The joys of raw milk (Feb. 23)
By Chuck Doud
The Madera Tribune
When I was a lot younger and had a heifer ranch in Washington State, I had some Jersey cows, which I’d milk twice a day. I fed the milk to the calves, who lapped it up.
I lapped it up, too. I would handle the raw milk carefully, pouring it through a filter, first for me and the rest for the calves.
I took about half a gallon a day into the house. The container for the milk was a tall, stainless-steel pail with a lid and a handle, like one on a bucket. Before putting the raw milk into the refrigerator, I would let it sit for a few minutes in some ice water in a dish pan, a process which would cool the milk quickly. Then I would wipe the pail off and put it in the refrigerator.
The next morning, I would enjoy the best-tasting milk I can remember. The cream would have risen to the top of the container, and was almost as thick as butter. I would spoon most of it into a pitcher, add a little milk, and that was what I’d put on my Cheerios and in my coffee. Lord ’a’ mercy, it was good.
What made me think of this was reading about an effort being made in several state houses throughout the country to allow people to buy raw milk. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the departments of agriculture of many states, including California, have worked to get raw milk out of dairy cases entirely. These good regulators say raw milk has the potential for carrying harmful bacteria because it isn’t pasteurized.
I don’t know about that. I do know that unrefrigerated milk can spoil quickly. But I also know that during the years I drank that delicious raw Jersey milk, I never once became ill because of it. Or if I did, I wasn’t aware that it was the milk that made me sick.
I would think that if you wanted to take the chance on raw milk, you ought to be able to. It is so good.
I too grew up on a real farm with a few cows and about 200 goats. We always had fresh cream, butter and I still have my hand churn, which I still use to show students how butter used to be made on the farm. Growing up I recall that we took goats milk to the old creamery in Chowchilla, (that we had strained into mulk jugs with lids), Twice a day we milked by hand. When my youngest was born the only kind of milk she could drink was goats milk, and it did not come from the market. Thankful that we could go straight to the goat for the fresh milk. It was good and never hurt us or our children growing up. I think that if you own a farm and want to drink the milk raw, that the government should just back off.
WEBMASTER’S NOTE: The government does allow farm owners to drink their own cow’s raw milk. What many states don’t allow is the sale of raw milk to others.