Cheese dairy of the shepherds of Saint-Michel Ossau Iraty PDO sheep's cheese dairy in Saint-Michel

It all started in 1981 when ten sheep milk producers from the canton of Garazi decided to join forces and pool their milk to make their own cheese.

An ambitious project for the time, supported by the cheese-making priest Pierre Harymbat, which materialized in the construction of the Fromagerie des Bergers de Saint Michel on the mountainside, in Saint-Michel near Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, in the heart of the Basque Country.

Today the cheese factory belongs to the second generation of associated farmers and collects ewe's milk from 43 farmers located within a 30 km radius, all committed to the Ossau Iraty PDO quality approach, working exclusively with local sheep breeds (Manech Tête Noire, Manech Tête Rousse, Basco-Béarnaise), well adapted, by their hardiness, to daily grazing and summer transhumance in the mountains.

Always fervent defenders of the Ossau Iraty PDO made with raw milk, we have also been a driving force in the local organic sheep's milk cheese production sector for over 15 years, with 20 farms now in organic agriculture.

In addition to these official quality marks, we also use our expertise and that of our milk producers to make most of our cheeses from raw milk, allowing the natural flora of the milk to express itself during ripening, developing a richness of aromas that only natural diversity can provide.

The brick-red rind of our cheeses also develops naturally during ripening thanks to the very specific microbial flora that has inhabited our cellar since its origin.

A small, artisanal cheese factory in the local dairy landscape, proud to defend its convictions and perpetuate the tradition of the elders.

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The Basque Country Cheese Route, an enchanting road trip around Ossau Iraty