great lakes dairy sheep symposium - the Department of Animal ...

processed into cheese in mountain huts. Nowadays, the transhumance concerns about 70 to 75 %
of the ewes.
2.3. Economic point of view
In 2004, the average milk price was about 0.94 €/l (1.19 $/l). The price depends on the milk
quality :
- hygienic factors : bacterial count, coliform count, butyric count, presence of antibiotic
- milk composition : fat and protein contents
- PDO rules of production
The price of the home cheese, directly sold by the producer ranges from 14 €/kg (17.75 $/kg)
to 15 €/kg (19.01 $/kg).
On average in 2004, for the farmer’s that sell milk to a processor, the total income was about
131 € (166 $)/ewe: the portion from milk was 73 % (96 € / 122 $) and the portion from lamb was
22 % (29 € / 37 $).
3. Cheese Production
All the dairy sheep milk produced in the French Pyrenees is processed into cheese. In 2004, 8
dairy factories processed 51 millions liters into 11,000 tons of cheese : 91 % pure ewe milk
cheese and 9 % mixed cattle x ewe milk cheese.
The size of the milk factories varies from 0.7 millions liters (28 producers) to 16.6 millions
liters (700 producers). In addition to the two international firms of Lactalis and Bongrain, we can
find local cooperatives and private processors. In 2006, there were 1,765 producers that sold
milk.
About 400 farmers make cheese on their farm. The estimation of the farmstead production is
1,600 tons of cheese (8 million liters of milk).
The cheese belongs to the family of the unpasteurized pressed semi-hard cheeses. Full-cream
milk is used. After resetting, the curd is separated, stirred and scalded in a vat at between 36 and
44 °C. The curd is moulded and pressed before being salted. The cheese is ripened for at least 90
days. This time allows producers to sell cheese all through the year even though the production
of milk stops from August to November.
PDO Ossau-Iraty cheese represents a third of the production. The name of the cheese came
from two areas of the western Pyrenees: one located in Béarn (valley of Ossau) and the other in
the Basque region (forest of Iraty). While a large part of the cheese made in the Pyrenees is not
Ossau-Iraty cheese, 80 % of the milk is produced under the PDO rules whose the main are :
- milk must come from the PDO area (the western Pyrenees, south of the river “Gave de
Pau”)
- the dairy ewe must be a local breed : Manech Black, Red Face, or Basco-Béarnaise
- the feed must come from the PDO area.
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