I've studied a lot of rocks that happen to be around grazing cows in the Appalachians, Rockies, Alps, Pyrenees and Scottish Highlands. It has always struck me that European cows look and act more intelligent, following you and trying to figure out what you are doing, with a look in their eyes saying - you know those are just rocks, don't you. North American calves are similarly inquisitive, but cows tend to have a blank look in their eyes - inflammatory brain fog from the portions of the year they are on modified grains?

WOW--- that was a leap!! AND I think you are RIGHT!!

Bob-- can u share any brand names for the cheeses. Im batting zero so far-- all domestic cheeses so far.

Though last night I put some time into thinking of better options to increase my chances of successfully finding better cheeses-- and remembered there is a cheese shop about 20 minutes away. Figure I wont be able to leave such a shop with out dropping 30-50$, so need to plan ahead for that excursion.

See if you can find any with raw milk
In high school I worked at Hickery Farms in the mall. In those days they were truly a cheese shop with probably 30-40 cheeses and we were encouraged to sample all of them. I remember the light bulb moment when I realized that after sampling all of the different flavors every day I worked, I was not hungry after work. Then I realized that I was loosing weight and I was not fat then at all. So that was the dawning of wondering why when I thought I would gain, not loose.

You don't need much so just buy a 1/4 a lb of a couple of types and try them. It's the different flavors that satisfy the taste buds with less in quantity and more in quality.

KerryGold (various), Castello (Havarti), Mull of Kyntire (delightful mature cheddar sometimes with calcium crunches), Top Hat (cheddar), Joan of Arc (brie), Boar's Head has an imported Parmesan, and a few others that aren't in our refrigerator right now and sorry, I can't recall the brands. I'll probably remember later in the day when the computer is off.

I find them in the deli section of our Publix grocery stores, not in the regular dairy section. There is a lot of domestic cheese in that case too, sometimes with European sounding names, so I have to check the labels to make sure they are imported.

There is a cheese shop in a city about 15 miles north of us, and if I have a reason to go to that town, I'll often bring a small ice chest and see what they have to offer.

It's so nice to be able to share cheese with my beautiful wife again, and it's great to know she is getting the calcium she needs for her maturing body.

Bob

This is pretty crazy and definitely not true. I am Lactose intolerant. I can't eat or drink dairy in Bavaria (grass fed, European cows) or the UK (not even when eating Irish products). Lactose intolerance is against the sugar, and that exists in all dairy.

If you have an allergy, that would affect proteins in the milk, and that is a true allergy which can turn serious. The 2 things are completely different, but I can confirm European milk is just as awful for me than any other milk. Unless I am constipated, then a bit of ben & jerry is welcome

True, but many others think they have lactose intolerance when they really simply have A1 milk intolerance. It's worth a try to see which type you really are.

Sorry to hear you can't enjoy dairy.

BTW, many years ago I thought I was lactose intolerant, this decades before I even knew about A1/A2 milk. They I went on low carb, cut out wheat, and magically could eat cheese and cream without lower intestinal distress.

So I guess I was really wheat intolerant.

Bob

Agreed, A2 doesn't suit everyone. As Bob says, it's worth a try to verify this reaction using confirmed A2, but it's not a panacea for all who have dairy intolerance. A2 and the company a2 have a very good marketing campaign going with many trying to find A2 products due to its advertised reputation. I used to make kefir with whole A2 milk, and it was delicious, but I stopped due to the carb levels. I'm eating as few carbs as possible, so that wasn't doing it for me. While I may have a mild dairy intolerance, it's not severe enough for me to know, in my A2 N=1, whether A2 is better for me.

This is an interesting thread Bob

Australian dairy cattle can carry the A1 protein however it is becoming almost unheard of here, particularly in Western Australia. The dairy industry has been breeding out cattle that carry it for the last 20 years.

I believe in North America the breeding targets were/are focused on high production yields vs animal longevity and robustness which is why they are prominently crossed with large Holsteins. Cattle here spend their days outside on pasture so must be robust and able to withstand increment weather, this is as big of a focus as milk yields so they are commonly pure bred or crossed with jerseys. (It is really weird for Australians to think of cattle eating grain )

I don't know what cheese brands we export to the USA but here is a list of common Aussie brands:

Borello
Capparis
Harvey Cheese
Devondale
Tasmanian Highland
Hunter Valley
King Island Dairy
Berrys Creek
Margaret River

Thanks for posting these brand bames , Jess.

The same thing happened to me!

Raising cattle, they're very smart, at least in Texas
They're all raised differently. Some are hand raised or on smaller plots of land with lots of human contact and others never have human contact because they are out foraging where it takes 25 acres to sustain one cow.. We feed them some cattle cubes from time to time to keep them tame.
In Texas we have the longest growing season of grass so supplementation of feed is very minimal and some aren't supplemented at all.
Mine are all bright eyed and bushy tail, very inquisitive and will follow me.

One other thing, different cattle breeds can determine their innate behavior too. For instance, Brahma cattle can be very standoffish no matter how they are raised. So some are just more friendly than others.

I get Old Croc cheese from Australia.

I spent 5 weeks in your beautiful country last year. From Brisbane flew to Cairns, flew to Darwin where we rented a camper, drove down the Stewart highway to Kangaroo Island then around the bottom to Sydney. We of course included Adelaide, Melbourne, the Great Ocean road etc. We did the rock art, Uluru, rain forests, deserts, and ended with a symphony in the Sydney Opera House. We saw Cassowary, Platypus, Emus, Kangaroos, Wallabies, Koalas, one dingo, salties and all the other wildlife (in the wild) we hoped for except a wombat. That means we'll have to come back some day.

We found the Australian people to be the high point of our trip. Open, cheerful, and friendly. We felt like welcome guests and enjoyed our chats with the people. We didn't meet a grouch in all 5 weeks, but instead, plenty of cheerful people who were willing to share the beauty of their country with us and give us tips on where to go to see the things we wanted to see.

We enjoyed the food, the pubs, the road houses, and the cheese.

The best cheddar I ever tasted was at the Bega Heritage Center. I asked the private store that imported Old Croc cheese, but they can't get this one.

It changes taste in the mouth a few times as you chew it and is utterly (or udderly <grin>) delightful. We bought two 500g blocks and gave our other unopened cheese to fellow campers as it was getting close to going home time and we wanted to enjoy as much of this as we could.

Next time we want to go to the Western half of the continent. There is only so much a couple can do in 5 weeks.

BTW, it was our honeymoon.

Bob

How wonderful - You got around and saw quite a bit!

Bega - Yes, I didn't include that one. The non vintage version is a 'cheaper' store brand here. Still great tasting cheese though. Coon is another one along the same lines.

I looked up Old Croc - I've never even seen it in a store here. Maybe they make it purely for export? (Note - Just had a look at the locator on their website which are all in the USA/Canada. I think they may import Australian milk and make the cheese in the USA?)

Definitely come to WA next time - The most beautiful part of the country in my opinion

I quite often come across things in the USA that i would like to be able to buy but they don't ship to AUS - Maybe we should consider doing an international food swap

If the postage wouldn't kill us, it'd be worth it

People tell me I saw more than many Australians have. But I've seen more of the US than many Americans have too.

No pool, no pets, no kids, no debts. And in addition, no jewelry, no cable TV, modest cars that we use until they are no longer dependable, and the house is paid for.

We love travel, and that's where our money goes. I've been to 49 US states 4 us territories, over half the Canadian provinces, over half the Mexican states, and 22 other countries in Europe, Asia, Africa and The Americas.

The nicest, most polite, most civilized and most pleasant people we have met so far have been in Canada and Australia. You live in a great country. If I had the money and the time, I'd like to spend a year there.

But that's all off thread. And you have Bega Heritage cheese and a lot of other A2 cheeses and cream that delighted our taste buds without giving my DW black eyes.

Bob

http://oldcroccheese.com/

You might be correct about exporting the milk and making it close to us. I suppose it would be easier and less expensive to transport those long distances that way: