ya, well Jody...are you with the Illinois health or Ag. department?

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In a message dated 1/31/04 4:59:15 AM Central Standard Time,

RawDairy writes:

<<

ya, well Jody...are you with the Illinois health or Ag. department?

Kinda sounds like it. Just checking.

,

Fanatic - Marked by excessive enthusiasm and often intense uncritical

devotion

Seem an appropriate definition to me; but it seems like folks take offense

pretty easily.

Look, I'm definitely not with IL Dept. of Ag. I run a CSA and have a family

dairy cow; and I enjoy fresh uncooked milk on a daily basis. My cow eats

pasture in season and hay in the winter. When it gets cold (it hasn't gotten

above

freezing for 2 1/2 weeks here), she gets 2 gallons of corn a day, too. I've

seen little change in the milk other than maintaining steady production. Of

course, if I were a grass-fed fanatic (there's that word again) production would

have dropped off in the cold and her health would have been adversely affected.

She's pregnant and due in May so keeping her fit is very important to me.

When I learned of the " Real Milk " movement, I thought that it would be worth

exploring as a way to diversify the farm portfolio with direct sales of milk.

I was encouraged that IL was a state that allowed raw milk to be sold from the

farm. I even contemplated buying additional cows and putting up a milking

shed with chiller and bulk tank, if demand warranted. Then I spoke with the

folks

at the IL Dept. of Health (rather than the Ag dept. handling this it's the

dept. of health) and after hearing the attitude that they would make my life

very, very difficult if I pursued raw milk sales, I was deterred. I will not

jeopardize my farm by putting it's future in the hands of overzealous

regulators.

Also, it takes a lot of capital to put up a grade " A " facility; and you have

to be of sufficient size to warrant a milk truck to come out to the farm. They

will simply not pick up for a farm with 3-4 cows. Janet and Wayne's

operation IS small compared to the megafarms with 1200-10,000 cows; but even a

sixty

cow operation HAS to sell to the regular market. There is simply not enough raw

milk demand to use that capacity. When my cow freshened last March, I offered

the milk for sale as pet milk with an accompanying signed waiver to several

people who had inquired about " raw milk " ; none were willing to come to the farm.

Regarding dairy practices I was generalizing. I'm sure that Wayne and Janet

do graze as much as possible; but being located in WI, I would bet a week's

worth of my cow's milk that their cows are supplemented with grain in the

winter.

In temperate climates, only dairies that milk seasonally (6-7months) can

manage a 100% grass based diet for their cows.

Regarding quality, milking into a pail should be a concern. Why? Simple

microbiology folks. Although I agree with your contention that milk contains

beneficial microorganisms, not so beneficial microorganisms have a better chance

of

getting into the milk as well. A fleck of dust, a piece of hair, a stray piece

of straw, all are covered with microbes -- not all of them good for you!

Just putting milk into a regular refrigerator, should be a concern most

especially when the milk has been milked into a bucket. The reason milk is

chilled

rapidly (to 40 degrees in under one hour) is to suppress microbiological

activity. It takes anywhere from 4-8 hours for a standard refrigerator to cool

milk

from 98 degrees to 40 degrees. In this time non-beneficial bacteria can

multiply. This DOES affect quality.

Regarding this list, I think that folks SHOULD have a right to make their own

food choices without government intervention (I've read Salatin, too). I

joined the list to monitor what's going on in the way of making raw milk

legitimate; however, reading the travails of the Brunners and others, I'm not

optimistic. Also, with our government in the back pocket of corporate interests

I don't

see this changing anytime soon.

I think the best approach to fight this fight legally is to make it a

consumer/civil/religous -constitutional - rights issue. People can refuse

medical

intervention on religious grounds, they should be able to do the same with food

choices. I don't think it will be won by producers trying to work within or

around existing laws, but rather a consumer suit directed against the

unconstitutionality of current law as an infringement of rights is the only way

to

legitimize marketing raw milk nationally. Has anyone approached the ACLU

regarding

this issue; it seems to me a more effective way to go.

Sorry, I offended anyone with my cynicism. The specter of Ashcroft and

the repeal of basic constitutional rights cloud my outlook.

Jody Osmund

Cedar Valley Sustainable Farm