Re: new member in WA with lots of questions

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

I live in BC, where federal and provincial laws prohibit sales, trades, and gifts of raw milk. There are several cow and herd shares operating in BC, and the average husbandry fee for a share that supplies approximately 1 gallon of milk a week is $14 to $20 per week. Yes, it is expensive, but that is the cost of owning a cow (or part of a cow, at least). I'm not particular about feeding the cows grain, provided that there are no GMOs and the amount of grain fed is not excessive.

I'm not a bacteria expert, but from what I've read a lot of the good bacteria in milk dies before the bad bacteria, and the pasteurization process is not guaranteed to kill all of the bad bacteria either. If you made kefir or yogurt out of the pasteurized milk it might be okay because of the good bacteria that kefir and yogurt adds to the milk. I love milk and milk products, but I would go without if I couldn't get them organic and raw.

I hope that my thoughts and opinions help.

Naomi Fournier

To: RawDairy Sent: Sun, November 28, 2010 5:01:26 PMSubject: new member in WA with lots of questions

Hi, I'm out in eastern Washington. Thankfully, raw milk (and cream) is legally obtainable in stores here. I've never been a milk drinker (except in childhood when I was forced), but I've been reading about the benefits of fresh milk from the Weston Price organization. I've recently been buying various brands to find one I like. I finally found one that is 100% grass fed. The other companies feed their cows grains, which I want to stay clear of. It seems like that would negate many of the health benefits of fresh milk (not to mention the fact that I don't deal well with grains myself, so I'd rather not drink milk produced by an animal eating grains).

Anyway, I have questions re how much people around the country (world?) pay for their fresh milk. It seems absurdly expensive here ($10-14/gallon). I'm afraid I won't be able to afford to partake very often at that price. Also, there are two regional brands here that "vat pasteurize" their milk. They claim they pasteurize at the lowest temp allowed by law (to still be called pasteurized), and that it's a temp that kills only pathogens but still keeps the good stuff in there. That seems like BS to me b/c I think the bacteria (good and bad) would probably die at the same temperature. I'd love to believe it, though, because it's only about $5/gallon. So when I'm out of fresh milk (and the money to buy more), I'm wondering if I should relax my standards and get the vat pasteurized milk or just forgo the milk until I can get more of the good (fresh) stuff. Like I said, I'm not normally a milk drinker, so

not having any in the house isn't going to bother me.

I have some kefir grains and just started using them with the fresh milk. Maybe it would be better to use them with vat pasteurizeed milk (or coconut milk) instead?

I'm mostly in this to get the fat-soluable vitamins, CLA, etc. The probiotics, enzymes, are a nice bonus, though. I have celiac and a leaky gut. Advice?

+ R, ecisprettyamazing2@...