In most states the sale of raw milk is illegal.
Raw milk has been linked to certain illnesses over the course of history, however, raw milk, especially goat milk, has acted as a “wonder drug” according to those that drink it. Many report lowered cholesterol, improved blood sugar, and children that thrive on the milk as well, with overall allergies tremendously lessened.
I read an article this morning, posted to the Wisconsin State Journal regarding the safety of raw milk. All the while thinking, so many illnesses are blamed on certain types of food. Take the big spinach scare – the problem was not the spinach, it was likely the water in one location that was contaminated. One farm, one isolated problem…not the spinach itself! You might find this article in The Atlantic interesting as well, re: Why Small Farms Are Safer, it touches on the food safety issue as well.
I make no bones about it. I drink raw milk. I am not a huge milk drinker, but I feel safe in knowing where my milk came from…what went into it…what did not go into it. If I were to sell raw milk, I would definitely want it to be tested, for the peace of mind, safety for others.
As the article from the Wisconsin State Journal mentioned, why can tobacco be sold? Tobacco has been tested. It has no healthy benefits. It has been proven to cause deadly health issues on a consistent basis, unlike raw milk, yet, it is one hot commodity. Hmmm?
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Good post Mary! We don’t drink raw milk here though and I’m not a big milk drinker either but I loved our goat milk though.
Amy
We drink raw milk and I can sell it from the farm too. I was raised on it most of my childhood when we could get it. I do believe its mostly in the handling that it gets the bad stuff.. If your animals are healthy then you shouldnt have anything to worry about. People talk about the reasons they figured out how to pasteurize was to kill the bacteria in the milk that caused illness. When in reality they probably werent to clean back then with their animals let alone their milking equipment. Now we know straining it thru clean filters and also keeping the animals in clean venilated areas helps to reduce the bacteria .. Also cleaning the milking equipement and jars to hold the milk.
Anyway we are milk drinkers around here! Lol We are missing the Goats milk right now.. March seems a Long time away!
Not milk drinkers here – one family from our church goes to great lengths to get fresh raw cow and goat milk – she credits it with none of her children having any kind of allergies – I don’t know – just do know produce and meat products and dairy products simply have to be handled properly and not tainted by the water, fertilizers used – common sense is an uncommon commodity in our society.
I like Linda Sue’s line: “common sense is an uncommon commodity in our society.”
I’m not up on all the raw issues of milk… so really haven’t formed a solid opinion… but did try some raw goat’s milk this past summer and was pleasantly surprised by how good it tasted (tried both, nub and togg). I don’t like cow’s milk without adding chocolate to it (never had raw cow’s milk). But am now curious, how does chocolate goat’s milk taste?
On a side note: Mary, it’s freezing in here this morning!!! Can’t get that woodburner crankin’ fast enough! There’s still snow on the ground… and hear we could get more…
Amy, I always pastuerize my milk, but one day decided I should quietly filter and set some aside just for myself. I loved it. Have drank my own portion of the milk raw ever since.
Tonia, in my opinion, you are blessed to be able to sell the milk from your farm. I agree with you on the cleanliness education.
Linda Sue, that is one of the benefits, so they say…if a person has general allergies and can drink raw goat milk, it has been knwn to relieve or reverse certain allergies.
It looks like snow here, Lynnanne. Are you under a high wind watch too?
I used to love store bought cow milk. Can no longer stand the taste.
Crank that heat!!!!
The problem is the commercialization of farming, imho. If you buy locally, then you know the farmer and how his/her produce or animals are raised. And you demand high quality, good treatment of animals, cleanliness and so on. If you buy from big supermarkets, then you have no idea who produced the food, or where.
Locally farmed = accountability. In both the US and in Europe, we have totally messed up our food supplies. Luckily, with farmer’s markets, accountability is slowly returning.
Hello Ann…now that is throwing a different outlook on things.
I do not think we will regain the old time ways again…it would be wonderful if we could combine what we know now about safety, with laws flexible enough to allow for home sales.
we absolutely love drinking our fresh, raw goats milk. In NC, unless you have the $100,000 dairy, you can only sell raw milk as “pet quality.”
Joanna, absolutely!
In Ohio you must be licensed as grade A or B, very expensive as you said. I printed the 32 pages of dairy rules, still would love to do it, but funds are not there for me. In order to sell milk as pet feed, I would be required to register with the state. The application process, I printed one a year ago and talked with the group in charge, involves submitting detailed labels, details of what is intended to be sold, and to whom, along with application money…and I was told, “We will likely not approve your application because we are considering no longer authorizing pet feed milk sales.” Ugh. That is where I am at.
What we can sell from the farm, as of now, are eggs and produce.
Red tape…and a loss of farm freedom. Sad.
Good point, Mary!
I imagine the reason that tobacco can be sold is if they were to stop selling it…the govt. would lose a lot of money generated from the taxes on it. Same with gasoline.
have you try raw goat milk???http://susuwedus.wordpress.com/2009/11/21/raw-goat-milk-benefits/ …it have many benefits.. Goat’s milk is closest to mother’s milk than any other food. Goat’s milk is a complete protein and contains every essential amino acid. Yet it contains significantly less fat than cow’s milk.
read here for details : http://susuwedus.wordpress.com/2009/11/23/goat-milk-versus-cow-milk/
Becky, we wouldn’t want the gov to lose tax money, would we? I appreciate taxes, but only to a degree. We really have a difficult time doing anything but a corporate job due to taxes. Small business has its set of problems, as well as farming.
Erlangga, I do raise my own goats…and yes, their milk is chock full of benefits! You are right. Part of my endeavor(s) in life is to spread the word.
Due to bad weather, I am working from my mobile. I visited your blog. I could not tell if those were your goats. They are beautiful. I will visit again once I have Internet signal in the office. Especially loved the spotted doe!
Goats…perfect entertainment, nutritious milk.
Linda Sue said it best about common sense….it seems common sense does not count for much when you’re in the government, and over-reaction to a few bad producers of anything is more likely the result with all the well meaning and very good producers suffering the consequences. Which in the end means the general public will suffer and often not even realizing it!
Well written and thought out post !
I guess I might be dreaming…I just want to be able to live the simpler life a bit better. I do understand that regulation has to happen to guard health, amongst other things, but over-regulation turns us into people that cannot pursue our dreams, or take care of our own health and bodies.
Thank you, Kathy…your comments are always appreciated.
I grew up drinking raw cow and goat’s milk and it never harmed me. I can understand regulations, let’s face it, when you get into big corporate farms, do they really care about true “quality” over “income”? In my experience? No.
However, locally produced, I know my farmers, heck yeah I am buying it.
Hey there, Lisa! You bet your bottom dollar re: the income over quality when it comes to big corporate entities.
I want to protect the farmers so badly, small businesses, you name it, and it seems like such a battle…but I won’t give up on my end. I will at least keep spreading the word!
Excellent post…
I suspect the answer to why tobacco is sold is simple :0(, tax revenues =money…
I find it interesting that we are told not to drink raw milk it could be bad for us, but food is filled with chemical non nutritive crud all okayed by the FDA… much of which is known to cause cancer and illness…
mmm seems wrong some how doesn’t it…
You said that so well, “Seems wrong some how doesn’t it…”. Yes, yes, and yes!
Raw milk is mostly sold by small farmers where tobacco is usually sold by larger farmers. I personally believe a lot of the system is set up to undermine the little guy, sadly.
You might be right. A person really never knows.
Could anyone tell me where i can get raw goats milk in the North East of England.
Did you get an answer Michael?
I have had no reply as yet. The only ones i have found are in southern England, postage and the time in transit can be detrimental to the quality of it by the time it arrives. The authorities are seeking to crush organic and naturally grown foods, so that we will be forced to eat corporate food as determined by MONSANTO that universal polluter of all that is natural. Worth looking at “Natural News” run by a Mike Adams.
I am right with you on these thoughts, Michael.
A friend, who is working hard on taking better of herself, approached me for goat milk. It cannot cross our property lines, of course, without a license. Thankfully, we can still include our nearly-organic (as organic as we can be without certification) in our products.
A hospital called, wanted to know if we had fresh goat milk. They had a very sick baby in the wings. Treatments had not worked. That baby was on my mind for quite some time. It was difficult to say no.
The best I can tell people is to raise a pair of dairy goats. At this point people are not forbidden to grow/raise their own food.
I will definitely look into “Natural News” by Mike Adams.