At the organic CSA I vend at, there is a lady that sells raw milk and farm fresh eggs. She gets $8.00 !!! a gallon $8.00!! for 2 pints of cream and I will admit to paying her $4.00 for a dozen eggs. I personally do not like cow’s milk, I have been lactose intolerant for most of my life and I just don’t like the taste, BUT I will suffer for fresh cream!!!
I agree. I think our nation faces much bigger food related issues than a few farmers selling raw milk to people who can make an informed choice about the risks. Conventionally farmed milk has issues also…genetically modified growth hormones, excessive use of antibiotics, etc…just research it if you wish. Plenty of info out there.
[QUOTE=S1969;6189429] and thousands of people in our country safely drink raw milk every day, and I can’t even imagine the number of people world-wide that safely drink raw milk.
[/QUOTE]
I was raised on raw milk my Mother would buy from a local dairy. We never got sick from it.
I know of a local farm selling raw milk shares also in this area and they are milking maybe 10-12 cows a day. They are fastidious on cleanliness and I’d have no problem drinking that milk if I wasn’t lactose intolerant! 
[QUOTE=MunchingonHay;6189556]
At the organic CSA I vend at, there is a lady that sells raw milk and farm fresh eggs. She gets $8.00 !!! a gallon $8.00!! for 2 pints of cream and I will admit to paying her $4.00 for a dozen eggs. I personally do not like cow’s milk, I have been lactose intolerant for most of my life and I just don’t like the taste, BUT I will suffer for fresh cream!!![/QUOTE]
You’d pay that much (if not more) for Eggland’s Best “cage free” eggs in the grocery store and I’ll bet those you got were way fresher and even better tasting if they were from free ranging hens allowed to forage.
I haven’t read all the responses, but there are studies out there that show how much MORE diesease and crap is in big dairy milk than raw milk dairies before it is pastuerised because they don’t have to worry about it.
I am the third generation raised on a dairy farm and we drank raw milk because we knew our cows and trusted not only our own disease management, but our hygeine practices.
Get a milk cow! When my grandfather’s herd was sold, I kept four “pets”. I was 14 and 15 years old and milking 4 cows by hand every night. My uncle milked mornings. You can do it two ways. Pen the calf for 8-10 hours before a single milking, or keep the calf seperate and turn it on the cow after each milking to finish up. There are plenty of resources out there to talk you through it.
I do not understand a legal system where raw milk is illegal in many states, yet cigarettes are completely legal.
[QUOTE=tikidoc;6189803]
I do not understand a legal system where raw milk is illegal in many states, yet cigarettes are completely legal.[/QUOTE]
When I took Administrative Law in graduate school, almost all our cases were related to milk distribution. :no::yes: Talk about boring!
I’m sure if raw milk groups had a tobacco lobbyist, things would be different. (Haha…I say this as the wife of a lobbyist who represents one of the big tobacco companies).
I live near Eau Claire, Wisconsin which was once the
heart of American dairying. I am surrounded by dairy
farmers and have learned a bit about their world.
Dairies are paid a premium for milk which has a very
low “somatic cell count”, a measure of contamination.
The milk processing creameries do pasteurize, of course,
but they want clean milk and they test each farm’s batch
to insure it.
One of my dairy farm neighbors once mentioned to me
that her family always drank raw milk from their cows.
Her position was that if the farm family was not willing
to drink the milk they produced, how could they
ethically sell it for someone else to produce.
I’ll second the recommendation for a dairy goat. I have a variety of standard and mini-goats (nigerian crosses) and depending on the milk requirements of your household they give the correct amount. Some gals that I know milk only once per day, but they do have to be consistent. I frequently leave kids on and milk less consistently and my experienced gals don’t seem to mind. It’s a little much for the inexperienced girls.
We drink the raw milk after having done extensive research into the milk industry, the FDAs and CDC’s involvement as well as being able to touch and handle our own dairy goats. We hand milk so can instantly tell if there is anything wrong with the milk or the udder and we also are fanatical about cleanliness of the pails, udders and storage containers.
Try leaving some Ultra-pasteurized milk and some raw milk out on the counter for…a week. Don’t drink it, just…watch it.
See what happens…it’s really quite fascinating.
I keep thinking I’ll get rid of the girls because really, I don’t have all that much time, but then the kids and husband all start whining about not being able to have fresh milk and cheese and I cave in…plus, I do like making cheese!
My grandmother had a milk cow when I was growing up and sent raw milk home to use for years. Eventually she sent the whole cow, but that’s another story…lol. The milk was good and we drank/used it without issue. Back then I had never heard of anyone getting sick from raw milk.
Now, my neighbor has a milk cow and he can’t use all the milk up, so he’s taken to bringing me a few gallons a week. I use what I can and haven’t had any issues so far.
If you’ve had raw milk before and like it, I think I would give it a go. Improperly handled meat can make you sick just the same as improperly handled raw milk, but I don’t see anyone saying to stay away from meat for that reason alone.
My dad was trying to tell me what a great idea it’d be to keep the half-dairy heifer and milk her for personal use.
So, from the people who’ve BTDT, it’d be on the order of 400-ish days straight where someone has to milk at least once, more like twice, a day on set schedule. And, if calves are involved, pen them and unpen them at least once a day and get new to replace the ones who get weaned very couple months. Plus handling, separating, and storing the milk every day, and cleaning all the milking tools and udder each milking. In addition to the normal daily upkeep of a large animal (feed, water, mucking, basic medical).
That sounds like it’d take at least a couple very responsible people to make sure everything gets done properly and on schedule each and every day to avoid the potential pitfalls that range from contaminated equipment to the cow drying up or worse.
Hmmm. Once factoring in what my time is worth, paying someone else 8 bucks a gallon is a steal of a deal.
A milk cow takes EXTREME commitment to milking them on time, daily. No excuses.
Milk goats also take the same commitment.
It is a LOT of work. The far, far vast majority of folk would be far better off just buying organic milk & meat. Like 99.99% of people. Are you really cut out to be the .01%?
If you can’t/don’t want to milk daily, as mentioned above… then I’d pass. You can’t just milk a cow 2-3 x a week, and figure on the calf drinking more on the days you don’t milk, and less on the days you do milk. It doesn’t work like that.
[QUOTE=ThisTooShallPass;6190667]
A milk cow takes EXTREME commitment to milking them on time, daily. No excuses.
Milk goats also take the same commitment.
It is a LOT of work. The far, far vast majority of folk would be far better off just buying organic milk & meat. Like 99.99% of people. Are you really cut out to be the .01%?[/QUOTE]
I think you have to be born with that kind of day to day commitment. For those of us who grew up on farms, it is a way of life. I don’t know if the rest of the world can even grasp it in this day and age.
My grandfather had three vacations in his life.
- His Honeymoon
- A one week vacaton about 20 years later to visit his brother in Hawaii.
- Another 1 week tour for his 40th anniversary after selling his herd.
He milked twice a day every day in between. That is twice a day for 14,593 days with only one break.
I wonder how many that poh-poh raw milk warnings also don’t think we should wear a seat belt, most people are never in a car accident, or riding helmets, most won’t be jumping anyway.
Growing up in the 1940’s/50’s, everyone knew about boiling milk, it was the sensible thing to do.
Undulant fever and several other diseases were known then already.
No one wanted to take chances, becoming ill could kill you and often did, before we had antibiotics and all other kinds of good medicines.
[QUOTE=Bluey;6190741]
I wonder how many that poh-poh raw milk warnings also don’t think we should wear a seat belt, most people are never in a car accident, or riding helmets, most won’t be jumping anyway.;)[/QUOTE]
If you want to do an informal poll I poo-poo the raw milk warnings, but I have grown to be conditioned to wear my seat belt and my helmet every ride, every time.
I don’t drink raw milk because
A) despite growing up on a dairy farm, I still don’t like the stuff either raw or pasteurised and use very little of it
B) there is no easy supply of it.
I do eat unpasteurised eggs.
[QUOTE=Bluey;6190741]
I wonder how many that poh-poh raw milk warnings also don’t think we should wear a seat belt, most people are never in a car accident, or riding helmets, most won’t be jumping anyway.
Growing up in the 1940’s/50’s, everyone knew about boiling milk, it was the sensible thing to do.
Undulant fever and several other diseases were known then already.
No one wanted to take chances, becoming ill could kill you and often did, before we had antibiotics and all other kinds of good medicines.[/QUOTE]
I don’t think anyone is “poh poh-ing” raw milk warnings. Or even pooh-poohing them. :winkgrin: Obviously sanitation is a serious consideration if you are going to drink raw milk. But it’s not like it’s impossible to maintain sanitary conditions in order to drink raw milk, especially in a backyard cow setup.
I have seen a medium scale dairy farm in action - no wonder they have to pasteurize! :eek: Of course it would be virtually impossible to spend the time to ensure that the udders are clean before milking 200 cows.
But one cow…that is not even close to the same thing.
[QUOTE=S1969;6190785]
I have seen a medium scale dairy farm in action - no wonder they have to pasteurize! :eek: Of course it would be virtually impossible to spend the time to ensure that the udders are clean before milking 200 cows. [/QUOTE]
My grandfather had a joke (God I hope it was a joke) about the neighboring farmer standing behind the cows visiting when a cow peed in an open bucket of milk. Neighbor’s response was “now I’ll have to strain it again”. :eek: :lol:
I have to say, when I was a kid, there were a lot of small local farmers who, if they kept their milk houses by the same standard as their buildings/vehicles/kitchen/self, I would NOT have drank their milk straight out of the bulk tank.
But when I milked, I actually milked into the mouth of a glass gallon jar (what’s that? about 1.25" in diameter) to keep the hair etc out of the pail, then strained it. Our cows were healthy, and vaccinated, the milk was clean.
Well, at least they strained it once.
Our family friends had a small dairy farm, and milking was a father/son job. The son would use one bucket of iodine solution to clean the udders for all the cows. Basically he stooped, swiped, next cow…stoop, swipe…next cow. That was all. :no: Obviously it must have been good enough because they always sold their milk…but I definitely wouldn’t drink it raw.
Our goats are vaccinated and kept clean on clean straw bedding. We routinely check for any signs of mastitis and segregate that goat immediately. Luckily, we’ve only had one goat get it just after birth (she’s a ridiculously precocious milker and can’t always be stripped properly).
We wash udders and hands well before milking.
The first sprays go into a strip cup that tests the quality of the milk.
We then milk into a stainless pail that has a filter over top of it (to strain anything before it even hits the milk) that has been sterilized itself and is chilled immediately (we use sterilized cold-packs IN the milk). The milk is then taken immediately to the house, restrained into sterile glass jars and refrigerated.
Your pasteurized milk is not treated remotely like that. It’s boiled afterwards to get rid of nasties from unclean conditions.
I wear my seat belt every time. I wear my helmet, too. I’m well aware of what is in my food - probably moreso than most in this country. I grow most of what I can. I know my farmers who supply my meat (other than what I grow at home).
And I drink the raw dairy from my goats and make delicious cheese with it.
Your claims are spurious. There have been more issues related to food poisoning with bagged spinach than there have been raw milk.
Can’t wait until the girls all give birth again!
Undulant fever= Bang’s Disease= Brucellosis. Brucellosis is a yearly test for commercial herds. It’s also a calfhood vaccine. A positive diagnosis is a generally a death penalty for the cow, often the whole herd is destroyed as it’s easier to start over than work through it. I’m not certain, but I think all 50 states are considered Brucellosis-free.
