I also think it needs to be said that the breed of the animal will affect the milk. Yes, the flavor of milk (and the meat) is based on the diet. (there is a huge flavor difference between grass fed beef and corn fed beef - same holds true for milk)
Jersey cattle have the highest butterfat (that I am aware of). drinking whole jersey milk will give you a different flavor than whole Holstein milk because of the differences in butterfat.
As for butterfat, yes, 1% is 1% butterfat. Whole milk in the store is 3.3%. Fresh from the cow - Holsteins seem to be around 3.5%+, with Jersey's going to the 4.5%+.(varies with the seasons also) Many of the family dairy farms that I know now have a mixture of Holstein & Jersey's - with the occasional Guernsey herd or Brown Swiss herd in there too.
Sheep milk is an up and coming industry, with most of the milk being processed into cheese.
A little sidebar to cheddar cheese - the difference in flavor is more likely due to the age of the cheddar cheese. Stop in a cheese store sometime and taste test the different aged cheddars - you will find a huge difference in 2 yr, vs 5 yr, vs 10 year. Perhaps that was part of the flavor difference that was noticed. I will admit that even my sister in California prefers our Wisconsin cheddar cheese to the "happy cows make better cheese, California cows are happy" ads from California. Sure, again diet will affect flavor too. I am sure the California cows eat different diets than our Wisconsin ones do. And I am guessing the French cattle again eat a different diet.
The automatic industry "promotion" money taken out, seems to occur in many of the farming industries - at least the ones I am involved in, including beef, pork, etc.
PS- I didn't know that about soy - even as a postmenopausal woman, I shouldn't drink that much of it? (perhaps this question needs to be in a different thread?) I drink it in a protein drink post exercise.
Jan
