Got Milk?

It is common for a family to have 1 to 7 milking cows on small family farm here in Paraguay. I purposely didn’t say dairy cows because they are all purpose- for meat or milk, a mixture of Brahama and ?  It’s been interesting to observe the process, which goes like this:

1. At about 2:00pm all of the calves are brought in from the street, put into a pen and tied to a tree or fence. All calves have a rope tied around their necks, which drags behind them throughout the day. The calves spend the day munching on chopped sugar cane and grass, and drinking water to which salt is added.

2. At 8:00am the following morning, the cows are brought into the pen and tied near their calves.

3. One cow’s back legs are tied or hobbled, with rope. Her calf is then led over and guided by hand to suck on each teat, causing the milk to start flowing.

4. The calf is then quickly retied and the cow is milked by hand.

5. When the cow is finished being milked, the rope is removed from her back legs. The cow and calf are released together to graze/ nurse for about five hours before the calves are brought in, again.

The seven cows on this particular farm, give about five gallons of milk, total, each morning. With the exception of a little milk for the morning cocido, (mate, lots of sugar, and milk), all of the milk is made into cheese. The five gallons of milk is enough to make one large cube of cheese, (see a previous blog for this process), which is used for home consumption or sold. I was told that the cheese brings in more “plata” than the milk does, besides, I haven’t seen anyone drink a glass of milk since we’ve been in Paraguay.

Quite a different process than in the states- maybe a more appropriate title for this post would have been “Got Cheese?”