It was by chance that India Lovener, half of the team behind Goat Rodeo Farm & Dairy, an award-winning, world-renowned cheese producer just 30 miles outside of Pittsburgh, started milking goats instead of cows.
“A friend of mine invited me to a dairy goat show,” India says, “And I came home that day with the first and second place finishers of the show — Evie and Crystal.”
With two goats, as India and the other half of Goat Rodeo’s team, Steve Lovener, say, came another and another. With those goats came lots of milk — and naturally, cheese.
India, who grew up on a beef cattle farm, and Steve, new to farming, quickly became students of the cheesemaking world. It involved lots of trial and error, India says, explaining that it’s tricky to experiment with cheese because wheels need to be aged for a minimum of three months before they’re tasted and tested.
But, this trial and error eventually became a string of successes: Goat Rodeo Farm & Dairy, with a herd of 100 Alpine, Nubian, and Lamancha goats, now produces six different cheeses that year after year, ring in award after award.
India explains their cheesemaking process as “very hands-on.” Each cheese is made in small batches with a specific combination of cultures chosen to give each cheese its unique flavor.
“Each cheesemaker is different, but the basics are the same. Salt is added either when the curds are stirred or by soaking the wheels in a brine bath. Hard cheeses take months of special care in the aging caves to develop their flavors,” she says.
Two of Goat Rodeo’s six cheeses boast the unmixed flavor of goat’s milk: Fresh Chèvre, a smooth, fresh, spreadable cheese, and 2023 U.S. Championship Cheese Contest first-place winner Hootenanny, a hard gouda.
With the help of some neighboring dairies, India, Steve, and their team produce three mixed-milk cheeses, blending the creaminess of cow’s milk with the tanginess of goat’s milk. This is demonstrated beautifully in Bamboozle, which won first place at the World Championship Cheese Contest and American Cheese Society in 2022, a semi-soft cheese washed with beer from Cinderlands Beer Co.
Other mixed-milk cheeses include Cowboy Coffee, a six-month aged cheese hand-rubbed with espresso, and Wild Rosemary, a soft cheese pressed with olive oil and rosemary.
Their only pure cow-milk cheese is the Pennsylvania Farm Show 2023 Best in Show winner More Cowbell, a semi-firm, cave-aged cheese said to have a complex flavor.
India attributes Goat Rodeo’s continued success in the cheese world to good luck and hard work.
“The most delicious cheese is made with care from the milk of happy, healthy animals with access to sunshine and pasture,” she says. “We start with the best milk possible and carefully work to bring out the best flavors at each point in the cheesemaking process. We’re proud to be farming and making delicious cheeses right here in Pennsylvania.”
India and Steve love working with Harvie because Harvie makes it easy for Goat Rodeo cheeses to be delivered directly from the farm to local customers. Find four of their award-winning cheeses in the store every week: More Cowbell, Fresh Chèvre, Wild Rosemary, and Bamboozle.