Re: somatic cell count--was TN bill

[Guest guest]

<<I guess I would not want to buy milk from a farmer that doesn't know if his cow is carrying BLV or TB or not. Would you? I mean would you drink it--not knowing the answer to these things?>>

Okay, ignoring the blatant sexism here... ;-)

Well, no :-) My objection wouldn't be to testing at all, it would be to requiring an *annual* blood test. IMO that's way overkill. I'm also looking at comparative risk, I guess. In my case, the risk of my cow contracting any of these diseases given my management practices, and the lack of (documented) infection in the county is miniscule. The risk of injury to her or me or my vet in doing an annual blood draw is much greater. Perhaps BLV is endemic at a high rate in TN, perhaps bovine tuberculosis has been reported there, too. If the likelihood of a cow becoming infected at any point in time was high because the area is a hot spot, that would surely make a difference.

I grant that my perspective is much different. I personally would *never* buy raw milk at a farmer's market unless it was from someone who I knew extremely well - as in I had been on their place, seen their cow, seen their milking setup, talked shop with them, heard good things about them from the vet and the feed store proprietor, etc. From the day to day experience I have with my cow and milking, I believe that I am at much greater relative risk of harm from contaminated and carelessly handled milk than from infected milk.

This thread is interesting - and since I'm not in the state in question, my input is coming from the perspective of "if it were possible for me to sell milk, would requirement "X" cause me to feed my surplus milk to the dogs chickens instead of sell it to a human?"

Lee Anne

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[Guest guest]

I'm sorry, but what blatant sexism are you talking about? I am SO

confused. Do you think I am a guy? That's okay, it happens often with

my name. But if you check the Photos section of this group, you will

see that I am not male. I also have 2 beautiful children that I am

very proud to have pushed out! But even if I were a guy, I still don't

understand the sexism connection... sorry to be dense. :-)

Anyway, I understand your thinking on BLV and TB (and brucella also

maybe?), but these are potentially such bad things if transmitted, that

I would think it would be worth a little blood draw once a year. Like

someone has also mentioned, while there is a wild animal population

around, there cannot ever truly be a "closed" herd. Now, I've not had

cows before, but I have given shots and such to big animals like

horses. It's not that big of a deal, is it? They are pretty tolerant

of small pains like shots or blood draws.

And really I don't think it is so unusual or different not to buy raw

milk from a farmer unless you've talked to him and seen his operation,

blah blah. I totally get that. I think your reasoning is correct.

Lee Anne Dobos wrote:

<<I guess I would not want to buy milk from a farmer

that doesn't know if his cow is carrying BLV or TB or not. Would you?

I mean would you drink it--not knowing the answer to these

things?>>

Okay, ignoring the blatant sexism here... ;-)

Well, no :-) My objection wouldn't be to testing at all,

it would be to requiring an *annual* blood test. IMO that's way

overkill. I'm also looking at comparative risk, I guess. In my case,

the risk of my cow contracting any of these diseases given my

management practices, and the lack of (documented) infection in the

county is miniscule. The risk of injury to her or me or my vet in

doing an annual blood draw is much greater. Perhaps BLV is endemic

at a high rate in TN, perhaps bovine tuberculosis has been reported

there, too. If the likelihood of a cow becoming infected at any point

in time was high because the area is a hot spot, that would surely make

a difference.

I grant that my perspective is much different. I

personally would *never* buy raw milk at a farmer's market unless it

was from someone who I knew extremely well - as in I had been on their

place, seen their cow, seen their milking setup, talked shop with them,

heard good things about them from the vet and the feed store

proprietor, etc. From the day to day experience I have with my cow

and milking, I believe that I am at much greater relative risk of harm

from contaminated and carelessly handled milk than from infected milk.

This thread is interesting - and since I'm not in the

state in question, my input is coming from the perspective of "if it

were possible for me to sell milk, would requirement "X" cause me to

feed my surplus milk to the dogs chickens instead of sell it to a

human?"

Lee Anne

____________________________________________________

[Guest guest]

Hey Lee Anne,

Okay wait...after thinking and thinking about this...I finally

understand the sexism you are referring to, and OH! Excuse me all to

pieces. I was using the word "his" as a generic term when referring to

the farmer and his cow! HA! I don't get into hyper-evaluating and

changing our language to androgynous terms. But I do happen to fully

understand that there can be female as well as male farmers. I just

don't have the time to type "he/she" or "his/hers" every time I write

about it! LOL! :-)

Lee Anne Dobos wrote:

<<I guess I would not want to buy milk from a farmer

that doesn't know if his cow is carrying BLV or TB or not. Would you?

I mean would you drink it--not knowing the answer to these

things?>>

Okay, ignoring the blatant sexism here... ;-)

Well, no :-) My objection wouldn't be to testing at all,

it would be to requiring an *annual* blood test. IMO that's way

overkill. I'm also looking at comparative risk, I guess. In my case,

the risk of my cow contracting any of these diseases given my

management practices, and the lack of (documented) infection in the

county is miniscule. The risk of injury to her or me or my vet in

doing an annual blood draw is much greater. Perhaps BLV is endemic

at a high rate in TN, perhaps bovine tuberculosis has been reported

there, too. If the likelihood of a cow becoming infected at any point

in time was high because the area is a hot spot, that would surely make

a difference.

I grant that my perspective is much different. I

personally would *never* buy raw milk at a farmer's market unless it

was from someone who I knew extremely well - as in I had been on their

place, seen their cow, seen their milking setup, talked shop with them,

heard good things about them from the vet and the feed store

proprietor, etc. From the day to day experience I have with my cow

and milking, I believe that I am at much greater relative risk of harm

from contaminated and carelessly handled milk than from infected milk.

This thread is interesting - and since I'm not in the

state in question, my input is coming from the perspective of "if it

were possible for me to sell milk, would requirement "X" cause me to

feed my surplus milk to the dogs chickens instead of sell it to a

human?"

Lee Anne

[Guest guest]

<<I'm sorry, but what blatant sexism are you talking about?>>

I was being silly, but the " sexism " I was referring to was: " I would not

want to buy milk from a farmer that doesn't know if **his** (emphasis mine)

cow is carrying BLV or TB or not. " I was teasing, that's what the " ;-) "

means. ;-)

Anyway, this seems to be getting to be a little bit about my reasoning

instead of my feedback on the TN bill. So, I'll answer the questions or

the implied questions, and then I'll shut up about this. *If* I lived in TN

maybe there is something going on there that would make me feel differently

All I can offer is my perspective which is based on my experience and the

experience of the resources I have. Which may be helpful, or may be

worthless. :-) But it is considered, researched, and carefully thought out.

I don't spend all those hours squatting under a cow because I'm cavalier

about my family's health.

<<Anyway, I understand your thinking on BLV and TB (and brucella also

maybe?), but these are potentially such bad things if transmitted, that I

would think it would be worth a little blood draw once a year.>>

I guess to me that would be a little bit like making my dh have an AIDs test

once a year. It would be hassle, time, money and stress to jump through a

hoop to have a piece of paper that tells me what I already know. Of the

diseases mentioned, the only one that is asymptomatic is BLV, which 4 vets

have told me they have never seen here, and have all described as a problem

seen in areas with large dairies where cattle are confined in small spaces.

Testing on transfer and two week quarantine on transfer, I can see. That

makes perfect sense, especially for an animal going through a sale barn,

where you have no way of knowing their history. Perhaps the likelihood of

any cow contracting BLV or any of the other diseases of concern is much

higher in TN. If your bill were passed in my state, I don't know whether

that requirement would cause me to get more chickens or a pig, or to just

mutter and seethe about " stupid laws " while I complied. Probably the

former ;-) just because I'm kind of obstinate that way. I'm sure the

lawmakers will love it, though, and even if it wouldn't probably keep

someone from getting infected milk (from an ethical farmer) that they would

have gotten otherwise, it addresses the need to show concern about disease

and safety.

<<Now, I've not had cows before, but I have given shots and such to big

animals like horses. It's not that big of a deal, is it?>>

I have no problem poking needles in anything, and am pretty good at it,

actually . My observation is that the cattle don't accept needles as well

as the horses, cats, dogs, or goats. Someone *is* more likely to get hurt

giving an injection or drawing blood on my cow than any of the 18 horses or

assorted other critters on the place, but it's an occupational hazard.

Anyway, that's plenty from me! I see a chicken at the back door wondering

where her breakfast is. I've got to check the 5 gallons of raw milk and

rennet sitting by the stove to see if it's set up enough to feed to her and

her little friends. Anyone wanna come be a chicken at my house??? :-)

Lee Anne