There\u2019s much ado about raw milk these days, and with good reason. A highly nutritious source of protein, vitamins, minerals, and microflora, it also can be a dangerous product if mishandled. Like other animal source foods, contaminated raw milk can pose serious health consequences for pregnant women, infants and small children, the elderly, and those with compromised immune systems. For this reason, the federal government has banned the sale of domestic or imported raw-milk cheese aged less than 60 days, as prolonged aging creates an environment that contaminating bacteria don\u2019t like. The legality of selling raw milk, however, is determined by individual states or counties.<\/p>\n
Politics aside, there\u2019s public demand for raw milk, and dairy farmers across the country have found a legal backdoor for selling it to this small but avid consumer group. By offering consumers a \u201cshare\u201d of a cow or goat (sheep\u2019s milk is not popular for drinking as it\u2019s richer in fat and solids), a farmer can maintain his herd and raw-milk enthusiasts can get this highly perishable ingredient fresh from the farm. Buyers pay farmers a fee for boarding \u201ctheir\u201d animals, in exchange for a quantity of milk. While some states prohibit animal share programs, it\u2019s still possible for consumers to legally purchase a farm share, which may include raw milk.<\/p>\n
Legal or by loophole, dairy farmers usually find demand outstrips supply. \u201cAfter we sold our dairy outside of Boulder and relocated to the Western Slope, we received many requests for raw goat\u2019s milk,\u201d says Jim Schott, founder of Colorado\u2019s Haystack Mountain goat cheese, a farmstead operation until Schott\u2019s retirement in 2008. \u201cA lot of people prefer goat\u2019s milk because it\u2019s more digestible [its fat globules are smaller than those in cow\u2019s milk]. Fortunately, the law made it possible for our customers to obtain it legally via a herd share.\u201d<\/p>\n
Joy Alexander, co-owner of Avery\u2019s Branch Farms outside of Richmond, Virginia, also started a share program for her Jersey herd based on local demand. \u201cWe recommend, however, that potential shareholders visit the dairy first,\u201d Alexander says, \u201cso they can see that we\u2019re all that we say we are. We want people to know our cows are healthy and live in a clean environment, and that our milk is handled with care. We have an open- door policy and encourage people to visit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alexander recommends that anyone considering purchasing raw milk, whether through a share or at the farmers\u2019 market, ask\u2014and be allowed\u2014to visit the dairy supplier.<\/p>\n
Schott seconds this advice. \u201cConsumers should always be concerned about the safety of the products they buy,\u201d he says. \u201cExamine the animals and the milking parlor. Ask about sanitation practices and the milk testing they have done.\u201d<\/p>\n
With the future of raw milk and raw milk cheese in question\u2014the FDA is currently considering tighter regulations\u2014 dairy farmers and cheesemakers are surprisingly divided on the outcome.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would be reluctant to make raw milk available on a national scale,\u201d Schott says. \u201cWe\u2019ve seen how industrial-scale agriculture leads to problems, including foodborne illness epidemics.\u201d Schott believes that small-scale production is better suited to providing a safe, quality product, assuming operators follow strict food safety protocol.<\/p>\n
To learn more about milk shares, find out if raw milk is legal in your state or county, or locate a share in your area, contact A Campaign for Real Milk<\/a>, a sister organization to the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cHerd shares\u201d help farmers sell unpasteurized or raw milk legally<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9190,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[589],"tags":[],"coauthors":[191],"class_list":["post-9189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cheese-talk"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n