Archive -- The 1st National Professional Dairy Heifer Grower's Meeting April 10-12, 1997 In Atlanta, Georgia

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Don't miss the facts, folklore, and history of Monterey Jack cheese.

The 1st National Professional Dairy Heifer Grower's Meeting
April 10-12, 1997 In Atlanta, Georgia

A new group of professionals are emerging in the dairy industry. Professional dairy heifer growers are becoming more and more common in the market place these days. Roughly 20% of all heifers are being raised by professional heifer growers. The heifers are removed from the dairy at about three months of age and then returned to the diary 60 days prior to calving. This frees up time, space, feed resources on the dairy, and allows heifers to receive more specialized attention than they would on the dairy. Just as with any profession, there are high quality heifer growers and not so high quality heifer growers, but as a group, these professionals are attempting to take action to improve themselves and the service that they provide to the dairy industry.

Through the efforts of Cornell University, University of Wisconsin, Virginia Tech, Washington State University, and associated allied industry the First National Professional Dairy Heifer Grower's Meeting was held April 10-12 in Atlanta, Georgia. The purpose of the meeting was to bring heifer growers and affiliated companies operating in this emerging business sector a chance to come together to exchange ideas and knowledge as well as to create an association which would address the needs of the group in the future. Judging from the numbers and the enthusiasm of the attendees, the meeting was a big success. There were close to 220 attendees at the meeting, and all were extremely excited about their business and their future as part of the dairy industry.

The official mission of the association will be established by a task force of producers selected at the meeting, however, the basic roles of the association are foreseen as being in education/research, quality assurance, and communication. The group hopes to address the challenges of management risk, professional image, and lack of dairy producers understanding of their industry. The association members are committed to providing the dairy industry with high quality dairy replacements.

According to Roger Cady from Washington State University Extension Chair of the Conference, major Accomplishments of the conference:

A lot of enthusiasm about forming a heifer growers association
Mission statement is 80% developed
Task force has been established with producer/grower representation across the country to include extension advisors on the committee.
Conference next year will either be in the Midwest or the West.
The conference provided a lot of current and valuable information to heifer growers. All speakers were well received and informative.
Growers were brought together for the first time. Many thought they were the only ones growing. This meeting simulated those individuals with new ideas and a sense of support.

ALL THIS WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN POSSIBLE WITHOUT THE FINANCIAL SUPPORT OF THE ALLIED INDUSTRIES.

Anyone wanting more information may contact D. Denise Mullinax, Dairy Advisor, UC: Cooperative Extension, E.mail: ddmullinax@ucdavis.edu or Phone: 209-525-6654, Fax: 209-525-4969. Or Margo Souza at MooMilk. E.mail: msouza@moomilk.com

MONTEREY JACK: California's Native Cheese
Facts, Folklore, & History

On April 18 marks the 175th anniversary of the birth of David Jacks, the colorful Monterey land baron credited with lending his name to the state's most famous native cheese.

Monterey Jack was created here in California and its history begins with the earliest Spanish missionaries. Today, this California native is acknowledged by many cheese experts to be the best "American cheese," which is the most significant and popular cheese in the U.S. California cheese makers continue the tradition and currently produce Jack in more than a dozen forms and types -- with distinct variations in texture, fat content, aging, characteristics, and, more recently, added flavors. Following are highlights from the colorful history of this magnificent and versatile cheese.

Monterey Jack -- Yesterday, The 1700's The Early Years
Monterey Jack's origins date back to the settling of the West. What we today know as Monterey Jack is derived from the "queso del pais" ("country cheese") made by the Spanish missionaries in early California during the late l700s.

1800's Homesteaders Continue The Tradition
After the missionaries left, the California settlers continued to make the taste mission-style cheese. They discovered this country cheese required little in the way of equipment and was a good way to make cheese with only a small amount of available milk.

1880's Monterey Jack Acquires its Name
Monterey Jack, as we know it today, was developed in the Monterey area around the mid-1800s by local cheese makers. While we do not know exactly who is responsible for first creating today's version -- there are several deserving claimants -- we do know that the cheese most likely got its name in the 1800s from David Jacks, a Monterey businessman whose dairies produced a cheese that was shipped to San Francisco with his name on it. At some point, the "s" was dropped and the point of origin added. Hence, Monterey Jack.

1915 A Fortuitous Accident Creates A New Cheese
Legend has it that Dry Jack was created accidentally around the start of World War I by a San Francisco cheese wholesaler, D.F. DeBernardi, who left an order of Jack in Storage for too long. When World War I interrupted shipments of Parmesan and Romano from Italy, DeBernardi checked the aged Jack and discovered it had hardened and acquired a sweet, nutty flavor. Italian-Americans quickly adopted this alternative to the imports and soon shipments were being sent as far as the East Coast. Today a highly acclaimed Dry Jack, made from skimmed milk, is still produced by several California cheese makers.

1940's Renewed Interest In Cheese making by Farmers
By the middle of the century, California cheese making had swung to larger scale production. Nearly 6 million pounds of Monterey Jack was produced in the U.S. during 1942, almost all of it in licensed factories. However, the cheese rationing of World War II sparked renewed interest in cheese making in the farm home. Like their predecessors of a century earlier, farmers appreciated the fact that Jack required little investment in equipment and could be made in small quantities.

Monterey Jack -- Today, 1990's Growth of Flavored Jack Cheeses
During the 1990s, California cheese makers have responded to changing California tastes by experimenting with new forms of spiced and flavored cheeses. While many California cheeses are available in flavored forms, cheese makers have found that Monterey Jack's has a wide range of flavors deliciously accents Monterey Jack's creamy, milky flavor. A wide range of flavors deliciously accents Monterey Jack's creamy, milky flavor. Today, Jack is available in nearly a dozen different flavors. The most popular are Pesto, Onion, Garlic and Jalapeno, but a number cheese makers produce more exotic flavors, such as Caraway, Habanero Pepper (the hottest pepper known), Green Chili and even Smoked Salmon. New flavors appear each year as cheese makers continue to experiment.

1995 Every 10th Cheese Produced Here is Jack
Approximately one out of every 10 pounds of cheese produced in California today is Monterey Jack. California produced around 96 million pounds of Jack in 1995 -- nearly 10 percent of the state's total Cheese production of 973 million pounds. The California Milk Advisory Board has estimated that at least a third of California's approximately 50 cheese makers today produce Monterey Jack in some form. In addition to semi-firm, slightly aged version that is most commonly found (typically made from whole milk and aged two-to-six weeks), Jack is also available a young, high moisture version that is very soft and creamy. There also are Dry Jack versions (using skim or partially skimmed milk and aged from nine months to several years) that are hard enough to grate. More recently, Jack has become available in low and reduced fat versions. The newest trend in retail is cheese packaged already shredded Jack is now widely available in California supermarkets.

The Legend Revisited
In mid-1996, during the summer Olympics coverage, the California Milk Advisory Board unveiled three New It's The Cheese television commercials. One depicts and elegant San Francisco dowager upbraiding the "johnny-come lately" in California. She smugly announces that she has been around so long that she knew Monterey Jack, personally.

Photo of David Jacks---Provided by the Stanford Library
Content of Article -- Provided by California Milk Advisory Board

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