Why is it so burdensome to obtain raw milk?
I like Sand Creek Farm. They run a top-notch operation with delicious milk. But if I want their milk, I have to drive 2 hours to get it. Here in Texas, that’s the only way I can get it. Oh sure, they come into Austin fairly often and could deliver it or have some other sort of distribution, like at the local farmer’s market or maybe a private person has their home as a drop-point, like we can do with our vegetables from Johnson’s Backyard Garden. So if we can do this with our veggies, why not milk?
Why deny the small farmer a way to support their farm and their family?
Why deny the willing consumer a way to get the products they want? Or if not deny, make it such a burden to obtain?
So why is raw milk so denied?
I reckon it’s to “keep us safe”. Fine, if that’s what it is to be… and not large mass dairy farmers trying to use legislative muscle to protect their turf. But raw milk in and of itself is fine; usually problems arise in the processing, such as if the milking machinery or bottling process was unsanitary. How long would a family farm stay in business if they held themselves to low standards of sanitation and product quality? How long would it be until the lawsuits drowned them if someone became sick or died? It’s very much in the best interest of the farmer to make a high-quality and safe product. In fact, building such a reputation only serves to build the business too.
Funny thing, that.
BTW, why raw milk in the first place? The current nutritional zeitgeist is to be as “close to nature” as possible; zero to little processing, as straight-up as you can get it. Thus raw milk. Yes, I was very wary at first, but gallons later and boy if it’s not good. And you know what’s best?
I can drink it, and I don’t turn into a farty mess. They’re still not sure what exactly is behind this, but people eating raw milk and raw cheeses and other raw dairy products just don’t have the… uh… intolerance problems… that you get from processed dairy.
I support 83(R) HB 46. No it’s not perfect, but it’s a start.
Stuff From Hsoi 
I don’t know if I’ve ever had raw milk. Back (way back) in my lifting days, I’d go through a gallon every 2 days or so.
No way I could do GOMAD with pasturized and homogenized milk… my digestive system would hate me.
I will say it took a little getting used to the raw milk, especially because yeah, it does separate. But that was kinda cool because we’d strain off the fat, use it to make butter, and the remaining was like a 2% and just damn good. No problems drinking it, no problems eating cheese made from it. Just good stuff.
Store bought milk is homogenized. This means that the butter fat molecules are busted up really tiny so they stay suspended in the rest of the liquid. Fresh milk has butter fat in it’s natural large molecule state. The large molecules are harder to absorb. Doesn’t it seem odd that little kids have become fatter since homogenized milk came on the market?
Not saying coorelation equals causation, and the obesity is a complex matter to address.
But this is an interesting observation.
Makes me think about the GOMAD protocol and might be a question to ask to people involved in strength sports. GOMAD – Gallon Of Milk A Day. It’s a protocol meant for young skinny kids (primarily) to help them put on weight fast. You work your way up to drinking a gallon of milk a day, in addition to your normal diet AND lots of heavy weightlifting/strength training. This will pack it on like mad. Muscle, and yes some fat.
So I wonder… might there be any difference in GOMAD vs. type of milk. I think whole is generally the recommendation, but that vs. 2%… vs 1% vs. skim… or vs. raw milk, and raw milk “whole” or “skimmed”. It would be curious.
The thing about athletes drinking large volume milk to ‘bulk up’ began long before homogenization came to be. Farm boys who drank large volumes of milk and worked very hard were seen to be large, indeed. I can recall a fighter type man speaking when I was very small. He attributed his size and strength to drinking milk. At that time, there were not the commercial hormones or antibiotics in the milk. It was drunk directly- ok, maybe they put it into a bottle- from the cow.
Right.
I think what I’m curious about at this point would be some sort of comparison of GOMAD on raw milk vs. “processed” milk.
Do you need to be a member of Sand Creek Farm’s CSA to buy their milk? Or can you drive up to the farm and get some milk? Also, how do you store the milk on the way home? Cooler and ice?
You’d have to call Alysha and Ben to ask. I haven’t and am not a member of their CSA, but I’ve also made large purchases through them (bought a calf). So… I don’t know for sure.
I got everything home via coolers and ice, yes.
I must admit that I don’t understand the recent political fervor over raw milk. Is it just a good olde fashioned symbol of government mismanagement / micromanagement? Or is raw milk somehow more significant and on par with 1st and 2nd amendment issues?
IMHO it’s right up there with limiting how big a cool drink you can buy, taxing smokers to death, limiting the kind of gun you can have, how you may speak because you must fear offending someone. There’s a group trying to deregulate milk. Forget the name, sorry.
I think it’s mostly a matter of government mis/micromanagement, and abuse of law to protect (dying) business models.
It’s also general about freedom… freedom to choose, what you put in your body, consenting adults, personal responsibility, not having the nanny state telling you what you can or can’t do and what is or isn’t good for you, free market, etc..