Posted on 06/23/2004 2:55:14 PM PDT by knak
STOCKHOLM, Sweden - It's healthy and tasty, for those with expensive tastes. Farmers in northern Sweden are milking moose and making cheese, which they sell for a lot of dough — nearly $500 a pound. The buyers include upscale hotels and restaurants in Sweden.
AP Photo
Christer Johansson and his wife, Ulla, started their 59-acre dairy farm "Moose House" seven years ago in Bjursholm, 404 miles north of the capital, Stockholm. They claim it is the only moose dairy farm in Europe.
The Johanssons currently have 14 moose in the fields but only three — "Gullan," "Haelga" and "Juna" — can be milked.
The three cows, who stay outdoors all year, were abandoned calves found in the woods around Bjursholm and taken in by the Johansson family.
"Fortunately they know and love us, because they weigh about 500 kilograms (1,100 pounds). They see us almost as their own calves," Christer Johansson said.
The Johanssons were inspired by similar facilities in eastern Russia, although those produce only milk, he said.
The moose only produce milk between May and September, the time from when they calve to when they are in heat again, Christer Johansson said. It takes up to two hours to milk a moose and they each produce up to a gallon of milk a day.
"That's one of the reasons why the cheese is so expensive," he said.
The milk, which contains 12 percent fat and as much protein, is refrigerated and curdling is done three times per year, crating about 660 pounds of cheese a year. It is made in three varieties and can be sampled at the farm's restaurant.
"We hope later on to be able also to export more of the cheese, especially the somewhat sour feta-type, which is laid down in oil and easy to transport," he said.
The Johansson farm attracts about 25,000 visitors a year.
Hey, if you think that moose bites can be nasti, you should see what happens when your car hits one!
I've got a friend who was driving to Canada for a fishing trip with a few friends. My friend was sleeping in the back of the van, and all he tells me he remembers is someone yelling "MOOSE!!!" and then all hell broke loose.
Well, it turns out that they hit an 800 pound cow, and it flipped the van, totalling it, as well as the boat and trailer they were towing...
Interestingly enough, nobody was really badly hurt, although the guy in the passenger seat found out just how much moose snot one of those big noses holds! It seems that he got slimed, like Bill Murray's character in Ghost Busters!
Mark
Well, if it tastes good and is nutritious, more power to the farmers. That's the marketplace at work in the best way possible.
Customer: Good Morning.
Wenslydale: Good morning, Sir. Welcome to the National Cheese Emporium!
Customer: Ah, thank you, my good man.
Wenslydale: What can I do for you, Sir?
Customer: Well, I was, uh, sitting in the public library on Thurmon Street just now, skimming through "Rogue Herrys" by Hugh Walpole, and I suddenly came over all peckish.
Wenslydale: Peckish, sir?
Customer: Esuriant.
Wenslydale: Eh?
Customer: 'Ee, Ah wor 'ungry-loike!
Wenslydale: Ah, hungry!
Customer: In a nutshell. And I thought to myself, "a little fermented curd will do the trick," so, I curtailed my Walpoling activites, sallied forth, and infiltrated your place of purveyance to negotiate the vending of some cheesy comestibles!
Wenslydale: Come again?
Customer: I want to buy some cheese.
Wenslydale: Oh, I thought you were complaining about the bazouki player!
Customer: Oh, heaven forbid: I am one who delights in all manifestations of the Terpsichorean muse!
Wenslydale: Sorry?
Customer: 'Ooo, Ah lahk a nice tuune, 'yer forced too!
Wenslydale: So he can go on playing, can he?
Customer: Most certainly! Now then, some cheese please, my good man.
Wenslydale: (lustily) Certainly, sir. What would you like?
Customer: Well, eh, how about a little red Leicester.
Wenslydale: I'm, a-fraid we're fresh out of red Leicester, sir.
Customer: Oh, never mind, how are you on Tilsit?
Wenslydale: I'm afraid we never have that at the end of the week, sir, we get it fresh on Monday.
Customer: Tish tish. No matter. Well, stout yeoman, four ounces of Caerphilly, if you please.
Wenslydale: Ah! It's beeeen on order, sir, for two weeks. Was expecting it this morning.
Customer: 'T's Not my lucky day, is it? Aah, Bel Paese?
Wenslydale: Sorry, sir.
Customer: Red Windsor?
Wenslydale: Normally, sir, yes. Today the van broke down.
Customer: Ah. Stilton?
Wenslydale: Sorry.
Customer: Ementhal? Gruyere?
Wenslydale: No.
Customer: Any Norweigan Jarlsburg, per chance.
Wenslydale: No.
Customer: Lipta?
Wenslydale: No.
Customer: Lancashire?
Wenslydale: No.
Customer: White Stilton?
Wenslydale: No.
Customer: Danish Brew?
Wenslydale: No.
Customer: Double Goucester?
Wenslydale: (pause) No.
Customer: Cheshire?
Wenslydale: No.
Customer: Dorset Bluveny?
Wenslydale: No.
Customer: Brie, Roquefort, Pol le Veq, Port Salut, Savoy Aire, Saint Paulin, Carrier de lest, Bres Bleu, Bruson?
Wenslydale: No.
Customer: Camenbert, perhaps?
Wenslydale: Ah! We have Camenbert, yessir.
Customer: (surprised) You do! Excellent.
Wenslydale: Yessir. It's..ah,.....it's a bit runny...
Customer: Oh, I like it runny.
Wenslydale: Well,.. It's very runny, actually, sir.
Customer: No matter. Fetch hither the fromage de la Belle France! Mmmwah!
Wenslydale: I...think it's a bit runnier than you'll like it, sir.
Customer: I don't care how f------ runny it is. Hand it over with all speed.
Wenslydale: Oooooooooohhh........!
Customer: What now?
Wenslydale: The cat's eaten it.
Customer: (pause) Has he.
Wenslydale: She, sir.
(pause)
Customer: Gouda?
Wenslydale: No.
Customer: Edam?
Wenslydale: No.
Customer: Case Ness?
Wenslydale: No.
Customer: Smoked Austrian?
Wenslydale: No.
Customer: Japanese Sage Darby?
Wenslydale: No, sir.
Customer: You...do *have* some cheese, don't you?
Wenslydale: (brightly) Of course, sir. It's a cheese shop, sir. We've got--
Customer: No no... don't tell me. I'm keen to guess.
Wenslydale: Fair enough.
Customer: Uuuuuh, Wensleydale.
Wenslydale: Yes?
Customer: Ah, well, I'll have some of that!
Wenslydale: Oh! I thought you were talking to me, sir. Mister Wensleydale, that's my name.
(pause)
Customer: Greek Feta?
Wenslydale: Uh, not as such.
Customer: Uuh, Gorgonzola?
Wenslydale: no
Customer: Parmesan,
Wenslydale: no
Customer: Mozarella,
Wenslydale: no
Customer: Paper Cramer,
Wenslydale: no
Customer: Danish Bimbo,
Wenslydale: no
Customer: Czech sheep's milk,
Wenslydale: no
Customer: Venezuelan Beaver Cheese?
Wenslydale: Not *today*, sir, no.
(pause)
Customer: Aah, how about Cheddar?
Wenslydale: Well, we don't get much call for it around here, sir.
Customer: Not much ca--It's the single most popular cheese in the world!
Wenslydale: Not 'round here, sir.
Customer: {pause}and what IS the most popular cheese 'round hyah?
Wenslydale: 'Illchester, sir.
Customer: IS it.
Wenslydale: Oh, yes, it's staggeringly popular in this manor, squire.
Customer: Is it.
Wenslydale: It's our number one best seller, sir!
Customer: I see. Uuh...'Illchester, eh?
Wenslydale: Right, sir.
Customer: All right. Okay. 'Have you got any?' he asked, expecting the answer 'no'.
Wenslydale: I'll have a look, sir... nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnno.
Customer: It's not much of a cheese shop, is it?
Wenslydale: Finest in the district!
Customer: (annoyed) Explain the logic underlying that conclusion, please.
Wenslydale: Well, it's so clean, sir!
Customer: It's certainly uncontaminated by cheese....
Wenslydale: (brightly) You haven't asked me about Limburger, sir.
Customer: Would it be worth it?
Wenslydale: Could be....
Customer: Have you --SHUT THAT BLOODY BAZOUKI OFF!
Wenslydale: Told you sir....
Customer: (slowly) Have you got any Limburger?
Wenslydale: No.
Customer: Figures. Predictable, really I suppose. It was an act of purest optimism to have posed the question in the first place. Tell me
Wenslydale: Yessir?
Customer: Have you in fact got any cheese here at all.
Wenslydale: Yes,sir.
Customer: Really?
(pause) Wenslydale: No. Not really, sir.
Customer: You haven't.
Wenslydale: Nosir. Not a scrap. I was deliberately wasting your time,sir.
Customer: Well I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to shoot you.
Wenslydale: Right-0, sir.
The customer takes out a gun and shoots the owner.
Customer: What a *senseless* waste of human life.
Just Damn ping
My prayers have been answered. Somebody, please tell me how to contact these dairiers.
ROFLMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Send me a private message on Tuesday or Wednesday, and I'll fill you in....it ultimately goes back to the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail...............
Oh, what the heck. You newbies, pay attention.....
FINAL DRAFT 20.3.74.
IT may be a bit late to post this, but I'm strongly considering a September '05 Moose hunt (fully guided)in Newfoundland, and need company. Any Freepers in the Maryland/VA/DC area interested in joining me?
Not true, he just does better on standardized tests.
Just bumping it cause its funny
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