Interesting article.
I cant see how the over crowding- locked up without fresh grazing room can economically be corrected, except to lower the standards/ratings, still it seem that this and mainstream methods are still not in the best interest of the animal nor does it provide any dignity or compassion for the animals life-style.

This should get a lot of lobbiest going.

The link I provided is an old table , but still gives an idea for all the organic animals being processed in the United States...or rather those "labled organic". Trying to calculate just how many acres per animal(s) neeeded for fresh grazing to understand the demand of land needed to satisfy fresh grazing.

I have seen pictures of "organic chicken farms" where the chicken are on wire floors suspended from the actual floor ( as to collect the manure for "organic compost"). The eggs are also sold as being organic. Yet, the chickens never touch the soil or grass in their life time. Plus they are so over crowded that they barely have room to turn around in thier own space.

Here is a link that might be useful: USA organic animals

To make matters worse in Ohio the ODA is actively shutting down all organic/sustainable dairy farms selling raw cows milk. These are the cows that really get out on pasture.

So much for free markets and free choice in what we get to eat.

We buy from a local farm. Chickens, eggs etc. I see where the chickens live. That's what you should do too. If you can that is. These are some of the best tasting chickens and eggs you ever will eat. Egg shells are thick and hard to break. The chickens have drumsticks the size of small turkey legs. :-)

Marcus, I do the same thing buy from local farmers (or grow my own) but milk can be hard to come by especially when the farms are being shut down.

Yes everyone should buy as much locally grown food as possible and than the argument of what makes an organic cow (or beet or egg, etc..) becomes moot.

Everyone should do a lot of things. But everyone doesn't have enough time to do them all :-(. (And I don't even watch any TV!)

Alfie,
who buys her (certified-organic) milk and ("free-range") eggs from the grocery store

A local PA natural food store sells organic RAW milk. We have tried it, but I am not sure I like it enough to buy it on a regular basis. I know its better for you then pasturized milk, as is anything. I am still hung up on the health risks of raw milk too. The bacteria thing doesnt really bother me, I read an article a while back of rabies being transmitted via raw milk to people (it happened somewhere in the upper mid west I believe) That kinda bothers me. Those cows just sit out there and can be attacked by a rabid animal rather easily (fox, raccoon etc)

I believe rabies is only transferred through saliva. Check it out. Not everything you read is true...Ann

That's what I thought too. But unless the newspaper article was lying I have to take notice of it. I will have to investigate it further.

Know the science behind raw milk

Notes taken by Kris Johnson from lecture by
Lee Dexter

Milk is the only natural food designed by
mother nature to nurture
babies, designed to protect mammals. Birth is
a messy thing, yet animal
babies survive

Milk is a biochemical soup - Bioactive
ingredients/components with a
mission! They are the same across all mammal
species.
They have a dual purpose:

To stimulate the immune system

To keep harmful bacteria in check

Components:

* Lactoperoxidase: this is the 2nd most
concentrated enzyme in cows
milk -
it seeks out and destroys bad bacteria.
It is in all mammalian
secretions, milk, saliva, tears,
urine. it is strongest on day 4
after birth. It is being considered in
Europe as a healthier
substitute for pasteurization.

o Example Lactoferrin ñ which
steal iron away from harmful
bacteria, but it is destroyed by
pasteurization
o Another lactoperoxidase steals
folic acid from harmful
bacteria.
o Lactoperoxidase uses thiocyante
(CN) to seek out and destroy
pathogens.
o Researchers have challenged raw
milk with pathogens ñ raw
milk will not support growth of
pathogens, such as
campylobactor. Campylobactor is
destroyed by CN. These
challenge studies done in 1980ís
are very useful in court.
Poor hygiene in production is
the cause for pathogens in raw
milk.

* Fatty acids ñ essential oils. They are
highly anti-bacterial,
anti-fungal

o Caprylic and caproic fatty acids
eat the cell walls of
bacteria and fungi. (When
oxidized they give a goaty smell
to raw goat milk ñ reason to
chill rapidly)

* Enzymes in raw milk are also helpful -
continue to work in frozen
milk, so frozen milk only lasts so
long or the emulsion begins to
break
* Polysaccharides (long sugary, fiber
type molecules) in milk
encourage the good bacteria which line
the gut with a protective
mucus layer, and prevent unhealthy
bacteria from attaching to gut.

o This helps to prevent leaky gut
syndrome (colon literally
porous), so common today,
leading to foreign molecules in
the blood stream which sends a
red alert to the immune
system, leading to an overworked
immune system that causes
all kinds of problems.
o Raw milk sets up this physical
barrier, which allows the
body to cure itself, allows the
immune system to relax. Baby
can put its efforts into growth.
Babies on raw milk are
healthier, more robust, skin is
better, they are not getting
colds, ear infections, no
eczemas, donít spit up, and "they
donít stink!"

* Antibodies in milk help the immune
system to relax. They bind to
foreign microbes in gut and let immune
system take care of them in
the gut. There are white blood cells
in raw milk to seek out and
destroy pathogens. They work in
conjuction with medium chain fatty
acids, lactoferrin, lysozyme (a fat
eating enzyme), and growth
factors that promote the growth of
health colon cells.

So we see that there are redundant systems in
the gut with raw milk that
protect the baby and all of us!

Binder proteins ñ Mother Nature is not stupid!

* Goat milk is lower in folic acid, but
there is a special binder
protein that takes folic acid in goat
milk and carries it into
blood stream, and babies do fine -
* But these binder proteins are
destroyed during pasteurization.
They are three-dimensional proteins,
that are distorted by heat.
These distorted proteins have lost
their bioactivity and are
attacked by the immune system, which
gets stressed out. Babies
getting this processed milk have all
kinds of health problems,
eczemas, allergies, and other immune
related symptoms etc
* There are many special binder proteins
in milk that transport
nutrients into blood stream, so no
supplements are needed.

Problems with commercial milk and processing:

* 30% of regular commercial milk is
contaminated with antibiotics or
pesticides
* Zanthine Oxidase identified at cause
of heart disease - is
encapsulated by homogenization into
tiny balls so it can enter
blood stream and goes to heart and
chews on heart muscle. Probably
cause of runners who drop dead.
* What is adulteration (misused word)?
Milk must contain poisonous
or deleterious substance that may
render it injurious to health. A
substance not added to food is not an
adulterant, if the quantity
in food does not normally make it
injurious to health ñ Staph
aureous is often naturally found in
milk, but is not an
"adulterant" and unlikely to be injurious.
* Pathogen definition - must cross
barrier in otherwise healthy
person. Need experts qualified by
training and experience to sort
out these reports of raw milk
troubles. If inspectors come to take
tests, be sure to send your own
samples of the same milk to be
tested, to prevent monkey business.
* Raw milk is NOT an ideal medium for
growing bacteria! But
pasteurized milk is. If you are
challenged by a regulator, you
need to get the facts ñ contact us.
* Lactoperoxidase system can be
overwhelmed by high numbers of
pathogens ñ reason why milk in cities
in early 20th century had
trouble with contaminated milk. There
are small numbers of harmful
bacteria even in clean good milk (even
human breast milk), but not
enough to make a baby sick.

(More on why botulism is not in cheese ñ
didn't take notes)

Results of pasteurization:

* Fatty acids, oligosaccharides, and
some growth hormones survive
pasteurization. Pasteurization sets up
children for all kinds of
immune system problems ñ asthma,
allergies.
* Interferon, bifidus factor are
destroyed by pasteurization
* Decreases the availability of most
minerals in milk ñ body canít
get at these minerals
* Vitamin B6 and folic acid are inactivated
* Vitamins C, E, & D and others vitamins
are reduced or destroyed.

White Egret Farm Website
http://www.whiteegretfarm.com/

E-mail us at egretfarm@aol.com
Farm>
Call us at 512-276-7408
Fax us at 512-276-7489

pastuerization is a compromise. it is understood by scientists that pastuerization does decrease the nutrious portions of the enzymes in milk, but it also decreases the viability of disease causing organisms that can be and used to be transferred from cows to humans. turberculosis, the twins sam and ella, e coli, Q fever, there others...

a free range organic herd may be less likely to carry disease... but they are still trying to prove that.

being a native Wisconsin person - i have drank alot raw milk in my youth and i know alot of people who drink raw milk. and i think if you personally know the cow that you got the milk from then raw is great....

on the other hand, if one lives in an urban area knowing a cow is probably not a luxury that is available. in that case, i would sacrifice some nutrition and choose safer, relatively disease free milk.

Problems with commercial milk and processing:

* 30% of regular commercial milk is
contaminated with antibiotics or
pesticides

I am a dairy farmer, and we seasonal graze on a rotational basis, our Jerseys from early May until the pastures quit producing in November in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. My hubby and I (just the two of us) also make an ethnic cheese from our own milk called juustoa. The rest of our milk is sold to a cooperative. I have to respond to the above statement. It is virtually impossible for dairy farmers to sell raw milk to consumers, due to state regulations. The point I wanted to make was there is no processed milk that reaches the consumer that contains any antibiotics. There is zero tolerance. Every batch of milk is sampled at the farm. Those samples are tested for possible antibiotic content at the dairy plant before the load is unloaded at the plant. Should a load be found to test positive for antibiotics, the whole truck load is dumped. It never reaches the consumer. But, really, it isn't the antibiotics that could pose as a threat to human health. Today, serious illness could result from drinking raw milk, such was mentioned earlier, and another one is listeriosis. Grazing cows doesn't necessarily mean organic. To be considered organic, the farm hasn't used chemical fertilizers, pesticides, antibiotics, etc. for a period of at least three years. And another point, just knowing the cow personally, should you hand milk her, isn't going to assure that her milk is free from pathogens. In today's society, it is a sad thing that consumers are so far removed from agriculture. A few months ago, a family was here to buy a few hay bales from us for their horse. We were making our juustoa (200 pounds) that day, and it's a baked and broiled cheese, and best right fresh. If someone happens by to visit, we give them a sample to eat. The girl, about 10, asked if the cow had to die for us to make the cheese. Come on...... I was dumbfounded when she asked that question. I didn't hand her a burger!!! Someone sure failed somewhere in teaching where our food comes from. By the way, I have a laying hen flock that gets to scratch the ground when we don't have it all covered up with snow. Those brown eggs are the best, I agree! I hope I said something worthwhile. Oh, my sister and bil in Minnesota have a small organic grain milling farm. Treasa

Treasa, thanks for the report from the front. The cheese sounds sumptious and I groaned over the matter of consumer ignorance of from where their food comes. I have a small market farm and laying hens. I was flabbergasted when someone commented that they would never buy my organic eggs because my hens were debeaked and were fed animal food. This woman works some 400 feet from the chickens and had been working there for several years. A walk of a few minutes and a visit of a few more minutes would have educated her. As it is, she remains convinced she is right.