Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Got Milk???



Last night on Nightline, there was an extremely disturbing story about commercial dairy farms and the milk industry. The video is posted for you below.

If you drink milk, you need to watch this.

But, as you are watching this video, keep in mind that you do have options. This story fails to mention the side where the grass is greener- literally. You don't have to give up drinking milk all together.

I'm not even advocating drinking "organic whole milk"- there are skeleton's in that closet as well that I encourage you to look into.

There is a wonderful site filled with information about drinking raw milk and buying milk from local dairies. In the state of Texas, to my knowledge, there are 3 "Grade A Raw for Retail" dairies and probably more are popping up all over the state.

People immediately become fearful at the thought of drinking raw milk and its safety. But, what the government deems as "safe" is shown in the video.

At the dairy we buy from, you see cows in pasture eating green grass in the fresh air. The milking room is clean and not filled with poop.

Our family switched over to raw milk 3 years ago. We absolutely love it!

Raw milk definitely costs a little more than "organic whole milk"- you are looking at anywhere from $5 to $10 a gallon.

But, in my opinion, if you were to make a few changes in your diet towards a healthier lifestyle, dairy would be one of the first areas I'd start closely followed by meat.

10 comments:

Cottage Dreamers said...

Ugh! I feel for the guy trying to run a business but the abuse is seriously nauseating. I'd really like to get my own milk cow!

Brandi Tejeda said...

Its this kind of stuff that makes me miss the dairy I grew up on...Im proud of my grandpa because he kept his clean and it never looked anything like that...ever! We had fresh milk daily in my house...yum! I miss it so much!

Anonymous said...

Can you post your sources for raw milk? I've thought about it and thought about it, and the safety issue always causes me to hesitate.

Thanks!

The Williams Family said...

Did it kill your stomachs when you first started? I grew up with friends that owned a dairy and it was clean and the kids drank right from the big silver containers but it always made us so sick...it makes my stomach cramp as I think about it....we do soy now b/c of the boys allergies but I still wondered for when friends ask me about switching, if they would go thru a time for their stomachs to adjust.

Sarah Crosby said...

My friends and I were just talking about milk last night and also just about eating organic in general!!! I am going to have to show them this video! GROSS!!!

mandi said...

oh lynsey- that video was really hard to watch. i think about the dairy where our milk comes from and how wonderfully the cows are treated. i get milk from one cow every week, and her initials are written on the top of my lid. i love that.

i was reading the williams family comment and wanted to make a note that all milk, from different sites, is going to have its own bacteria in it. so try a different dairy, and see what you think! i had a slight discomfort when we started drinking raw milk. my kids had never had milk of any kind before, and they took right to it with no problem. i have a history of lactose intolerance and after just a few days of adjustment, i've never had any other issues on it. same goes for raw cheese.

Deanna Schultz said...

Go watch Oprah. She is taling about food Inc., she just said that cows in America get 28 million pounds of antibiotics a year! Oh MY!!

Michelle said...

Thanks for the info and the video, even though it's so hard to watch, it's important that we know the truth. It just further illustrates the point that if you don't know your food and the people producing it, you have NO IDEA what you're really putting into your mouth. :(

Grace said...

Lynsey, very interesting and informative video...although we don't really drink milk here or do dairy much at all because of J's allergy...but still, it's good to be informed.

The thing that stuck out to me from the video was something that the woman from the Humane Society said in response to the dairy industry's "got milk?" add...."got ethics?"....obviously from the state of our country as a whole, our ethics are seriously going down the toilet...and this is just one area where people prefer to turn their heads rather than to do something to make things right.

Thanks for bringing light to this issue!

-Grace

P.S. Good to see you and the fam the other night!

Joan said...

Lynsey, I want to thank you for our visit yesterday with Brazos Valley Locavores. I so much enjoyed every minute of it.

You and Jason are moving through life with very strong passion for the work you do on your farm. You are blessed people to have listened and learned so much in such a few years. We call that wisdom. Yes.

I also wrote a thank you on Farmer Jason's Blog in response to his most recent comment.

May the Lord continue to bless you and Jason and all that you do in his name.

And now we are going to get to some of that meat we bought from you. Thank you for this new wonderful experience.