email from re support for Sherrod Brown and Farm Bill

[Guest guest]

Good People representing farming interests, the Farm Bill and Sherrod

Brown's role in the Farm Bill. I just got a pitch from

inviting me to support Sherrod Brown and the Farm BIll. Because I have

tremendous respect for Senator Brown -- he actually seems to care what

happens to all of us in the state, I did send a contribution. In the

course of that I found your website with these quotes, to which I've added

my responses. I would very much appreciate and welcome your response. If

you have insight counter to what I've said, or information to expand what I

know, I would very much like to know it. Truth asks only to be heard, not

that all others be silenced.

White, OFBF director of commodity relations is quoted on your site as

saying: " Simply put, milk is milk regardless of how the cow was raised.

The triumph of the U.S. food system is that consumers can select from

numerous farming methods to find safe, wholesome products that fit both

their budget and personal beliefs. "

This statement is singularly disturbing because White and others who

promote this have clearly not tasted nor otherwise experienced the

difference between milk from cows in CAFOs fed corn and soy and

slaughterhouse wastes, and fresh clean raw milk from cows raised on grass

pasture -- the way the Creator intended cows to eat. Surely basic

biology was part of your education? Milk does vary in flavor and cream

content according to what the cows ate. Anyone who's had milk from lush

spring grass knows the flavor might be unpleasant if trace minerals aren't

sufficient to support beneficial microbes to break down the noxious

skatoles from excess nitrogen.

Those of us lucky to have drunk good clean raw milk all across the US and

Europe over several decades -- and to have strong healthy teeth and bones

because of it -- know that cream is more abundant not only according to the

breed of cow, but according to the nutrient content of the animals' feed.

Grass fodder produces a much higher omega 3 fatty acid content, with weight

regulating CLA, than high omega 6 (pro-inflammatory) grains now typically

fed. Flavor varies subtly according to what's growing in the pastures

across the seasons, and such milk is abundant in lactobacillus microbes

that generate beneficial acids that keep the milk from going rancid,

crowding out noxious pathogenic microbes. That's right; it's self

preserving and even more nourishing because of it, not something that has

to be overheated to keep it from supporting any life be it good or bad.

Maybe “there is no difference in the composition of milk when you go to

the store,” according to , because milk resulting from sloppy

practices -- including dragging tank truck hoses across the manure in the

yard as well as cheapest feeding practices – is mixed with milk from

dairies following a wide range of practices affecting the cows' health,

then standardized to make sure it's all the same. However, because the

expedient, careless or cheap farmer gets paid the same as the farmer who

feeds his cows their natural ruminant fodder with lots of trace minerals to

promote optimal health, (not merely the absence of recognizable disease or

that which can be covered up by antibiotics), there's little incentive to

go the extra step to produce milk that's clean enough to drink the way

humanity has drunk it every since dairying began, or as is still done in

enlightened parts of the world today. In Europe, clean fresh raw milk is

sold in vending machines as " Excellence Milk " , because its superior

nutritive qualities are understood and appreciated. FYI, there is a clear

connection between juvenile diabetes (insulin dependent type one) and

babies drinking pasteurized generic " milk is milk " , likewise increased

sensitivity and allergy in children and adults to pasteurized -- or worse,

ultrapasteurized, milk with its heat-damaged fats and proteins.

We could revive Ohio's -- indeed the national -- economy by encouraging

farmers to be rewarded for producing high quality of milk that's clean

enough to drink in its natural nourishing state. Stop consuming massive

amounts of petroleum to produce and transport milk of inferior but

*uniform*quality all over and instead promote milk production, sales

and consumption

right in your own community. Grass fed dairy operations don't stink,

literally, as does a CAFO (Confined Animal Feedlot Operation). Grassfed

dairies can be set up to produce and use materials locally, and return the

microbe rich manure to renew the soil (which because of its microbe and

humus content is far less likely to blow away in today's gusting high

winds). Because grass fed clean raw milk tastes better, it won't be

necessary to disguise the end product with sugars and flavorings to promote

its consumption. Clean raw milk from grass-fed cows is self preserving,

and indeed possibly more nourishing when it has naturally clabbered --

instead of going putridly rancid as does pasteurized milk.

The biggest problem with making the change back to milk that's actually

nourishing is that it shows up the factory model of farming for what it is

-- a disaster that simply doesn't work. Our current system is damaging to

the environment and the people (all of us) who depend on it, and the basis

for an economy that is based on exploitation with profit for a few, not

public well being. What we have now is a system that demands constantly

increasing compensatory measures: medications, pasteurization,

standardization, more medical care at earlier ages, growing economic

disparity, more work for some some and none for others, unending wars and

lies claiming democracy when the driving force is really greed, terrorism

on the populace by government goons raiding the farmer who wants to farm

sustainably. The path we're currently taking ever since Earl Butz's " get

big or get out " in the 1970's is increasingly not working.

Go have a glass of clean raw milk. Taste the difference. Maybe after a

few days you'll be able to get back in touch with how your own body feels

when it's properly nourished. Meanwhile do make room for the farmer who

wants to farm, not merely be a cog in an ignorant inhuman machine. Make

your statement true, that " the triumph of the U.S. food system is that

consumers can select from numerous farming methods to find safe, wholesome

products that fit both their budget and personal beliefs " and ensure that

those of us who choose and knowledgeably WANT to drink clean raw milk, and

those who produce it, can indeed get a safe, wholesome product that fits

our personal beliefs.

Very truly yours, Lyke