Milk Wars

The Nation ^ | March 6, 2008 | David E. Gumpert

[davidgumpert]

The one bit of encouraging news for small dairies has been the growing market among health-conscious consumers for unpasteurized milk and dairy products like yogurt, butter and cream...

Small dairies have rushed to meet this need via a completely new business model. Instead of selling milk in bulk to processors who offer take-it-or-leave-it prices of $1.50 to $2 a gallon, some small dairies sell directly to consumers at whatever price the market will bear, typically from $5 a gallon to as much as $10 a gallon. At those prices, dairy farmers actually begin thinking in terms of a long-forgotten word: profit.

Arguing that raw milk isn't safe and that consumers must be protected from its dangers, some government regulators and legislators are targeting small raw-milk dairies for tough enforcement actions, including search warrants, restrictive legislation, and even threatening jail.

[davidgumpert]

The over-the-top enforcement actions by New York and California bureaucrats are way out of proportion to any wrongdoing. It represents an effort to deny consumers their right to consume the food they want, and to make matters worse, has all the trappings of economic oppression.

[P8riot]

Until now we have been getting our milk from a small herd of goats. Recently though, many of our friends have been trying to get raw milk. Here in Virginia it is illegal to sell raw milk, but there is no law prohibiting you from drinking raw milk from our own cow. So we have decided to get a couple Jersey cows and offer shares of them to our friends. That way since they own a portion of the cow they are legally entitled to some of the milk it produces. This offsets our cost for the cow, feed, vet bills, milking, etc... Our friends get the raw milk they want, plus we get the benefit of the high milkfat Jersey milk and products. It’s a win-win.

[ReignOfError]

If you haven’t, look into setting up a subscription farm, also known as community supported agriculture (CSA). I have a friend in east Tennessee who used to run one, but shifted ot a more conventional organic farm.

Subscribers/shareholders pay a fixed fee and get a basket of produce every month. What’s in the basket depends on what crops came in, so it’s a bit of a crapshoot; you could have a lean take one week, and get a burgeoning basket the next. It’s a great strategy for farms just starting out, because the subscribers assume some of the risk while the farm gets on its feet.

Whatever the amount, the quality can’t be beat. Varieties are chosen for flavor and nutrition, not for how they look or how long they can spend in a boxcar. Comparing the taste is like comparing the most delicious strawberry you’ve ever eaten to a strawberry fruit roll-up.

I’ve never seen a dairy CSA farm, but I bet they exist. There might be a local organization that could help with the paperwork of setting it up.

[Twinkie]

My husband’s hobby is a smallish organic garden. If the mixed lettuces and tomatoes he raises were all we raised, it would be almost enough. With the turnip greens and turnips, winter lettuces he plants for a fall crop, we eat out of the garden much of the year. Add green beans, peas, squash and the like and it is really a good hobby.

I wish for a good source of raw milk; and there are goat farms within a driveable distance of us where one can get raw milk (as long as they label it “for pet consumption only”. The dairy industry has about scared us to death about raw dairy products.

I’ve never had goat milk, does it taste okay?

[P8riot]

Goat milk tastes fine, but can be tainted by what they eat (e.g. no wild onions or garlic). It’s a little different flavor from cows milk. It is more resistant to bacteria and spoilage, and is naturally homogenized. One or two goats can keep a family of four in milk quite easily. It’s also cheaper to feed a goat or two than a milk cow.

[Bronco_Buster_FweetHyagh]