Raw Milk
some information

What makes Raw Milk
so distinct from pasteurised milk?

Weeks of rich milk have turned this year’s crop of calves into sturdy steers and heifers, grazing alongside their mothers in the tall grass, or finding cool spots at the edge of the woods when the sun gets high.

Various shades of fawn, brown, and black, their coats are satin-sleek, shiny against the deep green forage.

They are the very picture of health.

There is something right about living here, tending these animals and plants, and being rooted in this place.

We have never really been interested in taking vacations to Disneyland anyway, which is a good thing, because people who keep livestock can’t usually go away for long periods.

If you seriously propose to grow your own food, you have to be there to take care of things.

Farmers don’t find it easy to travel.

This time of year that’s no real sacrifice, though. Cooler mornings are good for working in the gardens, and in the heat of the afternoon we might swim in the pond, or pick raspberries at the shady wood’s edge.

When there’s a surplus of milk, we’ll make cheese.

Curds form quickly in hot weather, the probiotic lactobacilli in the milk being most productive when they are warm.

The biological activity of raw milk­­­—it comes from the cow complete with its own array of beneficial biota—is one of the things that make it such an ideal health food. Ironically, that same probiotic energy makes people worry about consuming it.

Is it safe to eat or drink something that ferments so readily?

In fact, doesn’t the USDA warn specifically against consuming raw milk?

Dairy Dangers?

It’s funny that this perfect food has a less-than-perfect reputation. Raw—that is, unprocessed—milk is a controlled substance in most of the fifty United States.

You can’t buy it in the store; in fact, the federal government bans raw milk sales across state lines.

If raw milk is so good for you, why does the USDA issue warnings against drinking it?

Honestly, back when we started milking our own cow, this question really wasn’t on our minds!

The sweet milk we were bringing into the house in buckets every day was delicious, and the children were so glad to have all they wanted to drink.

Our grandfathers, we knew, had kept dairy cows and raised their large families on farm milk, and we intended to do the same.

Pretty often, though, we encountered people or opinions that were adamantly opposed to our plans.

We discovered that in the state of Ohio, if raw milk was consumed in our house, we were supposed to have a sign, prominently displayed, warning people of this dangerous practice.

Yes, really!

We knew that medical professionals looked with disapproval on raw milk being given to children.

Even some friends and family voiced concern over what they considered an unnecessary risk for our family.

All this over a food that had been in the human diet for thousands of years! How could there be such a difference of opinion?

All Milk is Not Equal

Historically, human beings have been consuming raw milk since the domestication of the first ruminants.

Back then there were no stainless steel buckets or microfiber filters; our great-great-greats stored milk in vessels of wood, clay, or even hide. They weren’t worried about germs, but they knew how to use milk in dozens of delicious ways to feed their families year-round, with every stage of fermentation having its appropriate uses.

Generation after generation grew up drinking milk, and nothing but good came of it.

So why does the USDA ban the stuff?

Well, a lot has changed in the past couple of centuries, including the ways we keep, feed, and milk dairy cows.

Big modern cities require food to be shipped from farther than ever before.

Dairies may be literally a thousand times bigger than they used to be.

To produce so much milk and ship it long distances, we’ve turned to mechanization.

Today milk is moved by pipeline, stored and shipped in enormous tanks, and sits on supermarket shelves for days or weeks.

All of the large-scale systems used for this work are in near-constant use: when cows are being milked two or three times a day, you can’t take apart all the equipment between milkings and give it a good scrubbing.

Instead, it is flushed with
caustic chemicals and very hot water
to kill residual bacteria.

But this doesn’t always work.

Biofilms inside milking equipment can be home to pathogenic biota—’bad bugs,’ like listeria, campylobacter, and E.coli.

Even if these critters didn’t make you sick, they would ferment your milk, ‘spoil’ it, before you had a chance to drink it.

This is why store-bought milk is pasteurized, and the same story explains why our home-produced, home-consumed milk doesn’t need to be.

When the USDA warns against drinking raw milk, they aren’t talking about ours.

Actually, clean raw milk
from a cow that eats the food
God intended for her – grass –
is one of the most perfect foods
in the world.

Think about it: milk is the sole food God created to feed His baby mammals, new life to be nourished by their mothers’ dedicated and loving care.

Milk’s nutritional profile makes it a whole food; its naturally present probiotics make it a health food, too.

So it’s no wonder one of our favorite things about keeping a family cow is all the wonderful milk it makes available on the family table.

We drink gallons of milk every day, and dairy products like cheese, butter, yogurt, and sour cream feature largely in every meal.

And while it is delicious, milk isn’t just a food for us; it’s a health regimen.

Work of Our Hands

Milking time is a quiet, peaceful time on our farm.

The cows go willingly into the stanchions.

If we are offering a treat of hay or kelp, they tuck in.

We scoot our stools up close; with the zing of milk into the bucket, the sweet smell of fresh milk rises into the air.

There’s plenty of time to think.

Why do we choose to live this way?

One reason, and a very real one, might be that it just feels right.

When we sit down to milk our cows, we’re continuing a line of human endeavor that has blessed people for thousands of years, and we’re using the same tools, the same methods folks have always used, because they work.

We don’t need anyone’s permission.

We don’t need electricity or fuel.

Just us, the cow, and a few moments of peace.

We’re grateful that God has made things this simple

Controversial take:
Lactose intolerance doesn't exist

It is instead pasteurization
and homogenization intolerance
in 99% of cases with very very
few exceptions.

The current mainstream argument you often hear about why humans shouldn't be drinking milk, is that we don't have a gene for the production of lactase and/or lose it after we are infants off of breast feeding, and I'm here to tell you that the gene is not responsible for your digestive systems ability to digest lactose and is just an adaptation found in some ancestral lineages.

It's the bacteria in your gut that does the digesting of lactose, which is coincidentally present in raw dairy in large quantities, especially fermented dairy like kefir.

This same bacteria is present in breast milk because it is raw and facilitates the digestion of lactose, and it's the same for raw dairy from any animal, which all contain lactobacilli and other strains that digest the lactose for you and create the enzymes like lactase.

Pasteurized milk does not have this bacteria due to it being killed by heat, which the government argues is "for your safety", when in reality it's more for the extension of shelf life and profitability, as well as ensuring the large dairy producer middle man doing the pasteurization is getting their cut of the profits that they've invested a lot of money in lobbying for.

Raw milk is direct from farmer to consumer and cuts them out entirely, so obviously it's in their best interest to bribe the FDA and regulatory officials to say it's unsafe, going after small farmers like the Amish for trying to sell it.

As for why some people get the runs with dairy from the store, some of that is due to the lack of good bacteria to digest lactose, but it's also because of homogenization of fats making them very harsh on your gut and indigestible, making your body want to void it immediately.

Not only does raw dairy have the essential bacteria for digestion and clean fats, but it also has various components like lactoferrin and lactoperoxidase that ensure only healthy bacteria remain, mucin and oligosaccharides that protect the strength of the gut lining and prevent permeability, various immunological components that support your immune system being strong and resilient, along with lactoglubins and other cofactors that are responsible for carrying fat soluble vitamins and other nutrients for proper absorption.

When you heat milk over a certain temperature, much of the good stuff that makes it healthy is destroyed, altering it's digestibility, ruining it's immunological benefit, making the calcium much less bioavailable and likely inflammatory, and not providing any probiotic benefit to strengthen the gut, which is the root of A LOT of disease.

Anyone that tells you human beings aren't supposed to drink milk or that they're lactose intolerant, please share with them the presentation in the comments and tell them to find some raw dairy with the milk finder.

It's the most gut healing food on earth and will radically improve your health, especially if you ferment it into something like kefir, yogurt, or cheese from a raw state."