[3girlsmommy]

Hi, I was at the Farmers Market this morning and picked up some literature on raw milk. There apparently is a cow-coop locally that lets you purchase a "share" of raw milk.

The only thing I have read about "real" milk is from realmilk.com I know that they are going to say that it is fine and pasturization is bad but I guess I want more.

Do any of you drink raw milk? Do you make other things from your milk? What are the positives and negatives of raw milk?

What other information do you have?

Thank You!

 

[alamama]

We've been drinking raw milk for two years now and we love it! I was wary at first, too, but our experience has been completely positive.

We started out buying goat's milk from a friend and then started raising goats so we could have our own milk. We have also bought raw cow's milk from a local farmer. We mostly drink it as kefir, but also drink it fresh and use it in baking. I drank our own milk throughout my pregnancy and now while I'm breastfeeding.

I'm sure there are those who could better speak to this, but I understand that pastuerization reduces nutrients, denatures the milk proteins and kills beneficial bacteria. My dh likes to say that if you leave out pastuerized milk, it rots. Raw milk simply turns into something different. It is a living food, and the beneficial bacteria go a long way to keeping pathogens at bay.

The important thing in drinking raw milk is to make sure that you get the milk from a trustworthy source that maintains healthy animals, clean containers, etc. You are fortunate to have a cow share program nearby; they are likely to be happy for you to visit to meet the animals yourself and also to explain what steps they take to make sure you receive fresh clean milk. You can use the milk to make kefir, buttermilk, yogurt, cheese, butter etc.

Negatives? I can't really think of any, other than price. It may be more expensive than pastuerized, but well worth it IMO.

HTH!
Leanne

 

[applejuice]

I am fifty-one years old and I have drank raw milk all of my life, except for the times it was taken off the market for one problem or another.

Alta Dena, Jessup and Adohr used to be raw milk dairies that I can recall in my lifetime.

Now there are only two that I know of.

I have heard horror stories about drinking raw milk, and I honestly can tell you that none of them ever happened to me in my life, nor to any of my eight siblings.

I have an old calendar from 1980 that has a long list of the benefits of raw milk. I will look for it and post ... I am a teacher, so as this is a busy time of the year, it may be a week or so...take care....

Raw milk is delicious and nutritious.

 

[.:Becca:.]

We drink raw milk also. There are SOOO many things you can do with it! We make butter, cottage cheese, hard cheese and will be making yogurt soon.

I would DEFINATLY start buying raw milk if I were you, lol. My kids don't like store milk anymore, even organic milk. When our milk supply cow was dried up, I poured dd some cereal and she exclaimed "Mommm.... I didn't want water in my cereal!" It was so funny.

 

[mystic~mama]

we

alta dena raw goat cheese, so yummy

raw dairy

 

[applejuice]

From the 1980 Alta Dena calendar:
I. Cleanliness Regulations
A. Tested daily at an independent lab
1. Bacteria count 10,000 per ml. max
B. Streptococci test once a month
II. Herd tests in Los Angeles County
A. All dairy cows in a certified milking herd are vaccinated for brucellosis at age 2-6 months
B. Each cerrtified cow is blood tested for brucellosis before entering the milking herd and is tested annually thereafter. Reactors are removed.
C. TB skin test is done annually on all cows in the milking herd.
D. Herd Sanitarian visits from the County Medical Milk Commission weekly or more. Health inspector visits monthly.
III. Employee Examinations
A. Monthly physicals done on each employee. All new employees given complete exam.
B. Once a month throat culture
C. Other tests done at regular intervals.
D. Stool specimens test biannually.
E. Annual TB test done.
IV. Nutritional Values
A. Phosophatase, enzymes, catalase, peroxidase are present.
1. Phosophatase is needed to split and assimilate the minerals salts in foods that are in te form of phytates.
+total count of all bacteria in the milk
++milliliter
+++Bacteria which is normally foreign to the cow's udder.
2. Wulzen Factor (anti-stiffness) factor is present.
3. X Factor in tissue repair available.
B. Protein - 100% metabolically available; all 22 aino acids available, including the 8 that are essential for the complete metabloism and function of protein.
C. Vitamins - All 100% available.
.....
D. Minerals - 100% metabolically available
1. Major minerals - calcium, chlorine, magnesium, phosphorous, potassium, sodium and sulphur.
2. Trace - all 24 100% available.
E. Carbohydrates, easily utilized in metabolism.
F. Fats, all 18 Essential Fatty Acids, saturated and unsaturate, 100% metabolically available.

 

[applejuice]

OTOH, Pasteurized Milk, I will go and look it up...be right back...

 

[FatherArn]

There is all sorts of great info and raw milk on this site http://www.mercola.com/2004/apr/24/raw_milk.htm

BTW my dw and I drink raw milk and looovvvveee it. We can tell the difference and feel like we are strenghtening our bodies.

Go for it!

 

[Mirzam]

We have owned cow-shares for over eight years now. If we didn't have a supply of raw milk my family just wouldn't drink milk. Pasteurized milk is not the same as raw milk, all the problems you read about concerning milk is a result of the pasteurization and the abysmal way dairy farms keep, feed and store the milk.

Here is a link to a website of an organic dairy in California which gives you lots of info on the health benefits of raw milk and the production process.