Consuming raw milk

We have been drinking raw milk from our goats for years. Health management and yearly disease testing are standard here. I feel safer drinking our raw milk than milk in a store from who knows where.

There is also a pretty decent book here about raw milk and the history of the dairy industry and laws. http://www.amazon.com/Untold-Story-M.../dp/0979209528

You might want to read "Milk of Human Kindness...Is Not Pasteurized by William Campbell Douglass (Jun 1985)"

Lots of misstatements, over-statements and fact twisting. I think anyone that has "bought into" the raw milk movement would enjoy it. It is available on Amazon.

Can someone please tell me how we have managed to survive as a human race - even to have evolved from pond scum - without pasturized milk and Monsanto ? I mean really. We're talking thousands of years here ... We managed to make it to the top of the food chain without "scientists" and the Government keeping us "safe".

Well, there *were* all those people who died of "consumption" and plagues and stuff.

Penicillin has had an impact on human lifespan.

__________________
Cows may not be smarter than People, but some cows are smarter than some people.

Actually from pond scum to top of the food chain was more like billions of years. Our fastest advances came with organized civilization and knowledge. That is where we got government and scientists.
You can wish for the good old days, like the Dark ages, but I don’t want to return to the day when a senior citizen was 36 years old.
Interesting how some folks want nothing to do with the government and scientists, until there is a disease outbreak, then they are critical that it took too long to solve.
Monsanto? Really? Does everything have to be Monsanto's fault?

We drink raw. If something falls in the bucket, it's eaten by the dogs. Cleanliness is always good. I'd have to know someone pretty danged good to drink their raw milk.

__________________
Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Seneca
Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival. W. Edwards Deming

All I know is that pasteurized milk makes me sick and raw milk makes me feel awesome. Gioven my personal experience with "governmental recommendations" food-wise and what happened when I decided to throw their opinions out the window, it makes sense. Hopefully I'll be getting a goat or heifer next year

__________________
Uncle Dutch Farms
Blogging from working city mom to homesteading housewife.
Rural Living Today
Encouragement for the Urban-to-Rural Transition
My review of the Piteba oil expeller

And I thought that the FDA enforces the PMO.

__________________
"When you are having dinner with someone and they are nice to you, but rude to the waiter, then this is not a nice person.".....Dave Barry

I don't know where you found the 1 %.....

Surveys the CDC did estimated the population drinking raw milk at more like 3%!!

__________________
"When you are having dinner with someone and they are nice to you, but rude to the waiter, then this is not a nice person.".....Dave Barry

CDC says about 1%. I don't know where you get your CDC data, but I get mine here:
http://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/20..._outbreak.html

Federal regulations apply only to interstate commerce. Intrastate commerce is governed by regulations set forth by the individual states.Martin

I was introduced to raw milk as soon as I was weaned. The year I married and got pregnant the last Grade AA raw dairy went to bulk processing and raw milk was no longer available.
I as well as quite a few other ladies also pregnant were suddenly thrown on pasteurized milk.
Our babies were born unable to handle milk.At the time fresh goat milk was not available either. We had to use soy milk which had its own set of problems. Even if we breast fed ,if we consumed milk after nursing, the babies would have cramps. As for me, I went off ALL milk products (in any form or fashion-any type of food with milk) as long as I was nursing.

To this day my daughter uses very little pasteurized milk and more if it is fresh goat milk.
Pasteurization has its problems.

Any milk or food product can have problems if it is improperly handled. I too like to know where my milk comes from.

I often feel sorry for those who can't drink pasteurized milk. Lots of good things that they are missing like oyster soup, chowder, potato and leek soup, escalloped potatoes, and all other food where milk is one of the main ingredients. But since the lactose tolerant gene is dominant only in those of North European and East African ancestry, it would be selfish of me to think that it should apply to all people including those who existed 10,000 years without tasting a drop of either cow or goat milk.

Martin

You all make me want to jump the gun, ignore our immature savings account, and buy a plot in the country RIGHT NOW! I grew up drinking raw goat milk and if the city would let me I'd buy a herd of dairy goats and spend my days walking them around town and hiring them out as lawn mowers (for people with obviously untouched, clover filled yards).

The real danger in drinking raw milk comes from improper milking and living conditions, dirty equipment, and unhealthy animals. I don't know any raw milk producers in the area, and I'm not about to trust just anyone. My answer is to maintain my own milking animals. I pine for the day that becomes an option.

The only way I would drink raw milk is if it comes from my own animals and I am sure that they do not have any disease - otherwise I wouldn't take the chance of getting some dieases from raw milk - lets face it - they don't pasturize milk because they don't have anything to do - there's a reason - there was a time when a lot of people drank raw milk and a lot of them got sick - that's why it was recomended that it be pasturized - when your dealing with live animals you are also dealing with very "dirty" conditions - so you need to be extra careful about keeping the milk clean - Helen - get me a beer - JoePa

Get in the game and join us Taylor. The sooner the better!

__________________
Living Large Down on the Farm.

I own a cow share here in Michigan.
I love my raw milk but as of today I have decided to stop drinking raw milk.
I am making and drinking my own Grape Chia Kombucha.

So, Starting Saturday I am going to convert my weekly one gallon of raw milk into Kefir.
I am thinking about Strawberry Kefir.
Kefir Chocolate Ice Cream too.
Yummy,
I love my raw milk.

Buying a farm we can't afford wouldn't be wise, so for now we do the best we can homesteading in the little city. I didn't realize how much I miss having a whole herd of dairy goats to share my troubles with!