Shepherd Becomes The Dairyman (Continued from Page A 32) are added to the milk in a tem perature-controlled “traditional Dutch vat.” Each batch that is made requires constant attention. Wajswol said that his hand is in the vat “feeling the curd” for about three hours out of the five hour process. When he determines that the curd consistency is just right, the cheese is placed in special plastic molds and whey is squeezed from it in a wooden cheese press simi lar to that used for centuries in Europe. This is also time-con suming, with the cheese wheels needing to be turned every 20 minutes through the four-hour process. Once in the cave, the cheese wheels need close monitoring and must be turned and wiped daily. Every step along the way re quires sharp attention to the quality of the work in progress, Wajswol noted. Chesapeake’s Health Takes Turn For Worse ANNAPOLIS, Md. Govern ment’s failure to stem the enor mous flow of nitrogen and phos phorus pollution into the Chesapeake Bay is the most im portant factor in the decline in the bay’s health this year, accord ing to the Chesapeake Bay Foun dation’s (CBF) sixth annual “State of the Bay Report.” The report finds that on a scale of 0 to 100 (100 reflecting the pristine Bay Captain John Smith described in the 1600 s), the Bay’s health rates a 27, down one pint from 2002’s rating. ICE CREAM FREEZER • KEYSTONE Farm Show, January 6-8,2004 • PA STATE Farm Show, January 10-17,2004 ; NAME: ; ADDRESS: J TOWN: : STATE: Winners To Be Announced In Jan. 24 Issue Of Lancaster Farming “This cheese needs company when its being made,” he said. “There’s no ‘automatic.’ Auto matic doesn’t make great cheese.” Another challenging aspect of sheep dairying is care of the ewes themselves. Wajswol allows the sheep to graze as much as possible and doesn’t administer wormers or other medications while the ewes are milking from April to No vember. But East Friesian sheep have their share of troubles, according to Wajswol. These include lamb ing difficulties and a tendencies toward ailments such as pneumo nia. Wajswol uses estrus synchroni zation and artificial insemination to have the ewes iamb in April. Lambing season is hectic because of the number of ewes that need assistance. “We don’t sleep in April,” he said. Today’s report comes less than one month before the 20th anni versary of the Chesapeake clean up program, an event that will be marked on Dec. 9 by the region’s top elected and appointed offi cials. “It is a tragedy that instead of celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Chesapeake Bay Program this year with progress toward a restored Bay, we must report that the Bay has taken a turn for the worse,” CBF President William C. Baker said. “Three and a half years after making the commit- The Original Old Fashioned 6 Qt. Hand DEPOSIT THIS COUPON AT LANCASTER FARMING BOOTH AT THE ZIP: Lancaster Farming The flock is milked in a porta ble parlor that Wajswol built himself, based on a Swiss design. Average milk production for East Friesians is 5 to 6 pounds per day. Sheep milk is extraordinarily rich in solids up to 10 percent protein and 7 percent butterfat, according to Wajswol. It is natu rally homogenized and yields about one pound of cheese for seven pounds of milk, compared to the ratio of about 1:10 for cows milk. Wajswol’s wife Debra and chil dren Chelsea, 13, and Ethan, 11, help with the milking and other jobs on the dairy, including the important job of taste-testing cheeses. Wajswol said that a big invest ment is needed to make good quality cheese. His new large scale operation, which will in clude a cave built into a hillside, a retail store, and accomodations merit to a restored Bay by 2010, the states and federal govern ment have yet to implement any decisive actions that will, in fact, begin to reduce nitrogen and phosphorus pollution, the prime cause of the bay’s illness.” The “State of the Bay Report” which CBF issues for the first time in 1998, is a comprehensive measure of the bay’s health. For the report, CBF analyzes 13 indi cators: oysters, shad, underwater grasses, wetlands, forested buf fers, toxics, water clarity, dis solved oxygen, crabs, striped bass PHONE: r Farming, Saturday, November 29,2003-A33 Cheese wheels ripen in Wajswol’s cave. for tourists to watch sheep-milk- “You gotta love it and put a ing and cheesemaking, will cost whole lot into it to get it right,” about $2 million. he said. (rockfish), resource lands, phos phorus, and nitrogen. CBF scien tists compiled and examined the best available historical and up to-date information for each indi cator and assigned it an index number. This year’s decline was the re sult of increased nitrogen and phosphorus pollution and the re lated increases in “dead zones” (areas of the Bay and its tributar ies where oxygen levels are too low to sustain life), as well as de creases in water clarity. Chesapeake scientists have de scribed precisely the series of ac tions that will be necessary to im prove water quality consistent with the requirements of the fed eral Clean Water Act. Yet, these actions have not been implement- Goodville Mutual New Holland, Pa DS is Distributor for; SUPER CHIMNEY 2100 and SUPERRBQ fACTOKY »UIIT CHIWNIY Stainless Steel Chimney Systems Super Pro 2100 Chimney Features 25 Year Warranty D.S. Machine Shop Stoves 8C Chimneys 2388 Old Leacock Rd., Gordonvllle, PA 17529 71 7-768-3853 ed by the region’s governments. The Clean Water Act requires that ali permits for sewage treat ment plants, industries, large ani mal operations, and municipal stormwater be sufficiently strin gent to protect water quality. “The states and EPA simply are not enforcing the law,” Baker said. “There are thousands of permits issued in the watershed, and I can count on one hand the number that have both nitrogen and phosphorus restrictions.” Other factors contributing to the decline were state budget problems that have slowed land preservation efforts and the con tinued dangerously low levels of the blue crab population. Improvements were seen this year in forest buffer restoration as a result of federal/ state/private partner ships and shad popula tion increases that have been observed in all the major tributaries. Lancaster Farming Check omr |/r wbsite DS/316 Stainless Chimney Liners Also Available Nipponese Stove & Chimney Rt. 3, Box 367 Williamsport, PA 17701 570-745-2391
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