Abstract: In the winding of cheeses with a random pattern in a bobbin winding machine, a pattern disruption is performed during a passage through a pattern zone, and the actual diameter of the cheese (10) is determined by calculating the course of the increase of the cheese diameter to be expected and adding the expected increases in diameter occurring while winding through the pattern zones to the diameter of the cheese (10) calculated prior to reaching the pattern zone from the ratio of the number of revolutions of the cheese (10) and the winding drum (13) to the diameter of the winding drum (13).