Grass to Glass: Producing safe raw milk
A big question on raw milk is on the safety of it. This is for good reason! It has been marked as dangerous by mainstream media, most of heath care, and big agriculture. Having parent that came from a health care and conventional agriculture background, we grew up very skeptical of raw milk. Yes, we herd share dairy farmers were scared of raw milk once upon a time.
Raw milk was the norm until the industrial revolution took cows out of their natural habitat, fed them poor quality feed, and milked them in dirty environments by sick people. Sick, dirty cows make dirty, sick milk that WILL get people sick. Done right, raw milk is a high quality, low risk beverage that will bolster your health. Done wrong, it can make you sick.
Raw milk farms pay attention to so many details! From grass to glass, raw milk farmers are working to bring you the best milk possible. Here are the ways we work to bring you our and our girl’s very best!
Healthy milk comes from healthy cows. We assure that they have an appropriate, natural diet. Rotational grazing is a huge part of that. Constant access to grass and pasture makes healthy, happy cows. We supplement with feed we grow as well as some mineral that the cows need. We have a dairy nutritionist that assures that our cows are getting exactly what they need for optimal health.
Having a closed herd is also a way we're assuring health in our cattle. We don't introduce new cows into the herd thus limiting our cows being exposed to outside illnesses and diseases.
Keeping the cows clean is also key to safe milk. We clean their barn daily as well as rotating their pasture a few times a week. This keeps them from wading in their own manure. Clean cows are happy, healthy cows!
In addition to clean conditions, we wash the udders with warm soapy water as the first step in milking. We then use iodine as a natural sanitizer for the teat prior to milking. After milking, we use a conditioning teat dip as a way to seal the end up from bacteria since the opening of the teat stays open for up to 45 minutes after milking.
We do annual testing on our cattle for tuberculosis, brucellosis, and Johne's Disease. If a cow is sick, we quarantine her and hold her milk out from the test of the tank.
Cleaning the milking and bottling equipment is also essential. We sanitize the milkers, line, and bottling equipment before milking. After milking, it all goes through 3 washes: a rinse, a detergent, and an acid wash. We pull apart milkers to an extra cleaning on them once a week to get anything that could be in the cracks and crevices. Bottles are washed thoroughly and sanitized before filling.
Getting the milk cooled quickly is essential to the milk maintaining quality and lasting long. Milk comes out of a cow at her body temperature at 101 degrees. It goes through the milkers to line which takes it up to the bulk tank. While in the line, it goes through the plate cooler which cools it instantly down 30 degrees. When it hits the tank, the tank cools it about another 30 degrees in 15 minutes. We maintain the milk in the bulk tank at 38 degrees. We keep our farm fridge around 34-38 degrees.
While there is risk with all foods, we have become quite confident in our practices. We have learned so much about the benefits of raw milk and ways to produce it safely. We also test our milk in an in home lab. This gives up daily feedback as to how we’re doing. It tells us how clean the milk and our equipment in is real time. We also do some third party testing. We’re grateful for all the ways we have learned how to keep our cows happy and healthy in order to produce high quality, low risk milk.
These practices (and the milk!) have converted a us raw milk skeptics into raw milk lovers! It’s more work than conventional, but absolutely worth it. We all can raise a glass knowing that raw milk and herd share farmers like us are doing our best to bring you the best!
