A Raw Milk Raid Leads to a Special Thanksgiving

BusinessWeek.com ^ | 11/22/06 | David Gumpert

[davidgumpert]

The story of how Gelhaus and her family came to spend this holiday working and frolicking on a farm isn't about charity, but rather about how a seemingly straightforward business investment turned into a legal crisis—and then evolved into something much bigger, something involving community and caring. Because the legal part wasn't resolved until earlier this month, Gelhaus and others involved in the story didn't want to talk about it until now.

[davidgumpert]

At first glance, this is about a farmer who distributes raw milk to owners of his cows, and runs up against a government bust. But it turns into an ugly abuse of an honest individual's rights. He's so badly abused by the FDA and state investigators he suffers from post traumatic stress syndrome for months after the event. He has no health insurance, so hospitalizations run into the thousands. He pleads no contest in court just to get the government off his back. See a copy of his "confession" as part of the article.

[Monterrosa-24]

This reminds me of the crack down on restaurants that serve eggs sunny side up (with runny yokes). The nanny state must protect us.

I can sorta see crack downs on cure-all quack medicines and of course crack downs on products that do not contain what they say they contain. But this was just raw milk sold as raw milk.

[kenth]

Nothing like the government to keep us safe from ourselves. They should just go ahead lock us all up. We'd definitely be safe then.

[PAR35]

He's so badly abused by the FDA

He was prosecuted by the State of Ohio, not the Feds.

[DB]

Raw milk can be dangerous. There are several nasty bateria that can make you seriously ill. I would really avoid giving it to young children as it can kill them.

As long as the families consuming it know the risks. It's their business what they do.

[Nathan Zachary]

"This reminds me of the crack down on restaurants that serve eggs sunny side up (with runny yokes). The nanny state must protect us."

How can anyone eat eggs any other way? If it's not sunny side up, or at least "over easy" and the yoke runny, it's ruined, not worth eating. You'd have nothing to dab your toast in, and wiping up the last of the runny yoke off the plate is tradition. Hard fried eggs- yuck! rubber.

[Cinnamon]

I grew up on a farm drinking raw milk straight from the cow's tits to my glass. I never got sick.

[dhuffman@awod.com]

Stupidity can be dangerous too, but is protected by your First Amendment Right. If the First Amendment was as infringed as is the Second Amendment, would we have to read such drivel, indeed, be able?

Either we are equal or we are not. Good people ought to be armed where they will, with wits and guns. KMA NRA

[justche]

wrong thread huh?

[dhuffman@awod.com]

Uh no, not for me. DU is over there, farther on the left for you DUmmie newbies.

I do believe in the culture of the gun as solution to many problems, either as tool or as action that speaks so much more loudly than words.

For instance, "An armed society is a polite society." You might read his kid's books.

I was reared on raw milk.

Either we are equal or we are not. Good people ought to be armed where they will, with wits and guns. KMA NRA

[allen08gop]

http://www.realmilk.com/

[lucky american]

I grew up on a farm drinking raw milk...."
I did too! I believe that a lot of the health problems that children have these days are directly attributed to the lack of these organic foods. My grandchildren are constantly at the physicians getting treatments for various maladies my children never had. Children are directly affected by not introducing them to the foods organisms and enzymes that will protect them later in life. This includes playing in the dirt.Here is something to ponder. Does anyone remember a peanut allergy 40 years ago?

[RoadTest]

I rolled at your tag line. It seems a lot of us are numerically or mathematically challenged.

[RoadTest]

"As long as the families consuming it know the risks. It's their business what they do. '

Know the dairy. I drank unboiled milk for years. It's better! But I knew the dairy.
It was my Dad.

[RoadTest]

"I grew up on a farm drinking raw milk straight from the cow's tits to my glass. I never got sick."

Of course you didn't. Why should you? Cows are state inspected and TB and Bangs innoculated, and if the area and utensils are sanitary, there'll be no Undulent Fever or anything else but excellent nutrition.

[freedomfiter2]

Raw milk can be dangerous. There are several nasty bateria that can make you seriously ill. I would really avoid giving it to young children as it can kill them.

The homogenization process is store milk turns butterfat into a transfat.

[freedomfiter2]

I grew up on a farm drinking raw milk straight from the cow's tits to my glass. I never got sick.

A good squirter can skip the glass.

[freedomfiter2]

The homogenization process in store milk turns butterfat into a transfat.

Sorry, I fixed it.

[Moonman62]

Of course you didn't. Why should you? Cows are state inspected and TB and Bangs innoculated, and if the area and utensils are sanitary, there'll be no Undulent Fever or anything else but excellent nutrition.

Why can't people drink milk from cows that aren't inoculated? I'm sure there are several people who can come up with anecdotes about how it's perfectly safe.

[tickmeister]

I also grew up drinking raw milk, cream, and eating homemade butter in the 50's. Nobody inspected, innoculated, or otherwise molested any livestock on our place. Our "equipment" consisted of a three gallon galvanized bucket and a strainer, both of which got washed once a day. You can get sick any time and any place from anything, but all the crap about whole milk is just big government trying to direct a monopoly to big farming.
I fear that eventually we will have to choose between slavery and open revolt.

[mabelkitty]

Big Farm runs this state.
They need to be cut off from the Federal and State trough.
They are the reason we have no animal protections laws and those who abuse animals are often set free to do it again. The farmers claim stricter laws will infringe on their farming business.

[DB]

I agree, "knowing the dairy" is key.

Eggs are the same way.

I like my eggs runny. I wouldn't feed store bought runny eggs to my kids these days. Off my sister's farm is okay though. We like raw chocolate chip cookie dough too - but only with eggs from local noncommercial chickens.

[JLS]

I take two things away from this article that are not new:

1. If you are going to do or be something unusual, you should have an attorney check out your contracts to make sure they are valid.

2. If you still run up against the government you better be tough enough rather than crumble, almost give yourself a heart attack etc. Some people apparently are not designed to go up against the government and they are probably better off being conventional.

[justche]

does anyone remember 23+ vaccinations 40 years ago?

we skip the vacs, play in dirt, and drink raw goats milk. Couldn't have a healthier child. The only time there is a runny nose it's associated with teething. 2 fevers in 3 years...we're doing something right.

[davidgumpert]

I think you're being too tough on Gary Oaks. The contracts were reviewed by lawyers. In many states that outlaw sales of raw milk, such cowsharing agreements are acceptable. Even in Ohio, there are cowshares that operated for a number of years without interference. Seems Ohio officials decide arbitrarily when to crack down and on whom.
As for being tough enough to stand up to the government, that's good advice, except that it's a difficult thing to check out in advance. Oaks didn't expect to have any such situation, so was caught totally off-guard. And the government people are professionals in intimidation, do it every day.

[davidgumpert]

Per my post to DB, lots of foods can become contaminated and make you ill.
Government officials warn that drinking raw milk is like playing Russian Roulette with your health. That's a scare tactic. Better advice: try the milk yourself before giving it to kids.

[davidgumpert]

Lots of foods carry nasty bacteria that can sicken or kill you. The raw spinach contamination in Sept-Oct this year was a vivid example. More than 200 sickened, three killed. Same thing happens with hamburger, chicken, etc. Generally speaking, if you buy from a farmer you know, be it raw milk, spinach, or beef, your chances of getting sick go way down. The farmer doesn't want you getting sick, so takes steps to reduce chances of problems. He feeds the cows grass and keeps everything super clean.
But you said it best: "It's their business what they do."

[traviskicks]

Happy Thanksgiving! :)





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[JLS]

I think you're being too tough on Gary Oaks.

Maybe I am, but the nature of the beast is that the government can come at you whenever it desires and if you are in fact doing something that not everyone does, ala cow shars for raw milk, you need to recognize that the government may try to come down on you.

I can understand the surprise of the moment when they converged on him. After that you just have to either face off with them or decide you are going to allow them to do whatever and then you should not take protentially controversial positions.

[monkfan]

Wash the teats and give the first two squirts to the cat.

HANDLING OF FRESH RAW MILK OR... CONTROLLING THE FUNKINESS OF YOUR CHEESE

[freedomfiter2]

Wash the teats and give the first two squirts to the cat.

That's just the way we do it. It must be instinctive.

[monkfan]

Aye! As long as we've been milking cows and goats, it's probably in our genes or something.

[Balding_Eagle]

With credit to Fury, who first posted this on another thread about unpasturized milk:

"It's a very farm specific situation.
There's been at least two peer-reviewed reports in the last two years suggesting more than a possible link between cows infected with Johne's (Mycobacterium paratuberculosis) and humans infected with Crone's disease. Testing is possible, but issues with test sensitivity need to be considered.

NAHMS '96 noted that found that ~22 percent of US dairy farms have at least 10% of the herd infected with Johne's disease. Given that, I would carefully consider drinking raw milk from a herd not practicing Johne's management best practices.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1732754/posts?page=12#12

Go ahead and drink raw milk, but information available today points out how foolish it is to do so. It's certainly unfair to expose children to the risks.