Dairy Farmers Push To Outlaw Raw Milk

[kerrywins]

http://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/Legislation/US-dairy-industry-plea-to-boost-raw-milk-regulation

Dairy farmers are trying to use the government to give them an advantage over their competition.

[no_hypocrisy]

1. Raw milk equivalent to shine.

That's a new one.

[Deep13]

2. No fresh cheeze for you! nt

[truedelphi]

3. Can you correct your header? It is not the farmers doing this --

It is the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) and the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) who are doing this.

Big difference. Just as your phsyicians may not agree with the AMA on things, your dairy farmers do not necessarily agree with these orgs.

In any case, thank you for posting and I have K & R'ed.

[BlueFog]

4. I can speak only of the state of WI in this matter

as to regulations and safeguards on the farm when we owned/operated a small, family, commercial dairy from the early '40s to the early '90s.

The FDA & WI licensed creamery we shipped to routinely tested our milk for tuberculosis, brucillosis, etc., also for 'sediment', somatic cell count (lymphocytes) and raw bacteria count. And a state inspector came twice a year - unannounced. We considered OUR OWN raw milk very fit for human consumption.

All those years we drank our own raw milk. But, But, we (I) was meticulous as to udder hygiene and made a 'game' out of how clean the filter would be after each milking. We averaged 2000/ml raw bacteria count and by law pasteurized milk from the grocery store could be 22,000/ml. Also state WI law was that we could not put raw milk into containers to sell it. There was a neighbor who had adopted a negro/Asian toddler who could not tolerate milk from the grocery store and asked if he could try our raw milk. He would come to the farm with his own container and get milk direct from the bulk tank. That little adopted boy grew up on our raw milk and his Dad brought him over to see us before sending him off to collage.

When we retired we really missed having our raw milk. I visited two farms to see if I could get raw milk from them, timing my arrival just as milking was finished, and after casually seeing their milk line filters, never brought up the subject. Hubby can tolerate pasteurized milk, but I can't, so I go without and take calcium citrate instead.

[hollowdweller]

6. I've got sick drinking other people's raw milk twice

I've never got sick drinking my own raw goat milk, but I don't really drink it from anybody else anymore.

[newfie11]

5. For years while living in Virginia

we bought raw milk from a local farmer. The family had a few dairy cows and milked by hand. Even at that time it was illegal to buy raw milk but because I came with someone already buying it they agreed to sell it to us. The milk and butter were the best I have ever had. The 6 years we lived there we never had a problem with milk and even raised a litter of kittens on raw cows milk after the mom dried up from a rabies shot. Processed milk and kittens do not get along but these did fine.

I sure missed the cream in my coffee after moving. So we ended up getting a dairy goat of course the goat milk comes out homogenized so no cream automatically separated.

Yes I would never buy unprocessed milk from a dairy using milking machines.

[hollowdweller]

7. Depends on the milking machine.

If it was a pipeline system I'd agree with you.

But a lot of times I use a bucket milking machine and I think that milk is way cleaner than the milk I milk by hand. When you have an open bucket the milk is exposed to more barn air and stuff can drop from the animals belly into your bucket.

I have a bucket milker with very short lines that can be broken down and washed completely and I think that milk is cleaner than my hand milked stuff.