Raw milk.
I hadn’t quite thought about the term raw to describe milk, but after reviewing the definition of raw, it is a perfect way to describe milk in its natural form.
Raw: in its natural state; not yet processed or purified; strong and undisguised.
Like so many other topics, once you go down the rabbit hole of raw milk, you quickly are flabbergasted by the propaganda that has gone into making it a dangerous substance to consume.
However, as much as I love to dive into conspiracy theories and rage against the machine, this post will primarily be outlining why (I believe and have found) store-bought milk to be bad, the real benefits of raw milk, and some statistics, and pictures of my cow.
Yes, I have a dairy cow, she is a Jersey, and her name is Bessie.
Classic.
Pasteurized, not pasture-fed.
Most dairy cows are milked two to three times per day. On average, a cow will produce six to seven gallons of milk each day. Some of the large operation dairy farms will even push that to four times a day. Eesh.
These cows are being fed about 100 pounds each day of feed, which is a combination of hay, grain, silage, and proteins (such as soybean meal), plus vitamins and minerals.
No mention of grass in that sentence is there.
In the big dairy operations, the cows have access to fresh water, large open feeding stalls, and some room to walk around in the dirt. Maybe some fancy sprinkler cooling system and a large open pole barn for bad weather.
The milk that comes from the store, unless you are buying grass-fed, pasture-raised, milk, has never seen a blade of grass in their life.
Keep in mind that the term “free-range” does NOT denote grass-fed, it literally does not say what they eat, just that the animals have some sort of free-range.
They are eating crops such as corn, soybeans, hay, that have been sprayed with pesticides, and fertilizers.
Cattle feed may also include various substances such as glycerol, veterinary drugs, growth hormones, feed additives, or nutraceuticals to improve production efficiency.
Pasteurization is the process of heating the milk up to 161°F for just 20 seconds.
According to the FDA “Pasteurization is a process that kills harmful bacteria by heating milk to a specific temperature for a set period of time. First developed by Louis Pasteur in 1864, pasteurization kills harmful organisms responsible for such diseases as listeriosis, typhoid fever, tuberculosis, diphtheria, and brucellosis.”
They also say “These harmful bacteria can seriously affect the health of anyone who drinks raw milk, or eats foods made from raw milk.”
Scoff.
Not to say that pasteurization of products doesn’t have its benefits, and wasn’t an incredible thing.
It was, in its time. In 1864.
The Weston A. Price Foundation’s Campaign for Real Milk explains in the article “What Is Real Milk?,” that “Pasteurization was instituted in the 1920s to combat TB [tuberculosis], infant diarrhea, undulant fever and other diseases caused by poor animal nutrition and dirty production methods. But times have changed and modern stainless steel tanks, milking machines, refrigerated trucks and inspection methods make pasteurization absolutely unnecessary for public protection.”
In that same article, it goes on to say “Pasteurization destroys enzymes, diminishes vitamin content, denatures fragile milk proteins, destroys vitamins C, B12, and B6, kills beneficial bacteria, promotes pathogens and is associated with allergies, increased tooth decay, colic in infants, growth problems in children, osteoporosis, arthritis, heart disease, and cancer…”
I want you all to read that again. I’ll make it bigger.
“Pasteurization destroys enzymes, diminishes vitamin content, denatures fragile milk proteins, destroys vitamins C, B12, and B6, kills beneficial bacteria, promotes pathogens, and is associated with allergies, increased tooth decay, colic in infants, growth problems in children, osteoporosis, arthritis, heart disease, and cancer…”
Everything they have told you about milk has been a lie.
They are selling water with growth hormones, pesticides, antibiotics, and a little bit of milk protein, minus most of the protein.
Exaggerated? Maybe. Most likely not.
In the article “The Health Benefits of Raw Milk,” Linda Melos, ND, primary care naturopathic physician states the following:
“[P]asteurized milk actually interferes with calcium metabolism… Before heating [pasteurization], milk is a living food rich in colloidal minerals and enzymes necessary for the absorption and utilization of the sugars, fats, proteins and minerals in milk. Raw cream and butter has ‘X Factor’ that prevents joint stiffness….It destroys 20% of the iodine, and makes insoluble the major part of the calcium content.”
Benefits of raw milk
After having read the above facts, I’m sure you have already come to the conclusion that raw milk has more benefits than risks, and that the powers that be are providing false information based on questionable data points.
These are the two main sources for the above information if you want to look at more of the research:
BritannicaProCon.org and ChrisKesser.com
A fact that I find interesting related to all my lactose intolerant folks out there is that in a survey conducted by the Weston A. Price Foundation they found that of 700 families interviewed, amazingly about 80 percent of those diagnosed with lactose intolerance stopped having symptoms when they switched to raw milk.
It’s not the lactose one may be intolerant to.
It’s the pasteurization process.
Raw Milk Is Packed With Nutrients
- Calories: 150.
- Protein: 8 grams.
- Fat: 8 grams.
- Calcium: 30% of the RDA.
- Vitamin A: 6% of the RDA.
- Iron: 6% of the RDA.
- Cholesterol: 10% of the RDA.
- Sugars: 12 grams.
What’s interesting as well, is this is basically what the label on store-bought milk states. They are going off pre-pasteurized nutrition, and not post-pasteurized!!
More incredible benefits of raw milk include:
Healthier skin and nails
Improved immune system
Reduced allergy symptoms
Encourages gut health
Decreased rate of asthma and respiratory infections
When doing my research I discovered this Letter to Medical Professionals, which is incredible! You can literally download it and bring it to your physician if they are apprehensive or unsupportive of your decision to consume raw milk.
I will note that while consuming raw milk is completely legal, the sale of raw milk is not in every state.
Where I am in North Carolina, I cannot sell my milk for human consumption, however, it can be sold for pet consumption. It’s great for them too!
Raw Milk Laws By State
Buttercream Jerseys
While Bessie may have joined our little farm family only a few months ago, I’m no stranger to the Jersey cow.
I was one of five kids, homeschooled on a dairy farm in Wisconsin.
Again, classic.
We had a 200 cow operation, all Jerseys, that we rotationally grazed.
We weren’t organic or anything, but my dad was educated in sustainable agriculture.
It was my job to take care of the calves, and we had anywhere from 8-20 calves at a time that needed to be bottle-fed, twice a day.
It’s so interesting how life comes back around sometimes.
I am so blessed and grateful to be able to raise my son on the incredible superfood, and for it to be a resource that can’t be taken away from us.
Honestly, I wanted a dairy cow for the butter, hah. And my, oh, my, am I able to make some delicious butter. Also playing around with cheese!
She’s pregnant 🙂 due in April!
We have been hand milking twice a day, every day, and it will be a welcome break to dry her off in February, a few months before she calves.
Simple Self Healing
Self-healing takes a multitude of forms, on a large spectrum of levels.
Most of the time it is the small shifts that can start to make the larger impact.
Not everything is going to have a drastic immediate impact.
We are here for the long haul.
I hope this post has opened your eyes to the façade of the large dairy industry, to the backward logic and downright misinformation of the organizations in place.
Maybe you’re not ready to consume raw milk, or maybe you don’t think it’s an option where you are.
Maybe you are, and maybe it is.
No matter what, I wish you Love and Vibes,
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