Resources2
| Yahoo Discussion Groups
There are many dairy- and animal-related discussion groups on YahooGroups. Just go to the site and type in the name of the group or search for your area of interest. Be specific. Most likely you'll be given many to choose from. (Unfortunately if you just search for "dairy" you will get a lot of anti-dairy lists as well.) A few favorites include: |
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| Artisan_Cheesemakers | Large group of mostly home cheesemakers with many levels of experience. Can get rather busy at times. After a period of being off-line, Artisan Cheesemakers is back! |
| ArtisanCheesemakersCave | Small, rather quiet group. Seems to be mostly home-level cheesemakers. Would benefit from additional members to help keep it active. |
| cheeseforum.org | Bulletin board type forum. |
| dairycreamery | Trade group, strictly for small-scale commercial dairies and creameries. Wannabes must have made substantial progress toward licensing. (Members only.) |
| dairysheep | For those interested in dairy sheep and the dairy sheep industry. |
| dairystartup | A new list specifically created for people interested in starting a commercial dairy (milking) or creamery (making dairy products). |
| familycow | A small group interested in talking about the family cow. |
| goatcheeseplus | Some folks from the artisan cheesemakers group moved over to this one, which invites cow, sheep, buffalo, yak and other cheesemakers to join, though most of the discussion still tends to be about goats and goat cheese; somewhat dominated by one person. who answers nearly every question. |
| homedairygoats | One of many goat groups. This one is specifically oriented toward the dairy goat as a producer of milk and its products. Others are heavily into showing and trading goats. |
| kefir_making | A list devoted to kefir and good source of kefir grains. Very active group -- hard to believe there is so much to say about kefir!  |
| ODairy | Organic dairy group, started by the Northeast Organic Dairy Producers Association (NODPA). They also have a producers-only group with membership required for commercial producers only. |
| RawDairy | Discussion of raw milk issues, including the politics surrounding raw dairy products. |
| Non-Yahoo Discussion Groups | |
| Countrylife.net | A bulletin board type discussion group on all types of dairy products. I find bulletin boards a bit difficult to use, but you avoid getting a lot of e-mail. |
| familycow | Bulletin board type discussion groups on all things cows. |
| Milk Academy | Discussion groups on various aspects of milking. |
| SFA-MN | Bulletin board type discussion groups on Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota web site |
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We certainly haven't tried them all! Send your suggestions for additional groups.
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| Organizations | |
| Cheese Guilds & Trade Groups | |
| California Artisan Cheese Guild | |
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Maine Cheese Guild |
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New York State Farmstead & Artisan Cheesemakers' Guild |
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Ohio Farmstead-Artisan Cheese Guild |
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Ontario Cheese Society |
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Oregon Cheese Guild |
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Pennsylvania Farmstead & Artisan Cheese Makers' Alliance |
| Raw Milk Cheesemakers' Association promotion of raw milk cheese and enhance food safety |
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Specialist Cheesemakers Association association of cheesemakers, retailers, wholesalers and cheese lovers in the UK |
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Société des Fromage Fins du Québec |
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Southern Cheesemakers' Guild |
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The Vermont Cheese Council |
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Washington State Cheesemakers Association |
| Wisconsin Dairy Artisan Network includes "how to become a dairy artisan" |
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| Other Dairy & Support Organizations | |
| ACS | American Cheese Society |
| Association Laitière de la Chèvre (Québec) | |
| ATTRA | National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service -- excellent resource for small-scale farmers |
| AWA | Animal Welfare Approved -- offers free accreditation for high-welfare, independent family farms and offer grants, advising and marketing assistance. |
| Babcock Institute for International Dairy Research & Development including the Wisconsin Dairy Artisan Research Program |
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| CREMA | California Raw Milk Association -- formed to protect legal raw milk production in California. |
| Cornucopia Institute - a watchdog group for organic production; organic dairy is a major emphasis | |
| DPC | The Dairy Practices Council is a non-profit organization that publishes detailed educational guidelines for the dairy industry. In recent years they have done more on small-scale operations and small ruminants. |
| FTCLDF | The Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund assists small-scale farmers on legal issues; they have been in the forefront when it comes to defending raw milk producers. |
| FDA | The Interstate Milk Shippers site contains information useful to those interested in bottling milk and milk products. |
| Fédération des Producteurs de Lait du Québec | |
| Food & Water Watch | Supports BGH-free milk in schools, among many other issues. |
| NODPA | Northeast Organic Dairy Producers Alliance |
| Slow Food | |
| SDFRC | Southeast Dairy Foods Research Center |
| SFA-MN | Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota -- nice artisan cheesemakers page |
| UVM | University of Vermont Small Ruminant Dairy Project |
| UVM | University of Vermont - Dairy Cows |
| VIAC | Vermont Institute for Artisan Cheese |
| CDR | Wisconsin Center for Dairy Research don't miss the cheese database under "Resources" |
| Breed and Animal Organizations - General | |
| ADGA | American Dairy Goat Association |
| ALBC | American Livestock Breeds Conservancy - rare and endangered domestic animals |
| Animal Science, Oklahoma State University - excellent source of information on domestic animal breeds | |
| BGS | British Goat Society |
| BSDA | British Sheep Dairying Association |
| DSANA | Dairy Sheep Association of North America |
| HSGA | Hawaii Sheep and Goat Association |
| ODSA | Ontario Dairy Sheep Association |
| Breed and Animal Organizations - Specific to Breed | |
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Cows
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| Ayrshire | Ayrshire Cattle Society U.S. Ayrshire Breeders' Association |
| Brown Swiss |
Brown Swiss Association (US), NZ |
| Canadienne | Canadian Farm Animal Genetic Resources Foundation |
| Dexter | American Dexter Cattle Association Purebred Dexter Cattle Association |
| Dutch Belted |
Dutch Belted Cattle Association of America |
| Guernsey | American Guernsey Association |
| Holstein | Holstein Association, USA |
| Jersey | American Jersey Cattle Association |
| Kerry | Kerry Cattle Society British Kerry Cattle Society |
| Milking Devon |
American Milking Devon Cattle Association |
| Milking Shorthorn |
American Milking Shorthorn Society, Canadian Milking Shorthorn Society |
| Normande | North American Normande Association Normande Cattle |
| Randall | Randall Cattle and another Randall Cattle page |
| Tarentaise | American Tarentaise Association Canadian Tarentaise Association |
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Goats
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| Alpines | Alpines International |
| Golden Guernsey | Golden Guernsey Goat Society |
| La Mancha | American LaMancha Club |
| Nigerian Dwarf | American Nigerian Dwarf Dairy Association |
| Nubian | International Nubian Breeders Association |
| Oberhasli | Oberhasli Dairy Goat Oberhasli Breeders of America |
| Saanen | National Saanen Breeders Association |
| Toggenbergs | Toggenbergs British Toggenberg Society |
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Sheep
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| Dorset | Dorset Horn and Poll Dorset Sheep Breeders' Association (whew!) |
| East Friesian |
Lambtown USA page (cannot find a breed organization) |
| Icelandic | Icelandic Sheep Breeders of North America |
| Zwartbles | Zwartbles Sheep Association |
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Other
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| Water Buffalo |
American Water Buffalo Association |
| Other Useful Resources | |
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Instruction
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These sites offer online instruction on making dairy products. |
| 365 Cheeses | A year-long cheese course. Descriptions of cheeses. |
| Artisan Cheesemaker (old site by James Alldridge - good information) (alternate link) |
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| Cheese and Microbes | Online video describing how to mitigate food safety issues in cheese processing. |
| thecheesemaker.com offers an online e-book for making Camembert, Brie and Blue cheeses | |
| Emery Thompson videos | How to make Ice Cream, Gelato, Italian Ice and Frozen Lemonade. You-Tube videos. |
| Fankhauser's cheese page | |
| Fias Co Farm | |
| Ghee | They offer an excellent book on making ghee. |
| Raw Milk Yogurt | You-Tube video on the process. |
| WikiHow | Make butter in sealed container Make butter by whipping Make cheese at home (ricotta-like) Make blue cheese Make feta cheese Make ghee Make ice cream Make labneh cheese Make Paneer Make ricotta cheese Make yogurt |
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Blogs
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There's a plethora of new cheese blogs on the Web. |
| Big Cheese Stories | cheese blog from Murray's Cheese in New York City -- pretty interesting stuff! |
| Caseophile | blog of the Cheese Snob |
| Cheesaholics Anonymous |
interesting consumer-oriented information on cheese |
| Cheese Travels with Jim Wallace | A journal of travels through the cheesemaking regions of the Alps of France, Italy, and Switzerland. Visits with the cheese makers and photographs of the surrounding beauty. |
| Cheese Chronicles | blog of a cheesemonger in training to be a cheesemaker |
| Cheese Course at SFGate |
Janet Fletcher muses about cheese. |
| Cheese Undergraund | another cheese blog |
| CheddarBound | Parmesan need not apply |
| Curdnerds | cheese news from all over |
| Leon the Milkman | not strictly dairy but enough dairy stuff to make it worth a visit if you need to waste some time |
| So You Want To Be A Cheesemaker? |
blog of an apprentice in the Wisconsin cheesemaking license program. |
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General
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| buysellcows.com | The title says it all! (Don't request a link; they will bug you to death!) |
| cheddarvision | for the truly bored -- watch a cheddar age |
| cheese.com | lots of information about cheese |
| cheese4U | more information about cheese |
| Cheese Snob | site for cheese shop owners with lots of marketing suggestions |
| Dr. E. Ann Clark's publications page has links to a wealth of information on pasture and grazing management, organic farming, GMOs and more. | |
| CHLA | Core Historical Literature of Agriculture on-line library contains old agricultural texts, some in full text. Excellent resource. |
| Dairy Business Daily | The latest news, research and other information for any size dairy! Sign up for our weekly newsletter. |
| DBIC | Dairy Business Innovation Center. Their research papers are worth looking through. |
| DBIC Packaging Database | Dairy Business Innovation Center has a packaging database. It's a little clunky but has some interesting stuff. Sign in with "guest account." |
| dairy links page | "Exceptional Lists of Links" regarding dairying. Start here and you can surf forever. Mostly cow-oriented. |
| EatWild | Find out why grassfed is best for milk and meat |
| Everything Goat Milk | Web site focusing on goat milk, including recipes, nutrition information, how to milk a goat and how to find goat milk. |
| farm locator | New Farm online links farmers to consumers and farm-related businesses. New Farm is an excellent resource for other farm information as well. |
| fromages.com | excellent multilingual site featuring French cheeses |
| Goat Dairy Library | many pages of information on goat dairies; check out the "Building and Planning" page for free plans and others you can purchase |
| I Love Cheese | more cheese information |
| Kefir In-Site | Everything you ever wanted to know about kefir. |
| LocalHarvest | Great place to market your products online. They do most of the work for you! Inexpensive, with access to a large and growing customer base. |
| PASA | Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture - heavy emphasis on sustainable dairy farming |
| RealMilk | everything you want to know about raw milk |
| Sustainable Farm Insurance | Special insurance program, including product liability, available to sustainable farms in twelve states. |
| Weston A. Price Foundation | Excellent resource for information on traditional foods, including a great deal of research on raw milk and cultured dairy products. |
| World Cheese Exchange | Database of cheeses sorted by name and nationality. |
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