I just love weekly pickups for grassfed raw milk. The inspiration and information exchange between folks who are making it happen each and every day with nutrient dense food preparation in their home kitchens is something you just can’t get anywhere else.
At our local pickup earlier this week, my dairy farmer relayed an interesting story to me about one of his 12 grandchildren and her very first experience with cow milk.
This little gal was presented for the very first time with a sippy cup of grassfed low temp pasteurized, nonhomogenized milk to drink as her Mom was in the process of weaning her off breastmilk. The child was already adept at drinking out of a sippy cup herself and so handling a sippy cup was not a new experience.
Without hesitation, she refused to drink from the sippy cup after an initial taste and turned her head away in rejection.
Undaunted, her mother next presented her with a sippy cup filled with raw, grassfed milk. It is important to note that the milk was from the very same dairy farm. The only difference is that one sippy cup had low temp pasteurized, nonhomogenized (cream top) milk in it and the other sippy cup had raw grassfed milk.
Same cows, same pasture, same everything except one sippy cup had milk that was low temp pasteurized and nonhomogenized.
Again, without hesitation, the little toddler grasped the sippy cup full of raw milk and happily began to drink!
My dairy farmer continued to explain that pets will make the same choice if you give them the option of lapping up low temp pasteurized/nonhomogenized milk versus raw milk.
Livestock exhibit similar instincts when it comes to feed as I’ve had many a farmer explain that animals always prefer the natural grain to any mix with GMOs in it. Of course, if GMO feed is all that you offer, they will eat that, but given the choice, the healthier option is chosen with no hesitation.
We can learn a lot by observing how healthy children and animals make their food choices. Their instincts for what is best for them nutritionally and developmentally haven’t been lost and those virgin taste buds and sense of smell are highly sensitive to the food choices presented.
Microphotography of Low Temp Pasteurized Milk and Raw Milk
Scientific examination of the molecular structure of low temp pasteurized/nonhomogenized milk and raw milk provides evidence as to why children and animals will instinctively prefer raw milk. In an article written by Beverly Rubik Phd entitled Microphotography of Raw and Processed Milk she shows in visual form the striking differences between raw milk and milk that is processed at low temperatures and not homogenized. Note that frozen raw milk that has been thawed has the same beneficial properties with little loss in nutrition.
Clearly, even low temp pasteurization with no homogenization is a very damaging process!
I found this research by Dr. Rubik to be very helpful as I have always recommended to people who have the choice between low temp pasteurized, nonhomogenized milk that is 100% grassfed and raw milk where the primarily grassfed cows get a small ration of grain each day to always choose the raw milk. The overall health of children on raw milk will beat the health of children drinking 100% grassfed low temp pasteurized/nonhomogenized milk in every instance I have observed.
Let’s take a lesson from the children. They are so much wiser than we think. Raw milk beats low temp pasteurized/nonhomogenized milk every single time.
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
Sarah,
I am firm believer in the beauty of raw milk and drink it when ever i have access, but I think it is a far stretch to condem it. Milk is pasteurized at lower temperatures then it takes to make tea, yet I have seen you fry and cook many foods for hours while milk is only cooked for a few seconds.
Why is it okay to cook other foods but not pasteurize the milk? The only thing I see wrong with pasteurized milk is the added synthetic vitamins.
I get weekly raw milk, but sadly enough my kids don’t want to drink it ! They think it’s dirty 🙁
@ Ellen McLaughlin: Do you call it raw milk to your children? Try calling it “fresh milk” instead. Sometimes they are turned off by the term raw milk. We have friends who used to add a little but of organic chocolate powder (like hot chocolate mix) to their kids milk and then decreasing it a little at a time until the kids were used to it. That might work for you, as well. Or try adding just a little local honey to the milk or whatever.
Also, depending on what the cows are eating (changes with seasons where I live) the milk will taste different and there isn’t much you can do about it. Usually kids who are used to raw milk will not even notice too much.
thanx for your reply ! I didn’t tell my kids at all that they got raw milk, but they taste the difference and don’t like it . But indeed I’ve been adding little bits of raw milk to pasteurized milk and hope to increase it. I do give it in chocolate milk form and that’s the only way they do like it !
you might try raw goat’s milk. If the goat is handled properly, the milk tastes just like 2% milk from the grocery store, and you don’t have to shake it up. We switched several months ago to raw goat’s milk, and I didn’t tell my 14 year old. He’s never been able to detect the difference and still doesn’t know we switched.
Adding a little blackstrap molasses at first may help as well.
Very true information, unfortunately most states don’t allow the sale of raw milk. If there are options to buy raw milk from farms, the drive is 3+ hours away and can cost up to $15 a gallon – which doesn’t make it easy to get on a weekly basis. Even though it is a wise investment and worth every penny – many people don’t have the time or financial resources to do this. For those of us who live in those states, the best option we have is Vat-pasteurized, non-homogenized, cream top milk – that we can buy in the stores. I would have to say that even though RAW milk is the best choice and healthiest option, organic vat-pasteurized, non-homogenized milk is a much better option than conventional, non-organic, homogenized and ultra pasteurized milk.
We rarely drink milk because I have no access in Canada to raw milk, but I do get organic goat milk from a health food store and ferment it with kefir grains. I have seen BIG improvements in my health and the kids’ health after one month of drinking kefir. I also ferment organic cow half and half with kefir grains to have kefircream (sour cream), so yummy! I have since stopped buying yoghurt and sour cream at the store, and this saves lots of money as well!
It’s really hard for me to read things like this because I have zero access to raw milk. I just can’t get it. What are people like me supposed to do?
Didn’t you state in one of your past posts that if we had no access to raw milk, which many of us do not, to get Natural by Nature’s low-temp pastuerized milk? They sell it at my health food store and I get it when I can and my family likes it. But now..this is no good either you are now saying?
I don’t think she’s saying it’s no good. I think she’s saying it’s definitely not as good as the raw milk and that if you can get raw, then do it…even if it’s a little more expensive or a little further away…it’s definitely the best choice. All that said, between low temp pasteurized, grassfed milk and the junk milk at the store, then the first option is of course much, much better! Like some have suggested, culturing the low temp pasteurized might be a good idea to add some enzymatic activity back to the milk. Do what you can with what you have, but try to get the very best you can!
i think natural by natures low temp milk is a great alternative to raw milk when you can not get it. it’s what I use. this post is based on antidotal “facts.” give us a break already!! no science here…. do what you can!
My five year old son has autism and he does the same thing. When offered raw milk he will drink it all on his own without me prompting him over and over, but with store bought or even the low temp pasteurized milk he will barely drink it. I’ve just recently started buying raw milk and was amazed at his actions. I sure wish raw milk wasn’t so expensive though. I can buy 3-4 gallons of the grocery store stuff for every one gallon of raw. *sigh*
I wish it wasn’t as expensive too but have gotten myself to think of it as value: it is worth more. Like organic food is WORTH MORE than non-organic. They are just more valuable and therefore more expense. Not a mind-game but fact.
Yes but I have a friend who has a friend that used to give raw, legal and certified cows milk from her farm to her young children and they did everything right, even according to state inspectors…. and her child (along with 22 other children) got ecoli and is now on dialysis for the rest of her life. Four of those children experienced kidney failure as a result…So how safe is it really for a young child? I have access to raw milk and have been getting it for a long time but now am unsure as to whether or not to give it to my children… I know this type of thing is rare but if low temp pasturization could protect them for their young years until their little bodies are stronger, wouldn’t that be an option to consider? Would like some insight here.
Carrie, I wonder if the E. Coli was definitively linked to the milk. Given what I just learned from Mark McAfee, who runs the nation’s largest retail raw milk dairy, it sounds like it may well have originated somewhere else or perhaps the milk was thermalized without having been labeled as such. The interview is published here: . He basically says that thermalized and pasturized milk ARE associated with E. coli, but raw milk is not.
It’s really a shame what happened to those children.
I question the CDC statistics. This is not to say it never happens, but our dairy had a recall last year because two children fell ill after buying raw milk off the shelves of X store. I know that X store doesn’t sell this dairy’s raw milk and never has! Nobody on the regular milk drop route got sick either but the official state conclusion was never revised despite these facts. (And no ecoli was ever found on the farm despite extensive testing.)
There were two other ecoli events around the same time as well, one from strawberries sold at a farmer’s market and the other was linked to a petting zoo.
Are you in talking about the farm in OR? I live in the Portland area and am well-acquainted with the e. coli outbreak that recently occurred there and was most certainly a result of one raw dairy farmer. However, the stories I’m hearing from other raw dairy farmers is that the farm in question was not taking the proper precautions, and had perhaps become a little careless in their handling on the product. It behooves everyone to have a good relationship with their farmer and know all the ins and outs of the farm they get their milk from.
Kind of sad that a 12 month old was being weaned off breastmilk, the superior option of all 3 milks on offer.
Well, this is disappointing.
Raw milk is harder to come by (I’d have to drive an hour and a half up into the mountains), but my co-op offers pastured low -temp pastuerized milk, I thought I was doing good getting that. Is that at least better than conventional or uht milk from the grocery store? Sort of a best, better kind of thing? Also, if anyone knows of places in Georgia to get raw cows milk, other than the ones listed on rawmilk.com, that would be much appreciated.
If it’s the best you can get (the low temp pasteurized) then why not culture it? That would go a long way to making it alive again. Kefir is so easy – just add the grain and put it on the counter. 🙂
Where I live (Columbus, OH), we have a few different options for pastured milk. One is a non homogenized but high temp pasteurized brand. Another is non-homogenized and LOW temp pasteurized. And finally, there are a few farms that offer herd shares. We have used all 3 types and are now happily on the 100% raw milk. But I want to share our experiences with making kefir using all 3 kinds. The kefir grains grew very slowly with the high temp milk. They grew much faster with the low temp milk. And they are virtually unstoppable with raw milk. I say all that to say that yes, kefir is best when you can’t get raw milk. But if all you can get is low temp, go for it!!! If the kefir can tell the difference, our bodies can too.
It’s definitely better than the stuff at the store. When we lived in TX, we had to drive an hour to an hour and a half (at least) to get the foods we wanted but it was worth it. We’d get 3-4 gallons at a time and freeze them…the milk was always delicious and fresh when defrosted and made yogurt, etc with no problems. We do that now with raw cream, because it’s harder for us to find on a regular basis. Luckily we now live where we can buy raw milk at the grocery store (one reason we decided to move where we are!) lol
Courtney, I used to lived in GA and I got my milk from Carlton Farms. Not sure if you looked them up already but they have SEVERAL drop points.
good luck!
The people who could help you find raw milk in Georgia are listed here: http://www.westonaprice.org/local-chapters/find-local-chapter#ga