milking ensuring
each ewe is milked twice a day, an early morning and late
afternoon session.
"The milk parlour handles 15 ewes at a time and it
will have the capacity to milk 120 sheep per hour when
we install our 8 point milk machine in 11/12 months time"
Koos explains.
The milking machine is basically the same as that used
for cows but with a few modifications. Because of the
different suckling technique of lambs as opposed to calves
the rate of pulsation has been increased to 120 per minute
as opposed to the normal 70. Smaller sized teat caps were
necessary and had to be imported from Europe. Dairy ewes
ideally require a placid temperament, you call it "
milk ability." A nervous ewe will not let down her
milk satisfactorily, will upset the others and will cause
a lot of frayed tempers. Ewes learn a routine very quickly
and provided they have no bad experiences, soon settle
down to regular milking and handling.
From
the parlour the milk is transferred to the dairy where
the manufacturing and cold storage facilities are housed.
Here an existing but obsolete engine room has been converted
to suit the purpose with a few extensions providing
extra storage.
A
150-litre stainless steel vat was purchased on auction
and modified to facilitate a water-cooling jacket.
"Sheep's milk is very sensitive to temperature
and, during the manufacturing process, must be kept
at 62.5 degrees Celsius for 30 minutes as opposed to
73 degrees Celsius for 5 minutes in the case of cows
milk" explains Koos.
Stirring is a very important aspect of cheese making
and Koos believes in hand crafting the product and wont
mechanise the manufacturing facilities.
"You lose touch with your product that way"
he says.
Of
the approximate 2000 litres of milk produced each month
500 litres are used for feta, 500 for pecorino, and
the remainder for their biggest seller, sweet milk.
Their current total cheese output is 500kg of finished
product each month.
"The advantage of making cheese from sheep's milk
is that it is a very rich product containing 18.3 -
22% solids instead of the 10-12% in cows and goats milk,
and therefore only requires 5,3 litres to make 1kg of
cheese as opposed to the 10 litres of cow's milk"
Koos explains.
The milk can be kept for a maximum of 5 days stored
at the right temperature, and at the moment cheese is
made 4 days a week. The rennet used is microbial and
costs R20 per 40ml bottle while the pecorino culture
is imported from Europe at R150 for 50 units, enough
to make 12 batches.
Once
the whey has been drained the curds are pressed in 4
- 5kg moulds and then stood in brine for 24 hours, before
being matured in the cold room at a temperature of 12
degrees Celsius. Thereafter it is vacuum packed and
left to mature further in crates according to traceable
batch numbers.
"The sweet milk can be sold at 6 weeks but we prefer
to mature it longer, while the pecorino is left for
6 to 12 months and priced accordingly" explains
Koos.
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