On Farm Cheese

[gwpoky]

Anyone know of a way to make cheese on farm and sell it legally???? ……without braking the bank. We’ve made some here and “gave” it away, would like to be able to sell it, but we’re only making a few pounds at a time and $12,000 for a Bob White system is a little out of reach at this time. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thank You

[dlskidmore]

I would think the rules would vary by state. Does your local cooperative extension office have any information on this? If not, the local health department would probably have some literature on what it takes to have a legal prep kitchen. Some places will allow you to do it in the home kitchen as long as the pets are kept out when you’re working, and standards of cleanliness are kept.

[gwpoky]

I am in Wisconsin, its tuff here, but I will check a little deeper. From the research I have done it doesn’t look good for the one to ten head herds.

[Does’ Leap]

George:

Generally speaking cheese is regulated by the federal government, specifically the Pasteurized Milk Ordinance (PMO), and enforced by states. Here is the link: http://www.fda.gov/Food/FoodSafety/Product-SpecificInformation/MilkSafety/NationalConferenceonInterstateMilkShipmentsNCIMSModelDocuments/PasteurizedMilkOrdinance2007/default.htm I suggest studying it before you deal with your inspector.

The big hurdle in cheesemaking is the pasteurizer and I agree Bob White systems our prohibitively expensive. I bought a 60 gallon industrial soup kettle and had a skilled TIG welder make ports for my thermometers. I purchased the indicating thermometer, recording thermometer, and air space thermometer for less than $1000 and have about $1000 into the soup kettle. I had the valve cut-off and welded smooth to avoid purchasing the $2500 “leak detect valve”. We produce around 11,000 pounds of cheese yearly with that vat pasteurizer. Part of the PMO requires you heat your air space to 5 degrees above pasteurzation temperature (150 degrees in this case). I modified a pressure cooker to do the job (on the floor next to the vat).

[IMG]https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-IrCwld3NMk8/TfpkkChwBzI/AAAAAAAAA-U/9AT5lYxgqbQ/s800/vat.JPG[/IMG]

Depending on how much cheese you want to make, another option is to buy and 15 gallon pot. Here is a picture of an agitator I made and the pot. You could take the ideas listed above (welding thermometer ports to the lid, etc.) and heat it with propane.

[IMG]https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-J_uUh-R9Kvg/TfpkpGEBudI/AAAAAAAAA-k/oVTRZvyxg78/s512/small%252520vat.JPG[/IMG]

Listed are a few ideas, there is much more to it that this but I thought I would provide some food for thought.

Good luck.

George

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