Raw milk warning label

[FinneyFarm]

Hello all, I have been enjoying this forum very much. I own a certified raw milk dairy in southern Utah, milking 14 Brown Swiss cows. I believe I am the only raw dairy in the state. I just recieved the update from the dept. of ag. with the updates to the raw milk code. No serious changes but they are now requiring me to print on my label in a conspicuous place this phrase,

"Studies have established a direct causal link between gastrointestinal disease and the consumption of raw milk. Raw milk, no matter how carefully produced, may be unsafe."

The smallest letter must be no smaller than 1/16th of an inch high. My question for you all is: Where and who did these studies? It seems like "direct causal" is an oxymoron. My website is www.finneyfarm.com
I have not updated it for some time, to busy milking cows etc.

looking forward to hearing your coments,

Finney

[JeffNY]

You know whats funny? Raw milk is said to be the best milk for you, leave it up to the dept. of ag to come up with that stuff. I myself might be selling raw milk, heck at the rate things are going, more and more people want it. A local apple orchard wants to sell ours when we start, however NY law only allows sale from off the farm, maybe that is old regs, but still. I have currently 6-8 people that want to buy raw milk, and some want to by a couple gallons every other day. Not a lot, but if I get a big enough demand, ill have to look into bottleing, etc.

Im curious, how much of a demand do you have? For example, does your demand out-weigh your supply?



Edit: Looked at your site, nice looking animals, and a nice clean setup. I like that.


Jeff

[tyusclan]

It's called money and lobbying. The distributors who buy, pasteurize, homogenize and sell large scale have a lot of money and lot of clout. They're mainly the ones keeping up the propaganda about raw milk being unsafe. (IMO) If the farmers can sell raw milk directly to the consumer, then they can bypass all those guys and they don't want to lose their gravy train.

Sadly, here in Florida, it is illegal to sell raw milk for human consumption period. That doesn't stop me from buying raw milk from a friend. He just has to sell it for non-human consumption. What I do with it when I get it home is my business.

[FinneyFarm]

We also must sell "on the farm". We are producing between 60 and 70 gal. daily and we are sold out within 3 or 4 hours after each milking. Some days we have a line waiting for the milk. I am only charging $3.00 per gal. because the dairy across the state line in Arizona also sells raw milk but they are a big comercial dairy with Holsiens and they charge $2.50. Not as good as mine though.
I have people who will drive 5 or 6 hours one way to buy milk and cheese. I get e-mails from all over wanting me to ship milk, from as far away as Washington state.
We are growing slowly, I keep all heifers and sell the bulls as day olds. We can ship the cheese if we let it age for 60 days first.

Finney

[FinneyFarm]

oh, one other thing the new code says,

"All products made from raw milk including cottage cheese, buttermilk, sour cream, yogurt, heavy whipping cream, half and half, butter, ice cream shall not be allowed for sale in Utah to individual consumers due to potential negative public health implications of such products."

Cheese is ok if it is aged at 35 degrees F. for 60 days or longer, so no cheese curd

We have been selling cheese curd, jalapeno cheese curd, which a big seller, yogurt and buttermilk. We have made a variety of raw cheeses and they are great sellers also. Maybe I could do a cowshare program for these items.

Finney

[dosthouhavemilk]

Boy, you all are lucky.

Ohio is just about the worst when it comes to regulations..not only are all sales of raw milk for human consumption illegal (Young's Dairy had been grandfathered but they "voluntarilly" quit selling raw milk), but they are pulling off all the pet liscences and talking about making that illegal as well.

Regulations out the wazoo and they are breaking down harder on the farmers. Our inspector had a conniption fit when he saw me with out herd of goats outside....he wanted to know what we do with our goats....

Aparently they are cracking down on the farmers who ship goat's milk int ehri cow milk tanks. lol

Nubians test similar to Jerseys.

[Tom McLaughlin]

Finney[/QUOTE]
www.realmilk.com seems to keep up with regulations state by state.

[MullersLaneFarm]

Our country health department found out we were selling raw milk at the farm. Gave us a cease & desist order (and turned us in to the FBI as suspicious activity) until they could get to the bottom of it .... which we did .... since we are small holding (just a few milk cows), it is legal for us to sell raw milk as long as our customers come to us with their own containers and fill their containers from ours.

[Suzanne]

Love your set up That's to bad you have to put that label on, but those who buy raw milk have usually researched and know the difference. We have only 2 cows, and of course hand milk. Our customers provide their own clean gallon jar, and we fill them and cool them. If it came down to the state getting after me I would just have them sign a cow share agreement, or point out its just for animals, as that's the only way we can sell it in Michigan.
We are awaiting the arrival of a new calf....anytime

[Jennifer L.]

I'm a commercial dairy farmer, 48 yo and have had raw milk my entire life. If I sold all the milk animals on this place I can tell you one thing for sure: I'd never drink milk from the store. The powers that be in this country are all idiots. It's the only explanation I can come up with.

Jennifer

[bethlaf]

funny i grew up drinking raw cows milk ( im originally from wisconsin ,dairy cows and packers fans )
i have always hated store milk, now i admit i dont have cows, but this thread caught my interest, because of the topic, here in ark , i can sell 1200 gallons a year , off the farm , without regs, but im not supposed to sell raw milk either, it doesnt matteri have people who as soon as they find out i milk ,almost always ask for milk

[tyusclan]

You know, it kinda strikes me funny. All these regulations about selling raw milk (as well as meat, etc.) is supposed to be because of the safety and health of the public. BUT, the regulations are only concerned with SELLING those products. If I want to milk my cow and give away all the milk, that's fine. I can raise a hundred broilers, slaughter them in my back yard, and give them all away with no problem. It's only when someone SELLS to public that the regulators come down on them.

It seems to me if it was really about public health, it would be just as illegal to give it away. Wouldn't you think?

[JeffNY]

Very interesting, there is THAT much of a demand out there? You sell everything as soon as your done. I will be curious if the same demand would crop up around here, I know there is an interest, and I know some who drink regular milk that would rather buy from a farm. But the profit one can make selling raw milk (3-6 bucks a gallon), if done on paper, you would get A LOT more than what they can give you from the milk companies. If you were selling milk, 3 bucks a gallon, if per hundred weight, it comes to $34.86/cwt. That is ---- good, considering for even organic milk, it starts @ 22.00 from dairylea, and 21.75 from organic valley. Regular market is down there, and varies. My only concern, is say I was averaging 55lbs, that is about 115 gallons a day. If I had the demand you do, id be set. Because id gross double what id get from dairylea, then you run the risk of them giving you BS. Still regulated, however you can actually make something. What did it take you to setup your facility, to bottle? I know I have a spot, back corner of the shop (close it in, run the milk right from the tank to there). Heck anyone see "The simple life"? That farm looked like it was bottleing raw milk.

Either way, looked on the raw milk website, and the closest farm selling raw milk here, is 80 miles away. I'm smack dab right between two sources, but they are far enough away. HMMMMMM.



Jeff

[dosthouhavemilk]

tyusclan,
We can't even give it away legally!

They don't really like the people who own their own animals drinking raw milk. :no:

I was raised on raw whole Jersey milk and really, after that, I can't really stand store bought. It tastes watery to me.
Heck, I don't like goat's milk either...nothing compares to our Jersey milk in my personal opnion. Though I know a lot of people who disagree.

[MullersLaneFarm]

Originally Posted by JeffNY

What did it take you to setup your facility, to bottle? I know I have a spot, back corner of the shop (close it in, run the milk right from the tank to there).

You'll have to check with your state health department to find out what regs you need to comply with. Don't start with the county health department, go straight to the state.

[myersfarm]

worked as a store manager for retail chains 31 years....customer was always right no matter what.....wonder what it would be like to the first upset customer to look him in the eye and say.......GET THE H@#$ OUT MY BARN.AND DON'T EVER COME BACK .might be worth the investment just to be able to say that....john

[Haggis]

I've mentioned before that we're selling nigh to 30 gallons a week at $2.50 a gallon. They supply their own clean jugs and we fill them, then they come with clean empties to get their full jugs.

We never started out to sell milk, or rather trade it for feed money, but all of our customers have friends who want to start getting raw milk from us when our next Jersey freshens in April. We really had no clue that anyone locally, outside of our own extended family, would have an interest in raw milk.

This is the strangest situation I can imagine; educated and intelligent people washing thier own jugs and traveling to our farm twice a week, and others lining up to get unprocessed milk rather than buying the "safe" counterpart from their local store.

[Mrs. Homesteader]

Originally Posted by tyusclan

You know, it kinda strikes me funny. All these regulations about selling raw milk (as well as meat, etc.) is supposed to be because of the safety and health of the public. BUT, the regulations are only concerned with SELLING those products. If I want to milk my cow and give away all the milk, that's fine. I can raise a hundred broilers, slaughter them in my back yard, and give them all away with no problem. It's only when someone SELLS to public that the regulators come down on them.

It seems to me if it was really about public health, it would be just as illegal to give it away. Wouldn't you think?

The Raw Milk lobby is still way too small. Look at ciggarettes. They are proven to cause cancer. They just have to label them as such and it is buyer beware. However, they have a HUGE lobby.

[southerngurl]

bethlaf, where exactly are you at? I am near Yellville.

[Christina R.]

Hi Finney Farm,

What is the name of the farm in N. AZ. selling raw milk? Just curious. THX.