Raw milk question

waygr00vy · #1 12/08/05, 07:08 PM

Ok, until this point I have had my nigerians and pygmies as pets only. I have switched my kids to the bottle and one of my pygmy does is producing alot of milk...so....I thought maybe I would give it a try. Is it necessary to pasteurize? If not, are there certain tests I would need to have done to be sure the milk is safe for drinking? If I should pasteurize, what is the minimum equipment needed without getting too fancy? She has such a good milk supply I figure I should take advantage rather spending the money on organic milk at the gorcery store! Still waiting for the cows to "come of age" so that will be a while. Any advice is appreciated!!

cindyc · #2 12/08/05, 07:21 PM

Go to www.realmilk.com
It will answer all of your questions.
We drink raw milk. My children are VIOLENTLY allergic to the pasteurized kind, organic or not. My friend's kids drink raw too, but if her kid's skin even TOUCHES pasteurized milk she will break out into a significant rash with respiratory symptoms. The milk proteins in pasteurized milk are significantly altered by the heat of the process, making many people unable to use them.
Pasteurization is a public health decision, and for factory farm amimals who are unhealthy (generalization, I know) it makes perfect sense. BUT your organically raised, healthy goat's milk is a very different product than that. Read up on how to be sure your process is very clean, and (naturally) only use milk from healthy animals and you will be fine.
The url I mentioned can explain all of this SOOOO much better than I can. Check it out.
Cindyc.

ozark_jewels · #3 12/08/05, 07:24 PM

Here is what I do. Have a clean bucket, clean hands. Rub does udder to get off any loose hair or dust(goats are clean creatures so the udder shouldn't be dirty like a cows might be). Milk doe. Take milk into house *immediately* and strain it into a glass jar. Cool it quickly by putting it in the freezer for 1/2 hour. When cool, drink it!!

If the doe was mine and she is healthy, I wouldn't do any tests on her. I do not test my does before I drink the milk, but I know them very well and know they are healthy. If you test or not, its completely up to you. I totally reccomend drinking the milk raw.

homebirtha · #4 12/08/05, 07:45 PM

Do a search here on raw milk and you'll see lots of threads with lots of different opinions. From what I read here, we pasturize most of the time. I felt like I needed to do this for awhile to really know what I'm doing, before using the milk raw. There are a lot of pathogens that can be in raw milk, especially if it's not handled properly. We're switching to more raw now that we've been be at it a little while. I will say that it seemed to not set well with a few of us at times, raw, that is. No problems with the pasturized.

billooo2 · #5 12/08/05, 10:27 PM

I have yet to see where there has ever been a problem drinking uncontaminated raw milk from healthy animals.

The "operative" words being "healthy" animals, and "uncontaminated" raw milk.

I live in Holmes County, Ohio. We have approximately 30,000 Amish people in this area. And a lot of those families do not even have running water, so sanitation would be even more difficult for them. Most of them drink raw milk.

I called the local health department and asked how many cases they have in a years time of people getting sick from drinking raw milk. The person I spoke with said that she had been there for 12 years, and she could not think of a single case!!!

30,000 Amish people!!! 12 years!!!! And not a single case!!!!

I attended a presentation by the Ohio Department of Agriculure on the supposed "hazards" of drinking raw milk. He could only site one situation in Ohio, and that was a commercial dairy which used to sell bottled raw milk. And the contamination came from an employee workinig on the bottling line. So, that seemed more like a modern day "Typhoid Mary" case instead of the dangers of raw milk.

His presentation to me was more like someone trying to play "boogey man" and scare little kids, or the man standing on the street corner with a sign, "The world is coing to an end!"

Has the dairy industry sold a "bill of goods" by convincing everyone of a danger that is much smaller in reality?

Keep in mind, that the conditions in a large commercial dairy pretty much dictate that the milk produced there MUST be pasteurized. I believe that most coscientious people, with good technique, can easily produce a healthier, safer product than most commercial dairies!!

JanO · #6 12/08/05, 11:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by billooo2

I have yet to see where there has ever been a problem drinking uncontaminated raw milk from healthy animals.

The "operative" words being "healthy" animals, and "uncontaminated" raw milk.

I live in Holmes County, Ohio. We have approximately 30,000 Amish people in this area. And a lot of those families do not even have running water, so sanitation would be even more difficult for them. Most of them drink raw milk.

I called the local health department and asked how many cases they have in a years time of people getting sick from drinking raw milk. The person I spoke with said that she had been there for 12 years, and she could not think of a single case!!!

30,000 Amish people!!! 12 years!!!! And not a single case!!!!

I attended a presentation by the Ohio Department of Agriculure on the supposed "hazards" of drinking raw milk. He could only site one situation in Ohio, and that was a commercial dairy which used to sell bottled raw milk. And the contamination came from an employee workinig on the bottling line. So, that seemed more like a modern day "Typhoid Mary" case instead of the dangers of raw milk.

His presentation to me was more like someone trying to play "boogey man" and scare little kids, or the man standing on the street corner with a sign, "The world is coing to an end!"

Has the dairy industry sold a "bill of goods" by convincing everyone of a danger that is much smaller in reality?

Keep in mind, that the conditions in a large commercial dairy pretty much dictate that the milk produced there MUST be pasteurized. I believe that most coscientious people, with good technique, can easily produce a healthier, safer product than most commercial dairies!!

Very well said billooo2

waygr00vy · #7 12/09/05, 06:54 AM

Thanks for all the helpful info and links. From what I have read so far billooo2, everything against it does sound like just a bunch of scare tactics with out a whole lot backing it. I think I am going to give it a try. My animals are all healthy and I will certainly be careful to follow cleaning procedures to the T. Thanks!

ozark_jewels · #8 12/09/05, 07:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by waygr00vy

Thanks for all the helpful info and links. From what I have read so far billooo2, everything against it does sound like just a bunch of scare tactics with out a whole lot backing it. I think I am going to give it a try. My animals are all healthy and I will certainly be careful to follow cleaning procedures to the T. Thanks!

The great thing about it is that *if* you were careless with the milk one day and let something get in it, raw milk has good bacteria to battle the bad bacteria. Pasturized milk can have bad bacteria attack it too, but doesn't have any good bacteria left to fight it.......
I think you are making the right decision. Just take it slow and easy at first. I have been drinking raw milk for as long as I can remember and I have never been sick from it. On the contrary....

MillsFarmFamily · #9 12/09/05, 08:08 AM

If you tested, or not....... which tests would that be?

ozark_jewels · #10 12/09/05, 08:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MillsFarmFamily

If you tested, or not....... which tests would that be?

TB and Johnes are two that some folks test for. As I said, if they are my goats, I know they are healthy(I raise my own), and don't bother with it.....

pookshollow · #11 12/09/05, 10:03 AM

We've been drinking raw milk since October, no problems. I am very meticulous about washing my hands, my equipment and my goat's udder, as well as using teat dip after milking. I've seen what she lies in on occasion!

When we were looking for a milk goat, we went to a commercial goat dairy. They didn't wash one goat before putting the milking machines on, if they got pulled off and landed on the floor, they just put them back on. Those goats had abcesses and a lot of swollen knees so they weren't the healthiest goats you'd ever find. Needless to say, we didn't buy one from there. No wonder they have to pasteurize the milk <shudder>.