Quality Dairy: Better In Tropics Or Temperate Climates?

dfspcc20

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Is it easier to find quality dairy in the tropics or in temperate climates? Easier to produce in either? Interested in both a farmers' and an overall agronomy points of view.

I know the variety of cattle makes a difference, but don't know much beyond that. I'm happy I can find good quality grass-fed jersey milk locally for ~$7/gallon. The only tropical location I've spent time in was the Philippines, and I didn't see much available, except one restaurant saying they made cheese in-house from water buffalo milk.

Interesting that I found this exchange: cattle in the tropics tend to produce higher fat milk?
https://www.researchgate.net/post/D..._cattle_even_when_cows_fed_on_the_same_ration
 
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Bump. Too specific of a topic? Or maybe put it in the wrong subforum?
 

Dave Clark

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I don't have much knowledge on this, but don't cattle and chickens produce less in the winter months, where there is a cold winter? I know where I am at, the local menonite farmer I buy my raw milk and eggs from told me that his production goes down in the winter. And also, the cows have less access to pasture grass and mixed vegetation, same for the chickens.
 

Luckytype

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I don't have much knowledge on this, but don't cattle and chickens produce less in the winter months, where there is a cold winter? I know where I am at, the local menonite farmer I buy my raw milk and eggs from told me that his production goes down in the winter. And also, the cows have less access to pasture grass and mixed vegetation, same for the chickens.
Which is interesting if prolactin is a milk producer and stress/darkness/season change lead to higher levels normally.
 

lvysaur

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Tropical adapted cattle will tend towards having more Indian genes, temperate ones toward Mideast/Euro ancestry.

Indian cattle all produce A2 milk, while only some western cattle produce A2 milk. Additionally, the tropical milk would be lower fat and lower PUFA as a proportion of fat (although matters less for ruminants)
 
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dfspcc20

dfspcc20

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I don't have much knowledge on this, but don't cattle and chickens produce less in the winter months, where there is a cold winter? I know where I am at, the local menonite farmer I buy my raw milk and eggs from told me that his production goes down in the winter. And also, the cows have less access to pasture grass and mixed vegetation, same for the chickens.

That would make sense. Don't tropical locales usually have alternating rainy/dry seasons that could affect production as well?

I'm not really trying to be skeptical of tropical dairying (is that a word?), just curious since I know nothing about it vs what we see (both industrial and pasture-based dairy) in temperate climates.


Additionally, the tropical milk would be lower fat and lower PUFA as a proportion of fat (although matters less for ruminants)

Anything to back that up? Again, I'm being curious and not necessarily skeptical. The link I had in the OP says the opposite regarding total fat (but you're probably right regarding PUFA).
 

lvysaur

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Anything to back that up?

Regarding fat content, just extrapolating based off the general tropic tendency (lower fat in fish, game, etc, so why not milk). The discussion you linked doesn't really prove it wrong--Jerseys have 5% milkfat, Holsteins obviously have less because they're bred for volume (aka water), and temperates will necessarily have low fat milk insofar as temperate is a proxy for Holstein.

Regarding the protein:

Milk proteins and human health: A1/A2 milk hypothesis

"studies on indigenous cow (Zebu type), buffalo and exotic cows (taurine type) have revealed that A1 allele is more frequent in exotic cattle while Indian native dairy cow and buffalo have only A2 allele,[2] and hence are a source for safe milk."
 

yerrag

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The only tropical location I've spent time in was the Philippines, and I didn't see much available, except one restaurant saying they made cheese in-house from water buffalo milk.
I could be wrong, but I don't really trust the milk here to be from truly grass-fed cows. Years back, I enjoyed the taste of water buffalo milk. The fat tasted so good. Back then, there was this brand called Selecta that made ice cream using water buffalo milk. Then, there were enough water buffaloes to supply the production levels for ice cream. Now, I can't find that taste from the ice cream made by Selecta, nor by Arce (the original maker of Selecta). Neither could I get that taste from fresh water buffalo milk. I asked the vendor what the water buffalo eats, it was then that I decided to stop buying water buffalo milk. He wasn't the owner, so he had no reason to lie to me. He told me the water buffalo is fed soy.

I think though that if I were to raise cattle and make milk, I would do it in Cambodia. The lush fields there are perfect for that. Just not in the Philippines.
 

michael94

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I could be wrong, but I don't really trust the milk here to be from truly grass-fed cows. Years back, I enjoyed the taste of water buffalo milk. The fat tasted so good. Back then, there was this brand called Selecta that made ice cream using water buffalo milk. Then, there were enough water buffaloes to supply the production levels for ice cream. Now, I can't find that taste from the ice cream made by Selecta, nor by Arce (the original maker of Selecta). Neither could I get that taste from fresh water buffalo milk. I asked the vendor what the water buffalo eats, it was then that I decided to stop buying water buffalo milk. He wasn't the owner, so he had no reason to lie to me. He told me the water buffalo is fed soy.

I think though that if I were to raise cattle and make milk, I would do it in Cambodia. The lush fields there are perfect for that. Just not in the Philippines.

do you remember about which year that changed?
 

yerrag

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do you remember about which year that changed?
Unfortunately, no. I would if I was a regular of the ice cream, and I was away for a good 16 years. By then, I noticed the taste was gone.
 
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dfspcc20

dfspcc20

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@yerrag other than ice cream, how easy/difficult is it for you to find good quality milk and cheese in the Philippines? By good quality, I simply mean that you can reasonably verify what the farmer's are feeding their livestock.
How about other areas in SE Asia?

I did like the availability to tropical fruits when I was in the Philippines, but was always skeptical of dairy (and other protein sources in general) there. As for rice, it was also difficult to tell if we were being served fortified rice (iron!) or not.
 

yerrag

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The farms are far off and I don't even get to visit them so I have no first-hand knowledge as to how good the quality of their milk is. But I would trust less the milk if it came from a more densely populated area, like Bulacan. And would trust more the milk that comes from cows that forage off the plains that are fed by water from rivers that come from mountains. The milk from Nueva Ecija province in Luzon, and from Bukidnon, in Mindanao, I would probably trust these sources more.

Organic milk locally sourced would cost around $3/liter or $11/gallon retailed in supermarkets. Conventional milk would be at $2.20/ltr.

I have no idea of milk quality in other areas of SE Asia though. As for rice, it isn't fortified.
 
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dfspcc20

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Dairy industry wasn't viable until refrigeration came along.

I don't think turning any foodstuff (or medicine or therapy) into an "industry" is viable long-term.
 

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