Environmental testing of food contact surfaces and other surfaces that workers might easily touch and then cross contaminate a product can help you quickly find gaps in your food safety program. If you read an earlier post I did on the subject, then you may remember that here at our tiny farmstead creamery, we do … Continue reading Using 3M Quick Swabs to Build a Food Safety Program for the Farmstead Creamery
Month: May 2012
Pressing Cheese without a Form
If you've ever seen a whole wheel of the iconic US cheese, Vella Dry Jack you might have noticed that the cheese is irregularly shaped and has an indentation on the top that the Vella family fondly dubbed "the belly button". This cheese, along with several other aged cheeses, are pressed while wrapped in cheese cloth- instead … Continue reading Pressing Cheese without a Form
Making Yogurt to Feed Kids and Calves
Yogurt not only provides valuable probiotic bacteria to the young ruminant, but it is easy to digest and can remain at room temperature in free choice bucket feeders without fear of growing unwanted pathogens. Making yogurt for kids and calves is a simple and inexpensive process. At Pholia Farm, we feed pasteurized goat milk and … Continue reading Making Yogurt to Feed Kids and Calves
Feeding Kids with the Free-Choice, Cool Milk Method- Peace in the Barn!
A few years ago we attempted to raise our Nigerian Dwarf kids on the "cool milk, free-choice" method. This way of feeding kids involves providing full time access to a bucket feeder, or other mechanical nursing unit, stocked with cold or cool milk. The idea behind the method is twofold. First-that kids will not overeat … Continue reading Feeding Kids with the Free-Choice, Cool Milk Method- Peace in the Barn!