Often, cheese makers blend milk from different animals to create flavors a single milk can't provide. La Tur, a three milk cheese (sheep, cow and goat) from Caseficio dell'Alta Langa in Italy, is an exceptional example.
But sheep- and goat-milk cheese producers blend milk for a functional reason as well: The animals don't produce milk year round. Sheep and most goats only breed during specific seasons (hence the concept of spring lamb), and pregnant animals don't produce much milk, because they have no new offspring to feed. It's a natural cycle.
Modern milkers have found various methods to "trick" or extend the cycle of their animals to ensure year round milk, especially cows, but sheep and goats seem less inclined to being manipulated. "Goats (and sheep) cycles are much more sensitive around the seasons than cows are," says Donna Pacheco, owner of Aachadinha Cheese.
To read the rest of the story, please go to: SF Weekly