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I didn't get my dairy knowledge from reading myths , distortions, and lies in a homesteader magazine.
You just keep on repeating that to yourself, honey.
I got my knowledge from my grandfather, who owned a farm, he got it from his, and so on and so on.
They were all highly literate, progressive farmers.
As I said, your agenda on this thread has become glaringly obvious.
The sad thing is, you seem to be incapable of having a rational, calm discussion without slinging insults, or becoming hysterical.
Are you a commercial dairy farmer who pumps their milk into the big tanks to be mixed with everyone else's at the bottling plant for supermarket distribution? Or are you a small-scale dairy farmer who bottles his own to sell direct to a local market?
Quote:
Originally Posted by marmac
You ?
I do not have my new animals yet; however, I supported and volunteered at our "renegade" dairy run by our CSA co-op. The dairy was legal... but only just barely and only because we were able to circumvent the food police with the CSA exemptions (currently being "revised" to restrict them now that people figured out how to work it - typical ).
When I get the new animals on my homestead, my neighbors will be free to come get milk from the animals that they pay for me to raise... I won't be supplying it off the farm to anyone who hasn't bought an animal share, and I won't be pastuerizing or bottling it for them... they can do whatever they want with their milk when they get it to their home in their containers. Nor will I be charging for milk... any fees I collect will be services charges for maintaining their animals for them. (assuming, of course, that the state doesn't find a way to close that "loophole" on us )
If you are a legal commercial dairy farmer, are you happy to pay all the licensing fees, costs to purchase and maintain the equipment mandated, and be subjected to all the inspections (including the costs of such)?
If you, as the farmer, do not have to pay for these things because the corporate dairy buyer pays them for you as part of your contract, or you have had to take out excessive loans to obtain these things so that you have the privilege of selling your milk to those corporate dairy companies under contract... you are NOT a dairy owner, you are a dairy indentured servant.
If you are a legal commercial dairy farmer, are you happy to pay all the licensing fees, costs to purchase and maintain the equipment mandated, and be subjected to all the inspections (including the costs of such)?
If you, as the farmer, do not have to pay for these things because the corporate dairy buyer pays them for you as part of your contract, or you have had to take out excessive loans to obtain these things so that you have the privilege of selling your milk to those corporate dairy companies under contract... you are NOT a dairy owner, you are a dairy indentured servant.
You apparently know nothing about dairy breeding/dairy science.
...get educated !
I really tried hard to let this one go, but it's been eating at me ever since, so I must reply:
You apparently know nothing about Capitalism, Economics, Political Science and Competition Law.
You have decided to believe the myths that our public food system is safe, that the corporations have their customer's best interests at heart, and that governments exist solely to protect and serve their citizens.
I would be willing to bet that the vast majority of raw milk sellers could not meet the stringent quality criteria that processors demand.
But then, if one refuses to test a sample of raw milk, it must be excellebt quality sarc
That is not the issue under debate.
The issue under debate is whether those "stringent quality criteria" are even valid/necessary and whether they makes a fiddle's worth of difference to the real safety of food.
Many of us are arguing that they are, for the most part, bogus and irrelevant data points; and any perceived improvements in safety are purely coincidental or marginal at best when applied to a sector they are not designed for (i.e. small/local vs large/distributed).
We are not willing to blithely allow the government or corporate entities to remove and restrict our right to choose for ourselves what products we can have and what risks we are willing to take.
We are NOT demanding that pasteurization of milk be abolished. We are not stating that pasteurization cannot reduce the risk of food-bourne illnesses in dairy products. We are simply asking that we be allowed to maintain our RIGHT to have an alternative to pastuerized, homogenized, fortified distributed supermarket milk if we so chose.
So, to put it bluntly, we are asking to maintain the right NOT to purchase and consume YOUR milk if we don't want it.
What percent of people drinking paseurized milk got sick with e-coli ?
What percent of people drinking raw milk got sick with e-coli ?
Hey, if you have those REAL numbers from an unbiased source, then I'd be really happy to look at them. I've been looking all over the place for that data!!
But somehow, I can never actually find any unbiased data regarding illnesses that happen in spite of pasteurization and/or regulations.
I know I've found some decent numbers regarding how improved sanitation and hygiene help reduce risks... but never anything that actually proves pasteurization improves safety between two equal farms
So, to put it bluntly, we are asking to maintain the right NOT to purchase and consume YOUR milk if we don't want it.
And that pretty much sums up the debate in a nutshell.
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