Tag Archives: cows

Farm

Bhutanese Cows – Series 1

A set of video images of calves in rural Bhutan

Format: DV 720×576

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Cows are mainly used for milk production in rural Bhutan. For Hindus cows are sacred, a provider of food and symbol of life.

Cows provide an abundance of important products, including milk, browned butter for lamps, and fuel from dried dung. Bulls are used for breeding and for pulling ploughs.

Milk and milk products make a sizeable part of the income of small scale farmers as well as contributing to a healthy diet for children and adults alike.

Non milk producing cows may be slaughtered for meat, so beef in Bhutan, coming from old livestock, can often be rather tough .

Butter Making

Bhutanese Cow milking – Series 8

A set of video images from Bhutan of a the butter and cheese making processes.

Format: DV 720×576

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Rural Bhutan farmers make butter and cheese partly for storage or as a preserved form of milk for self consumption, with any excess being sold for cash.

Milk from nursing cows is boiled then seeded from a previous batch of yogurt and left to curdle. As early as the following morning the rich curd is churned by hand until butter is formed. To prevent the butter from becoming rancid it must be washed. Bhutanese farmers may also boil the butter to form ghee, which will last much longer. The ghee is used for cooking or just spooned onto rice.

The remaining thin whey is then warmed to nearly boiling which seperates a cottage like cheese called datshi. This cheese is used in one the most famous of all Bhutanese dishes ‘Ema Datshi’… where Ema is chilli.

Butter Making

Bhutanese Cow milking – Series 7

A set of video images from Bhutan of a the butter and cheese making processes.

Format: DV 720×576

[wp_cart:Bhutanese Cow Milking – Series 7:price:0:end]

Rural Bhutan farmers make butter and cheese partly for storage or as a preserved form of milk for self consumption, with any excess being sold for cash.

Milk from nursing cows is boiled then seeded from a previous batch of yogurt and left to curdle. As early as the following morning the rich curd is churned by hand until butter is formed. To prevent the butter from becoming rancid it must be washed. Bhutanese farmers may also boil the butter to form ghee, which will last much longer. The ghee is used for cooking or just spooned onto rice.

The remaining thin whey is then warmed to nearly boiling which seperates a cottage like cheese called datshi. This cheese is used in one the most famous of all Bhutanese dishes ‘Ema Datshi’… where Ema is chilli.