The Pacheco family’s 230-acre ranch sits atop a lush green hillside on Chileno Valley Road, west of Petaluma. It’s a road that countless locals and tourists ride their bikes on every weekend, drawn by the beauty of Sonoma County’s countryside. What if this was no longer farms, but all houses? The Pacheco’s are doing their best to keep their land productive, maximizing their efforts through diversity and innovative partnerships.

Dairy farming for three generations
Jim Pacheco is a third generation dairy farmer. He’s lived in the family home since 1961. He and his wife Donna have four kids, William, Daniel, Elizabeth and David who work alongside their parents, feeding animals, rounding up cows, making cheese, working farmers markets. There’s no shortage of tasks to be done.

Keeping the family farm alive
In 1997, the Pacheco’s sold their cows. These days, dairies must grow to survive, and farmers do not control the price of milk. So, they bought 600 goats (because of the growing demand for their milk); and now they’re at about 1,500.
They interbreed five types of dairy goats. Each has desired traits, and they want a blend that gives them high nutrient and fat content, as well as quantity. For example, Saanens are like a Holstein cow, high quality milk and lots of it; while Nubians have the highest butterfat content, like a Jersey.

With plenty of pasture, these are happy goats. In wintertime, they supplement their feed with alfalfa and spent brewery grains Pacheco picks up for free from three local breweries.

Seasonality of goats
Kidding happens twice a year on the farm. Twenty to 30 kids a day are born over a 30-45 day period. The does and kids are separated at about eight weeks. Six hundred does are milked twice a day year round.

Goats begin their reproductive cycle when about one-year-old, and continue to be good milkers for several years. After that, they make good summer sausage. As Donna says, it is a natural cycle of the farm.

Adding value
Much of the milk goes to Redwood Hill Farm and the rest is for cheese under their own label: Achadinha cheese, which Donna has been making for nine years. Since they’ve not had their own facility, they’ve rented. Working in various environments taught her to be flexible and honed her cheese making skills.

Achadinha produces three cheeses: a fresh Feta in a sea salt brine, Capricious - hand rolled cheese aged up to 10 months, and Broncha - a Portuguese style creamy cheese, aged one to three months.

Donna always uses ‘“first day” milk, saying it is hands-down a much better product, having the most nutrients and butterfat. What the goats eat, of course also impacts the milk’s flavor.

Cheese plant challenges
Their new plant cost almost twice what was anticipated. To help pay for this, they received a loan from USDA’s Farm Service Agency, sold a vineyard, and last year, obtained a conservation easement through Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District (giving up the option to sell the land for development). The permit process has taken two years and cost them almost $30,000.

Growing new markets
The Pacheco’s also raise 60 head of beef cattle and 70 hogs yearly on pasture and spent brewer’s grain. Pacheco says because they’re born and raised on the farm, without hormones or antibiotics, it makes for a beautiful cut of meat, probably the best he’s ever had.

High Tech Executive joins the farm
Craig Ramini described the voice of a water buffalo as “A seal bark or croak; definitely not a moo. They usually speak up for two reasons: their calves, and when they’re hungry.”

How did such a seismic shift from Silicon Valley to the barnyard occur? Ramini explained his disenchantment with the corporate environment, and wanting to make work a little more fun.

Last year, Ramini and his wife visited her brother and his Italian wife. Over dinner, their conversation turned to potential changes of occupation and lifestyle, and the sister-in-law said, “You know, the U.S. just doesn’t make real buffalo mozzarella.

You have to fly it in, and by the time it gets here, it’s terrible.” So Ramini thought, “I’m Italian - I love food and I love cooking, I want a change of pace, I love animals - boy, I could pull all that together and start a business!”

So he started that journey September 2009, buying five pregnant water buffalos from a mozzarella company selling off their herd, and by late December, had three calves.

Luck was with Ramini. He found the arrangement he’d envisioned: a dairyman who would let him graze and milk his animals, with a brand new cheese factory. They share expertise: Ramini has the business and technical knowledge, and the Pacheco’s know animals and farming.

Ramini has also been given guidance from a water buffalo guru, Kent Underwood, who hooked Ramini up with a three-week apprenticeship in Australia to learn how to make mozzarella.

Water buffalo are immature as a milking animal in North America because they’ve been used mostly for weed control. Ramini hopes to bring a female water buffalo from Italy (where they have been milked for hundreds of years) and artificially breed it to improve his herd’s genetics.

Compared to cow’s milk, water buffalo milk’s butterfat level is nearly triple; protein is higher, cholesterol is lower. These animals can produce five 10 gallons of milk per day.

Training Camp for water buffalo
The water buffalos’ territory consists of a six-acre pasture and pond, enclosed by electric fencing. The pond comes in handy because they have no sweat glands, so a dip now and then cools them down.

Gazing at his herd, Ramini said, “As a guy who spent two decades in Silicon Valley, this has been a big learning curve, but hugely fun. I can’t tell you how good it is to get up every morning and do this!”

I then watched from a distance as Ramini demonstrated the girls’ gentleness (with those they know). He stroked, scratched and patted them while they browsed and their calves rested nearby.

He’s teaching them to walk a complicated path to the milking barn twice a day. How does that work? He yells, “C’mon girls!” and claps his hands. All heads lift up and they stop eating, watching Ramini. That’s the signal they’re going to get fed. They would follow if he kept clapping and calling.

Soon it will be time to separate calves from mothers, keeping the calves close to the barn as incentive for twice a day milking. This transition will help them to get used to having a machine take their milk instead of their calves.

Off to the milking barn we go with Ramini saying, “From the refuse of an old dairy, emerges a new business.” He’s re-using materials to update the barn, and he’s purchased a portable milker. He hopes to begin milking in three to four weeks.

Silicon Valley taught Ramini a valuable lesson in launching a business, the key is how quickly and cheaply you get to profitability. He explained, “For me to not have to find a location, or borrow money to buy a ranch, is capital efficient. Finding a sharing arrangement, and starting with a dozen buffalo and a rented facility, I can actually own the whole value chain all the way to farmers market, and prove I can make money.”

Back in the farmhouse, we looked at Ramini’s Web site, not live yet, and talked about his having fans of his business. He references his mom’s fascination with the Barefoot Contessa, a chef whose cooking show she never misses, owns all her books, and goes to see her when she comes to town. He says, “I want to win fans like that.” His vision is small artisan batches of cheese for farm markets and chefs.

A farmer’s perspective
Donna Pacheco says, “It’s a wholesome lifestyle, but people don’t realize how much work it is. We don’t go home at the end of the day. Our house is right in the middle of everything, there’s no separation. This is our life. You hear people fantasize about farming. Wow, they have this goat dairy, a little family farm. On holidays, those goats still need to be milked and animals need feeding. You have to love doing this.”

Achadinha cheeses are at San Francisco Ferry Plaza and Jack London Square Markets. They’ve been trying to get their cheese into Oliver’s Market, so put in a plug for them next time you’re there. For more information, visit www.achadinha.com