OUR DAIRY

The flavor of goat milk and goat cheese varies according to a number of factors:

The Breed of Goat…
Our small herd consists of registered Nubian and Lamancha goats, which are noted  for their rich and  flavorful milk. We also have included a couple of Sannans & crosses of these breeds.

What the Animals are Fed….
Lush pasture and access to browse, clean water, quality hay and natural supplements.

How the Animals are Treated & Cared For….
Happy, healthy goats give the best milk. Our goats are stress free pampered pets. They are  lovingly brushed,  then milked  in a  music filled, air conditioned parlor.  We follow a strict health regimen and give each and every goat our personal attention.

How  the Milk is Handled
Impeccably clean, fresh, whole, milk is essential to making fine cheese. High quality cheese cannot be produced from inferior milk. We follow strict sanitation and milk handling  practices. We are a licensed and inspected cheese plant. Our milk is routinely tested by the State of Louisiana and has consistently proven to be of excellent quality. We make available only the freshest milk and   finest Chèvre, mold ripened and aged goat cheeses.
Très Belle Chèvre
Goat Dairy & Fromagerie
Goat Milk


Adhering to Tradition

Belle Ècorce Farms is a micro goat cheese dairy. Each one of Belle Ècorce Farms’ Très Belle Chèvre cheeses is lovingly handmade by our owner/cheese maker Wanda Barras. Each and every batch of cheese is made using milk from our own small herd of registered Lamancha and Nubian dairy goats, breeds known for their flavorful milk and high butterfat. Milk just perfect for making cheese. Happy, healthy goats graze almost at the back door on a portion of 10 acres of family property. The land has been passed down from Wanda’s paternal grandfather, a direct descendent of French Acadians from Nova Scotia.

Belle Ècorce Farms’ fresh chèvre, goat milk feta and soft-ripened/bloomy rind cheeses get their distinct flavor from the land. What the French and wine makers call terroir.  Family members and part time employees help with care and milking of the goats, cheese production and sales.

Milk production is seasonal here at Belle Ècorce Farms. Belle Ècorce Farm follows old world traditions where hand made cheeses are seasonal and at peak flavor from spring to autumn. Only a limited number of does are bred each season. Goats are housed with chosen bucks early in the fall in order for them to freshen in the spring and produce milk all summer into early autumn. In early October we stop milking, goats are then dried up for most of the winter and the cycle starts again in spring. Traditionally, our delicately aged bloomy-rind and feta style cheeses are available from spring to end of October. We feel our small batch, seasonal cheese production methods are preferable to high yield, factory farm methods that seems to be the norm in today’s dairy industry. We are able to offer our unique line of seasoned chèvre (sweet & savory) spreads, disks and logs year round. During peak season we package and freeze and store our chèvre curd for off-season production.

Days on the farm consist of farm chores milking goats and creating unique varieties of fresh cheese. Cheeses, like our fresh chèvre, branded with a signature style using fresh flowers, sweet fruit, savory spices and homegrown herbs. Each cheese is wrapped and decorated with artistic flair. Many of the herbs and edible flowers used to flavor and decorate the cheese are grown here on the farm. We either grow our own edible flowers, fresh herbs, fruits and vegetables or purchase them seasonally at local farmer's markets.

Goat’s milk cheeses are made in small 10 or 28-gallon batches (even smaller batches for specialty cheeses like ricotta). Each batch of our fresh chèvre starts with 28 gallons of fresh, whole, un-homogenized goat milk. Our hand-salted goat milk feta and bloomy-rind French style cheeses are made every week in small 10-gallon batches. Milk is hand-poured into the pasteurizer/cheese vat and pasteurized according to state regulations. Milk is then cooled, cultured, rennet added and left to cure for an hour or more depending on recipe. The cheese curd is usually cut then hand ladled into perforated cheese molds or into sterilized cheesecloth bags. As a self-taught cheese maker, Wanda puts her own twist to traditional chèvre, feta and bloomy rind cheese recipes, as she does with the recipes for all her handmade cheeses.

We believe cheese making to be an art not a science. Edible art, designed to please the eye as well as the palate. On our modest farm we routinely process small batches of fresh goat milk to create beautiful, unique cheeses for our customers to enjoy.



email me
Honey,Trè's New Jersey Heifer

Belle Ècorce Farms has a new addition to the dairy. Honey is a mid-sized Jersey heifer  who will be bred in January so we will have an abundance of milk all year long. Goats are seasonal breeders and we elect not to do rotational breeding by freshening our goats twice a year.

So Honey has become part of the farm. She is my grandson Trè's heifer. He is responsible for her. He feeds her and takes her out to graze. He also volunteered to be the one to milk her

Honey had her calf on July 1, 2012. She was AI (artifically inseminated) with seman from a miniture Jersey bull, Dexter Corner's Orlando
Add this page to your favorites.
Bully, is Honey's beautiful bull calf. He is naturally polled and has a loving personality. He is half miniature, however he is not an exceptionally small bull. He weighed 57 pounds when born! If you are looking for a gentle and correct jersey herd bull he is for sale and will be ready for a new home in 2013.

Tre' has been share milking Honey. That is we are sharing the milk with Bully. Bully is seperated from Honey in the morning. Honey is put to pasture to graze all day. In the evening Tre' walks her into the milking parlor and does his evening milking. Tre' hand milks her. Honey is giving him over 2 gallons of rich Jersey milk each evening. After milking Honey rejoins Bully in their pasture.

I am making Bries and Camemberts with Honey's rich milk. I use the abundent cream to make butter.  I am also working on a hard cheese recipe which will include fruit. i will let you know when this new cheese is available.