Let's talk raw milk!

[moneca]

It was suggested that a thread be started on raw milk. Great idea GF!

I for one, would love to actually be able to find nutritional stats on grass fed jersey milk. I know Jane hasn't found it either and Dr. Schmid did not have the info. Of course, I know some factors also depend on the cow as one farmer I bought from told me her jersey girls tested anywhere from 5.5 to 7% fat in their milk despite eating the same pasture. Does anyone have this info?

[dvons]

We actually had a field trip to where we get our milk from the other day and the farmers there were saying it really depends on their diet. Since we are in the middle of a drought right now the cows are getting fed a lot of hay/dried grasses so the milk is lower in fat. Normally they are 100% grass fed and have more fat in the milk.

It was all rather interesting to actually meet the cows we get our milk from and my kids LOVED watching the cow being milked since we are city people.

Deb

[knittinclothmama]

Okay, I have a newbie raw milk question.... my milk is just barely starting to sour. It still tastes okay but is it okay to drink it? And once it's really souring what can/should I do with it???
I've always thrown milk out when it starts to sour or when the date is up, never left it out for more than 2 hours, etc.... So leaving something with milk out to soak is hard to get used to (but I've done it now and I didn't die!! ) And I even let the kiddos eat the banana bread batter with raw egg in it the other day!!! I'm making progress!!!!!!

[kmama]

Originally Posted by knittinclothmama

Okay, I have a newbie raw milk question.... my milk is just barely starting to sour. It still tastes okay but is it okay to drink it? And once it's really souring what can/should I do with it???

Not a ton of experience here, but as long as it isn't "putrid" it should be OK to drink. And raw milk should sour, not putrify. Basically if it it shouldn't be drunk, you would know b/c you wouldn't want to!

As far as using it when it starts to sour, I have used it for soaking/baking with great results.

Looking forward to others replies- esp if someone can tell me if it is OK to use slightly soured milk to make yogurt??

[tamagotchi]

Originally Posted by moneca

I for one, would love to actually be able to find nutritional stats on grass fed jersey milk.

Well this isn't exactly what you are looking for, but it might be helpful? I did a little search in pubmed and here are a few full text articles on composition of milk from pastured vs. non pastured cows... they focus on CLA (I guess that's what people are interested in when they study pastured cows) but they have some data on other fatty acid content too. They're not studying Jersey milk here though... just looking at various diets.

http://jds.fass.org/cgi/reprint/82/10/2146
Conjugated Linoleic Acid Content of Milk from Cows Fed Different Diets
Abstract: Conjugated linoleic acid in milk was determined from cows fed different diets. In Experiment 1, cows were fed either normal or high oil corn and corn silage. Conjugated linoleic acid was 3.8 and 3.9 mg/g of milk fatty acids in normal and high oil treatments, respectively. In Experiment 2, cows consumed one-third, two-thirds, or their entire feed from a permanent pasture. Alfalfa hay and concentrates supplied the balance of feed for the one-third and two-third pasture treatments. Conjugated linoleic acid was 8.9, 14.3, and 22.1 mg/g of milk fatty acids in the one-third, two-third, and all pasture treatments, respectively. Cows grazing pasture and receiving no supplemental feed had 500% more conjugated linoleic acid in milk fat than cows fed typical dairy diets (Experiment 1). In Experiment 3, cows were fed either a control diet containing 55% alfalfa silage and 45% grain, or similar diets supplemented with 3% fish meal, or 250 g of monensin/cow/per day, or fish meal and monensin together. Conjugated linoleic acid was 5.3, 8.6, 6.8, and 8.9 mg/g of milk fatty acids in the control, fish meal, monensin, and fish meal plus monensin treatments, respectively. In Experiment 4, cows were fed either finely chopped alfalfa hay (Treatment 1), or coarsely chopped alfalfa hay (Treatment 2) in a 50% forage and 50% grain diet, or 66.6% grass hay and 33.4% grain (Treatment 3), or 98.2% grass hay (Treatment 4). Conjugated linoleic acid was 7.3, 8.3, 9.0, and 7.9 mg/g of milk fatty acids in treatments 1 through 4, respectively.

http://jds.fass.org/cgi/reprint/81/6/1630
Effect of Intake of Pasture on Concentrations of Conjugated Linoleic Acid in Milk of Lactating Cows
(that title cracks me up by the way... "milk of lactating cows"? as opposed to milk of non-lactating cows? )
Abstract: We examined the effect of intake of fresh pasture on concentrations of conjugated linoleic acid in milk fat. Sixteen Holstein cows were paired and divided into either the control group or the grazing group. The study involved initial, transition, and final periods. During the initial period, all cows consumed a total mixed diet. Cows in the control group were fed the total mixed diet throughout the study, and cows in the grazing group were gradually adjusted to a diet consisting of intensively managed pasture. Performance of cows in the grazing group was significantly reduced from that of cows in the control group during the final period (dry matter intake, 19% less; milk yield, 29.6 vs. 44.1 kg/d; and live weight, 40 kg less). During the initial period, when both groups were consuming a total mixed diet, concentrations of conjugated linoleic acid in milk fat were similar (X = 5.1 mg/g of milk fat). As the grazing group was gradually adjusted to pasture, concentrations of conjugated linoleic acid in milk gradually increased. During the final period, when cows in the grazing group were consuming a diet consisting of pasture only, conjugated linoleic acid concentrations in the milk fat were doubled (10.9 vs. 4.6 mg/g of milk fat). Furthermore, results showed the individual consistency of the milk fat content of conjugated linoleic acid over time but also demonstrated substantial variation among individual cows within treatment groups. Overall, this study indicated that the concentration of conjugated linoleic acid in milk fat is enhanced by dietary intake of fresh pasture.

http://jds.fass.org/cgi/content/full/86/5/1742
Fresh Forage and Solin Supplementation on Conjugated Linoleic Acid Levels in Plasma and Milk
Abstract: Two experiments were run concurrently to determine the effect of fresh forage consumption on the production and proportions of plasma and milk fat vaccenic acid (VA), conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), and linolenic acid in dairy cattle. In experiment 1, the cows consumed 50, 65, and 80% of their feed intake as pasture with the remainder of intake as a barley-based concentrate. The proportion of VA in milk fatty acids increased 12% when pasture intake increased from 50 to 65% of total dry matter intake and VA, CLA, and linolenic acid proportions increased 26, 18, and 27%, respectively, as pasture increased from 65 to 80% of dietary intake. In experiment 2, fresh forage was compared to conserved hay (cut from the same pasture the previous summer) to determine the effect on plasma and milk fat VA, CLA, and linolenic acid. Also, the effect of crushed solin seed (a flax cultivar that is high in linoleic acid) supplementation to the fresh forage diet was determined. Fresh forage compared to conserved hay in the diet, increased the proportion of CLA in the plasma very low density lipoproteins (VLDL) fraction by 71% but had no effect on linolenic acid. Supplementation of the fresh forage diet with a linoleic acid source increased VA and CLA in the plasma VLDL fraction 25 and 58% and slightly decreased the proportion of linolenic acid. Fresh forage, compared to conserved hay, increased milk fat VA and CLA proportions by 22 and 15%. Supplementing the fresh forage diet with linoleic acid from crushed solin seed further increased milk fat VA and CLA proportions 41 and 25%. Solin supplementation in a lactation diet is a superior method to increase CLA levels in milk fat than feeding fresh forage alone.

[tamagotchi]

Oh and check out this article about pastured alpine cheese.

http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/full/109/1/103
High {omega}-3 Fatty Acid Content in Alpine Cheese
The Basis for an Alpine Paradox
Christa B. Hauswirth, MD; Martin R.L. Scheeder, Dr sg agr; Jürg H. Beer, MD
Department of Medicine, Kantonsspital Baden, and the Federal Institute of Technology, Zürich, Switzerland.

Background— {alpha}-Linolenic acid (ALA) may protect from cardiovascular disease. Because fresh alpine grass contains high amounts of ALA, we hypothesized that the levels of {omega}-3 fatty acids would concentrate to nutritional relevance in the cheese of milk from cows with alpine grass feeding compared with cheese from silage and concentrate feeding; the newly available cheese produced from cows fed with linseed supplementation should contain even higher ALA concentrations.

Methods and Results— Forty different cheeses were analyzed by gas chromatography for their fatty acid profile: (1) 12 from well-defined alpine regions around Gstaad, Switzerland; (2) 7 commercially available English cheddar cheeses; (3) 6 cheeses from cows fed with linseed supplementation; (4) 7 industrial-type Emmentals; and (5) 8 alpine cheeses with partial silage feeding. The alpine cheese contained 4 times more linolenic acid (C18:3{omega}-3) compared with cheddar, more total {omega}-3 fatty acids, and showed a significantly lower n-6:{omega}-3 ratio. Conjugated linoleic acid (C18:2 c9/t11) was 3-fold higher, whereas the amount of palmitic acid was 20% lower. The Emmental reached 40% of the ALA content compared with alpine cheese, and surprisingly, cheese from linseed-supplemented cows contained only 49% of that of the alpine cheese (P<0.001 for each trait in the 5 cheese groups).

Conclusions— Cheese made of milk from cows grazed on alpine pastures had a more favorable fatty acid profile than all other cheese types. Alpine cheese may be a relevant source of ALA and other cardioprotective fatty acids.

[Gale Force]

Thanks for the links, tamagotchi. Someone posted a link to a report on grassfed beef and dairy that reviewed the studies. Maybe someone remembers?

I've found a harder time finding studies on raw milk and I haven't seen anything that distinguishes breeds but I'll keep my eye out.

[tamagotchi]

Here's one that compares Jerseys with Holsteins.

http://jds.fass.org/cgi/reprint/84/10/2295
Comparison of Fatty Acid Content of Milk from Jersey and Holstein Cows Consuming Pasture or a Total Mixed Ration
Holstein (n = 19) and Jersey (n = 18) cows were used to study effects of two feeding systems on fatty acid composition of milk. Confinement cows were fed a total mixed ration with corn silage and alfalfa silage and pastured cows grazed a crabgrass (90%) and clover (10%) pasture and were allowed 5.5 kg of grain per head daily. [...] Milk from pastured cows was higher than milk from confinement cows for the cis-9, trans-11 octadecadienoic acid isomer of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA). Also, milk from Holsteins was higher than milk from Jerseys for C16:1, C18:1, and CLA and lower than Jerseys for C6:0, C8:0, C10:0, C12:0, and C14:0.

Here's one that compares Holstein with Brown Swiss

http://jds.fass.org/cgi/content/full/86/8/2588
The Effect of Breed, Parity, and Stage of Lactation on Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA) in Milk Fat from Dairy Cows
Dairy products are the main source of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), a functional food component with health benefits. The major source of cis-9, trans-11 CLA in milk fat is endogenous synthesis via {Delta}9-desaturase from trans-11 18:1, with the remainder from incomplete rumen biohydrogenation of linoleic acid. Diet has a major influence on milk fat CLA; however, effects of physiological factors have received little attention. Our objectives were to examine milk fat content of CLA and the CLA-desaturase index with regard to: 1) effect of breed, parity, and stage of lactation, and 2) variation among individuals and the relationship to milk and milk fat. Holstein (n = 113) and Brown Swiss (n = 106) cows were fed a single diet and milk sampled on the same day to avoid confounding effects of diet and season. Frequency distributions demonstrated that milk fat content of CLA and CLA-desaturase index varied over threefold among individuals, and this needs to be considered in the design of experiments. Holsteins had a higher milk fat content of CLA and CLA-desaturase index, but breed differences were minor. Parity and days in milk also had little or no relationship to the individual variation for these two CLA variables. Breed, parity, and days in milk accounted for <0.1, <0.3, and <2.0% of total variation in CLA concentration in milk fat, respectively. Milk fat content of CLA and CLA-desaturase index were essentially independent of milk yield, milk fat percent, and milk fat yield. We speculate that the basis for the genetic variation among individuals is related to rumen output of trans-11 18:1 and to a lesser extent cis-9, trans-11 CLA, and to the tissue amount and activity of {Delta}9-desaturase.

and an excerpt from the above article:

CLA content of milk fat was higher in Holsteins (4.4 ± 0.1 mg/g of fatty acid) than in Brown Swiss (4.1 ± 0.1 mg/g of fatty acid) and CLA-desaturase index also differed. Although significant (P < 0.01), these differences are inconsequential when compared with the effects of dietary manipulation or the variation among individuals. Breed accounted for <0.1% of the total variation in the CLA concentration in milk fat (Table 5Go). We are not aware of any previous investigations of the effect of breed on desaturase index, but several studies have examined milk fat content of CLA. Lawless et al. (1999) compared four breeds, Irish Holstein/Friesian, Dutch Holstein/Friesian, Montbeliardes, and Normandes that were grazing pasture. They reported that breed had a small effect with Montbeliardes, averaging about 13% greater CLA content in milk fat than the other three breeds. White et al. (2001) compared Holstein and Jersey cows that were either fed a TMR in confinement or grazing pasture; they found that Holstein cows had slightly higher milk fat concentrations of CLA (~18% greater overall). Whitlock et al. (2002) reported a breed x diet interaction in a study with Brown Swiss and Holstein cows, but the comparison involved only a limited number of animals (four Brown Swiss and eight Holstein). Similarly, Capps et al. (1999) and Dhiman et al. (2002) compared several dairy breeds, but both studies had only four or five cows from each breed. Given the extensive variation among individuals discussed earlier, examination of breed differences will require a significant number of animals from each breed. Nevertheless, the limited published work and the present study indicate that breed has a minimal effect on milk fat content of CLA and the CLA-desaturase index.

[mrsbernstein]

Raw Milk Doesn't "Go Bad"

Hello!

True "Raw Milk" does not "go bad" like store-bought pasteurized milk. After about a week or so, it will begin to sour. Then I make Kefir or yogurt or something cultured.

This is also a great time to make cheese or hide the "sour" taste in smoothies.

The sour cream can be cultured to make "sour cream" and the milk will clabber.

Hope this helps.

Mrs Bernstein

[moneca]

Thanks tamagotchi for the links. My farmer just told me that he tests the protein and fat every month in his milk. He is willing to have it tested for a nutritional information. I'll post the info when I get it.