Raw Milk Testing
One thing rings in my head randomly, and it was some viral inti raw milk homesteader yelling, “I DON’T WANT TUBERCULOSIS IN YER BONES!!” It was catchy the way she said it and truly still makes me laugh.
So will you for sure get tuberculosis from raw milk? Honestly, probably not. Unless the cow has tuberculosis.
There are outward signs of it. The cow will be quite lean. Before it was called tuberculosis in people, it was called consumption as no matter what a person did they perpetually leaned out or wasted away. The cow may have a chronic cough and low grade fever as well. Visual signs can be marked for other diseases too such as Johne’s Disease which is similar to Chron’s Disease in people. The cattle look lean and scraggly, they have diarrhea, and significant milk reduction.
Back to tuberculosis (TB), cattle are likely okay if there isn’t TB in the local deer population or other animals that the cattle may come in contact with. Same with Johne’s. As long as you are Johne’s free and keep any exposure away, your cow’s won’t get it.
All this being said, I do understand the concern! If I were a customer, I would want all the evidence possible to know that the cattle are healthy and the milk is safe for my family.
In Michigan, testing isn’t required for herd shares. The government is completely hands off. Which is a blessing! But it does put it on the farmers to assure their owners that the milk they are receiving is high quality and low risk.
At our farm, we do yearly, monthly, and daily testing. Below, we’ll break down all the testing that we do and why we do it.
Tuberculosis Testing. Yearly, we test for TB. We do this to assure our owners that they won’t get “tuberculosis in their bones.” We live in a TB free region. We have not had state required testing on our farm in many years because of being a TB free county. We opt to yearly test to give our owners peace of mind. If a single cow is confirmed positive, the entire herd would be put down to stop the spread. We maintain a TB free herd.
Brucellosis Testing. Yearly, we test for brucellosis. Brucellosis is a bacterial infection that mainly affects cattle but can affect other mammals too including humans. This can cause miscarriages, fertility issues, decreased milk production, and more in cattle. While we have never had any issues with brucellosis, we still test yearly for the comfort of our owners. If a cow were to be positive, she would be put down.
Johne’s Disease Testing. We test yearly for Johne’s in our herd. We once had Johne’s in our herd over 20 years ago. We learned a lot and found the pest cure is prevention. We eliminated it from the herd, but still test yearly AND before we put a new heifer’s milk into the tank to go out to our owners. If we were to have a confirmed positive Johne’s cow, we would cull her from our herd and keep close eyes while continually testing the others to be sure it doesn’t spread.
Dairy Herd Information. Monthly, we have a third party come in to test each individual cow. This gives us feedback on their milk quality and other health markers. We can know about how much a day she produces, what the protein and fat percentages are, her somatic cell count, and other important information. Through her milk, we can test for Johne’s, pregnancy, and more. The main thing we look at here are her somatic cell count which we will discuss in a bit.
Coliform Count Test. Daily, we test in our home lab for coliform count. We bottle an extra bottle that is prepared the same way we prepare the milk for our owners. In this, we test for coliform and aerobic bacteria (see the next point). Coliforms are groups of bacteria which indicate potential contamination of the milk. Coliform count gives us a feedback of how clean our milk is. The Raw Milk Institute requires their listed farmers to be under a 10 cfu/ml coliform count. Raw milk produced for pasteurization can contain up to 750 cfu/ml coliforms. Once pasteurized, milk should only contain 10 cfu/ml. Which is the same (in some cases maybe worse) than well produced raw milk. Being in the process of being listed with the Raw Milk Institute, we abide by their standards. We give our owners the average of our coliforms every month.
Aerobic Bacteria Count. Daily, we test the ABC (sometimes referred to as Standard Plate Count SPC) in out milk. Remember that extra jug we bottle? We test the aerobic bacteria in that too. This test shows us the aerobic microorganisms in our milk. While we do want some bacteria (hello probiotics), we don’t want too much! Too much indicates poor hygiene, dirty equipment, or slow/inadequate chilling. The Raw Milk Institute requires under 5,000 cfu/ml. While raw milk intended for pasteurization can contain up to 100,000 cfu/ml, and the standards for pasteurized milk are 20,000 cfu/ml. Once again, well produced raw milk is better than pasteurized milk in many instances. We give our owners the averages of our ABC testing monthly.
Chart taken from the Raw Milk Institute
We don’t have to do all this testing. It would be cheaper for us not to do it! But we care about what our owners care about. They care about their toddler who drinks raw milk all day long. They care about their loved one who went through cancer treatments but are using raw milk to restore their body. They care about the baby that is growing in their womb while raw milk shakes are the only thing they can keep down. We care about the safety and reassurance they want while drinking their raw milk. We test to give peace of mind that our milk is high quality AND low risk.
