DAIRY and MILK
A herd of 250 dairy cows graze peacefully year around on the Hacienda La Alegria’s pastures, 100 of them are being milked daily and produce over a thousand five hundred liters of milk that supply the Quito market. Cows are milked with an electric milkier due to sanitary requirements of the dairy industry. They are milked twice a day (4 am and 3.30 pm) 365 days a year. The average per day is 14 liters per cow and the milk has a high 4.3% of fat and high protein (3.2%) due to the good management, genetics and organic fertilization. The heard has genetics of Holstein from New Zealand. We use artificial insemination for over 50 years and most of our cows. Every year we have to get a health certification of the herd as free of Brucellosis and Tuberculosis. Calves feeding is one of the most gracious activity specially for children, the calves grown next door to the hacienda and they are kept outside on the pasture and are fed 4 liters of milk every day.
CAVE AND CHEESE
There are several tunnels at the hacienda that were built hundred years ago to get water from the mountain, now we can visit one of this caves for aging cheese.
You can taste different types of cheese matured on the cave, which makes a delight combination with a glass of wine.
We plan to build facilities to make our own artisanal cheese.
ALPACAS
The camelids of the Andes are the alpacas, llamas, and vicuñas. The alpacas look like a big sheep for their type of wool, the vicuñas have a thinner but more valuable fiber, and the llamas have a thicker fiber that has very little use for the industry. One alpaca can produce 3 kg of wool a year, while the vicuña produces less than 1 kg a year, but of a much higher quality
We have more than 20 alpacas and few llamas.
ORGANIC GARDEN
The hacienda work very hard to work organic on the dairy and on the vegetable garden that is used for guest, we have and agreement with Universidad de Latacunga to have turism students working to produce organic vegetables.
