Guest guest Posted January 29, 2006 Report Share Posted January 29, 2006 This brings back a comment that I have made in the past. The personal relationship between the farmer and their cow-share partners, and frequently between families participating in a cow-share program sets up a mechanism to quickly trace illness that might have originated in the shared milk. You can't find a public health surveillance program with this type of personal relationship, nor one with the speed of notification. If some family gets sick, and they are wondering if it might be related to their milk, they can (and should) instantly contact the farmer and see if others have complained of similar symptoms. If others are not getting sick, then move on to some other source. If others are showing the same conditions, the farmer can instantly contact the other share families and alert them to watch for symptoms. And the farmer can immediately startup a program to try to trace the source. The families must be comfortable making the call to the farmer, the farmer must be honest with their share-families, and not feel that such a call is any personal attack on their competence as a farmer. The same mechanism has frequently worked in sorting out changes in the "taste" or "smell" of the milk. Ted common threadA few years ago 3 families that get milk from me had similar symptoms andin letting me know it appeared that the common thread was milk. I notifiedeveryone else that got milk from that day, and then a day or so later, afterchurch, got a call from on of the moms that 4-5 other families in her churchhad the same sickness. One of the little ones ended up in the hospital forrehydration and the doc diagnosed it as an echo-virus. Then a bunch ofpeople at UVa called in sick w/ it, as well. Sometimes what appears to becorrelated is not. Several year ago I got very. very ill w/ agastro-intestinal sickness, and No One else in my family got it. Who knowswhere I got it from. The gastr0-enterologist I went to was actuallypositive about raw dairy, especially cultured, and said that most oftenthese things are picked up out in public where people are exposed tounfamiliar germs, even as simple as handling a shop[ping cart after someonehas changed a baby w/out washing their handskathryn russellwww.MajestyFarm.com "The one the tyrants fear is the man who knows his rights and is prepared to stand up for them." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 30, 2006 Report Share Posted January 30, 2006 The personal relationship between the farmer and their cow-share partners, and frequently between families participating in a cow-share program sets This brings up a question for me. If you are milking say 45 cows and you are sell all of this milk how are you having a personal relasionship with all of these people? Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 19, 2006 Report Share Posted February 19, 2006 First it is important to remember that in a cow-share program you are not "selling" milk. I have personal knowledge of 4 cow-share operations in Michigan. Range of milk herd is from 4 to 80 cows. I know that the share holders have spoken with, visited the farms (often frequently to obtain milk) and would recognize and be able to talk without having to be introduced. If by personal relationship you thought it was implying a family relationship, that is not often the case. But adequate personal relationship to feel that you could call (or email) and ask questions or give information, and the person on the other end would know you. Ted Re: common thread The personal relationship between the farmer and their cow-share partners, and frequently between families participating in a cow-share program sets This brings up a question for me. If you are milking say 45 cows and you are sell all of this milk how are you having a personal relasionship with all of these people? Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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