ND vs. la mancha milk

[Deborah Niemann-Boehle]

We were comparing NDs with la manchas in another thread, but I thought I'd put this in a separate discussion. I just got my milk test results and wanted to share. I have two la manchas and 15 ND does milking.

 

* The la manchas

Clare -- 49 days in milk -- 14# butterfat -- 366# milk

Viola -- 51 days in milk -- 13# butterfat -- 359# milk

 

*NDs
Charlotte -- 65 days in milk -- 19# butterfat -- 343# milk

Jo -- 67 dim -- 13# bf -- 264# milk

Lizzie -- 51 dim -- 13# bf -- 225# milk

Giselle -- 63 dim -- 11# bf -- 240# milk

Coco -- 50 dim -- 10#bf -- 190# milk

 

So, you can see that a good Nigerian will give you just as much butterfat as a la mancha that is producing a lot more milk. I didn't list six of the NDs because they've only been in milk for a month, and the LMs have been in milk for almost two months, but the one month goats have all produced 5-7 pounds of butterfat so far, so they'll be in the same range as those above.

[Deborah Niemann-Boehle]

That's correct. Cheese yield from ND milk is usually about double the LM milk. If you look at the ADGA breed averages, you see the same thing. NDs have about twice the butterfat of most standard breeds.

Anna Cummings said:

So basically, the higher the butterfat, the higher yield of cheese then?  

[Deborah Niemann-Boehle]

Yes. I got my first la mancha five years ago when I didn't have that many goats, and the NDs I had were not that productive. Now that I've got some really great little NDs -- more than I need, actually -- it seems pointless to have the LMs. If I separate all my NDs overnight and milk them, I have four gallons now! All you get with the LMs is more water in the milk, but they eat a lot more than the NDs.

Kare at Chaverah Farm said:

Wow, Deborah, this is valuable information!  Thank you for sharing!  Are you thinking about getting out of La Manchas?

[Anna Cummings]

So basically, the higher the butterfat, the higher yield of cheese then?  

Deborah Niemann-Boehle said:

I'm on official milk test with AGS, so the milk is sent to a lab. I don't know how they do it. However, my husband made cheddar cheese with the LM milk the weekend of both tests, and he accurately figured out the butterfat of their milk the second time based upon the cheese yield. I don't remember exactly how he did it, but he did use the percentage that we got from the lab the first time.

[Kare]

Wow, Deborah, this is valuable information!  Thank you for sharing!  Are you thinking about getting out of La Manchas?

[Theresa B]

Thanks for sharing that and for helping me decide to focus on ND's and not get La Manchas also!

[Deborah Niemann-Boehle]

I'm on official milk test with AGS, so the milk is sent to a lab. I don't know how they do it. However, my husband made cheddar cheese with the LM milk the weekend of both tests, and he accurately figured out the butterfat of their milk the second time based upon the cheese yield. I don't remember exactly how he did it, but he did use the percentage that we got from the lab the first time.

[Anna Cummings]

Is the butterfat separated from milk and then weighed?  Or how do you tell the butterfat?