In August 2024 Matthew and I went on a Viking River Cruise and got an opportunity to go on additional (paid) excursion to a Gouda cheese production farm in The Netherlands. I mean who would not want the opportunity to pet cows and eat cheese? Sounds like the perfect excursion, right? Read on to find out about our experience and to decide if this is something you would want to try if you are ever in the area.

General Information

The first view of the farm as we pulled up in our bus.

We approached the farm via the Viking bus after having docked at Gorinchem. Our guide let us know that we would be starting our tour with the farm and then ending by touring the factory and then enjoying a tasting.

Kaasboerderij Kuiper is a family owned and operated cheese and dairy farm in Giessenburg. The Kuiper Family makes artisanal Gouda farm cheese in more than 30 different flavors. They also fill glass bottles with artisanal dairy, such as whole milk, skimmed and whole yogurt, buttermilk and cream. You can also get real butter from the farm.

Hours Of Operation:

Tuesday 1:30p-4:00p
Thursday 9:00a-4:00p
Friday 9:00a-5:00p
Saturday 9:00a-3:00p

Things To Do:

Go shopping for some cheese at the shop. They even have tasting available!
Rent an authentic farmhouse style room for a meeting or celebration.
Book an excursion to the farm like we did and tour the farm, the factory, and have a cheese tasting.
- If you want to book a tour it is $9.50 per person.
- By appointment only.
- 1.5 hours.
- Wheelchair accessible.
- Can be from 10-60 people.
- Guided in English or Dutch.

official farm website

Part 1: The Tour of the Farm

Our Viking guide turned things over to the farmer to begin our tour. The farm is owned and operated by the Kuiper family. They currently work with 3 generations on the farm. The farmer Jan actually led our tour and gave us some family history along the way.

Sweet barn cat relaxing as we entered the barn.

We went inside the first building and were immediately met with the adult cows. Jan shared that “On our farm we have about 250 adult cows and 150 younger animals.” The cows produce about 50 gallons of milk a day their first year in production.

There were tons of cows in the barn and they were all lined up next to each other at the front where there was some fresh hay. A lot of them came closer when we arrived and liked it when we reached over to pet them. We had previously been warned to watch our rings as they like to lick our hands and have occasionally been known to swallow a ring in the process.

There was a separate area for expecting mother cows, and there was one momma cow that was due that day or the following day. After she has her baby, they are together about an hour and then the calf will start to walk. Once the calf gets its first milk, the farmers take it to the nursery and start to bottle feed it. They move mom back to other pen and start milking her twice a day.

This is the momma cow who is due any minute!

Every morning, they get to leave the barn for fresh grass in the fields. This area is so wet they mostly grow grass with makes a special milk which makes a special cheese.

The first day of spring when it is nice enough and the grass is ready for the cows, it is known as “the dance of the cows”. They get to go out for the first time since winter and they make a lot of noise and get so excited and people from the town come to watch and it is on the news. They all rush out into the field and are wiggling and dancing with excitement. For the rest of the year, they follow one leader cow in a straight line in an orderly fashion. Can you imagine? I would love to see them go out on this day! The cheese from this day is also said to taste special because it is the first time in several months the cows have had fresh grass from the fields and therefore it is highly coveted cheese.

Next, we were taken to a second barn where the “teenage” cows were kept. We stopped to give them some love while our guide shared some more information about the animals and how they aided in the production of the delectable gouda cheese. They were very affectionate, and we absolutely needed hand sanitizer or some baby wipes after this interaction (neither were provided so make sure you pack some with you).

For the last part of our farm tour, we went to see the babies!! The newborns stay for two weeks in these little shelters that are separate from all the other animals. If the calf is born a male, it is sold. They grow about two pounds a day!! The babies are kept outside, and it was raining during this portion (everything else was in the cover of a barn), so make sure you pack rain gear and keep an eye on the weather if you are planning this excursion.

Part 2: The Factory

For over 30 years the Kuiper family have been making artisanal farm cheese from the milk of their cows. Jan passed the tour over to his son’s wife for the factory portion of the tour. The factory is attached to the gift shop and as we entered, we were instructed to not touch any of the equipment as we were in a sterile environment and this equipment was obviously used for food production.

She started by explaining that they make cheese around 4-5 days a week, 1-2 times a day. They start the process at 4:30am with about 1600 gallons of milk. To simplify, they heat the milk, add cultures and enzymes, let it get to right consistency, then cut it into curds. It gets drained and then gets pressed several times before going into a brine bath to help it become harder and to add flavor. Then it gets cut. The process takes about 6-7 hours and makes 1200 pounds. There is a sink and paper towels (no soap) in this room so a few of us made use of it before moving into the next room.

Next, we were taken into a room where additional equipment was stored. There was equipment for churning butter, molds for shaping the cheese, and a really cool storage system for the cheese that she showed us. The cheese sits for a few days here before being transferred to the cheese warehouse.

After a few days, the cheese reaches the cheese warehouse, where it perches on wooden shelves to dry out, and then receives a number of layers of coating with a spounge. The temperature in the room is 54 degrees and after 4 weeks, the cheese is ready to be eaten as young cheese!

The cheese that has all round edges is full fat. If there is a flat edge it is a low-fat cheese. They also make rectangle blocks of cheese for restaurants or hotels so it’s easier for them to cut but all the salt concentrates in the corners during the brine.

Here you can see the flat edge on one side of the cheese indicating it is low-fat.

Types of Cheese:

Young Cheese
Young Aged Cheese
Spreading Cheese
Extra Mature Cheese
Old Cheese
Overage Cheese
May Cheese
Chives/Garlic
Nettle
Chimichurri
Fenegreek
Honey/Clover
Italian Herbs with Olives
Cumin
Cumin/Clove
Mustard with Garlic
Mustard/Dill
Pesto
Sambal
Celery/Paprika with Garlic
Truffle
Oni/paprika
Walnut
Young Aged Cheese (30+)
Cumin (30+)
Young Cheese (20+)
Spread Cheese (20+)

Part 3: The Tasting

After we finished feasting our eyes on all of the wheels of cheese in the warehouse, the tour concluded, and we were invited into the gift shop to taste the cheese!! Almost every type of cheese offered was on display to taste and to purchase. I am not ashamed to admit that I tried every single one.

There were toothpicks at the counter for you to pick up and then you could literally just stroll the store and try whatever you wanted to try. There was no pressure to buy anything, but they did have these handy placards near the displays that explained how to get your cheese back home and how to store it.

In addition to the delicious farmer's cheese, they also produce various dairy products. They make authentic cream butter and buttermilk, and they also fill glass bottles with whole milk, skimmed and whole yogurt and cream. While looking around the gift shop, I discovered some chocolate milk (from a neighboring farm). Chocolate milk is one of Matt’s absolute favorite things, so we knew we had to give it a try. They told us to shake it up really good before enjoying it. It was honest to goodness the best chocolate milk we have ever had.

While waiting for the rest of our group to finalize their purchases and to use the restroom, we enjoyed petting the farm cats and enjoying the lush green farmland before loading back into the bus to head back to the ship. We really enjoyed this tour and would highly recommend stopping by the farm if you are in the area. Make sure you book your tour ahead of time if that is something you are interested in! Otherwise, you can just stop by the shop to purchase the cheese or dairy products.