I N N OVAT I O N 202 3 culturecheesemag.com 39
which is the top importer of sheep's milk
cheese in the world. "It was 33 million
pounds of [sheep] cheese imported that
year," she says. "That's more than two
truckloads of cheese a day."
European sheep cheeses like feta,
Manchego, pecorino, and Roquefort are
popular in the states, but consumers
often don't realize they're sheep
products. And until they were recently
lifted, bans on importing sheep genetics
into the US due to disease concerns
inhibited farmers' ability to improve their
flocks. Currently, there are fewer than
200 sheep dairies nationwide.
Assafs, known for high milk volume
and fertility, were developed in Israel in
the 1950s and have been selectively bred
by Spanish breeders since the 1970s.
Spanish Assafs are backed by robust
genomic data, and they fare as well in
Wisconsin's freezing winters as they do
in Spain's Mediterranean climate. It's
Marques de Almeida's hope that serving
as a resource for small ruminant farmers
and providing access to high-quality
genetics can help make raising dairy
sheep viable in this country.
If high-quality genetics become easier
to source, she believes, the barrier to
entry and startup costs for would-be
dairy sheep farmers will be much lower.
Sheep are smaller, easier to handle, and
require less feed than cows. Plus, sheep's
"If we are looking at
building local markets,
we need to increase
production here, and we
need to use the tools that
they have in Europe to
produce cheese here."
1852: Winthrop Chenery of Massachusetts
purchases the US's first Holstein cow from
a Dutch ship's officer in Boston, who kept
the animal on the vessel to supply fresh
milk on his voyage from the Netherlands.
Morgan Holes
milking a sheep at
Maple Leaf Cheese.
Assaf ewes line up
for milking time.
