My family has been drinking grass-fed raw milk for almost 20 years now. Since that time, I have watched the war against farm-fresh dairy evolve from something the government basically ignored (because there were so few people doing it) to the present day policy which is to harass and illegally shut down small dairy farms across the county essentially bankrupting them in the process.
Remember the old quotation from Gandhi?
First they ignore at you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.
We are clearly in the last phase of the war against raw milk and there is no doubt that the right for the consumer to choose healthy farm fresh foods will win. But there is still a long way to go.
This new phase of the raw milk war now involves consumers as well as farmers. Considered off-limits in the past, consumers are being harassed and threatened with trumped-up charges like allowing local farmers to deliver on their property.
Government officials are writing up phony cease and desist letters in the name of the FDA even where the FDA has absolutely no jurisdiction in order to frighten consumers away from procuring dairy from their own privately owned cows tended by farmers contracted with via herd share agreements.
Clearly these are desperate measures by a government that realizes they are losing the battle to scare consumers away from this healthy, nutrient-dense food.
In the early days of the war, government warnings that raw milk would make you sick and that those who drank it were playing Russian roulette with their health were enough to scare the majority of consumers away from seeking and trying it for themselves. With distrust of the government at an all-time high, these tactics are no longer working.
One gal new to farm-fresh dairy told me recently that if the government was against raw milk, that must mean she should drink it and that it was good for her!
With the old battle strategies ineffective, this new phase against raw milk involves trying to reason with consumers to dissuade them logically from consuming raw milk.  This “I’m one of you and here are my concerns” approach seems very real and sensible at first, but in reality, it is the propaganda snake simply shedding its skin and taking a new form all in the name of confusing the consumer into inaction.
Take a look at the slick, professional video below by “Food Poison Expert” and attorney Bill Marler. This short clip demonstrates this new approach to divert consumers away from raw milk very clearly. His website “Real Raw Milk Facts” even goes so far as to use the lingo of the Real Food movement.
Be warned if you are new to raw dairy. This tactic is just the same old raw milk propaganda repackaged in a more subtle and insidious way to infiltrate and fight the raw milk war from the inside and on the fringes of the Real Food Movement. Will it work?
Not a chance. Consumers are becoming way to savvy nowadays to fall for this type of baloney. But it is helpful to expose the new tools of war just the same.
Actually Jenn, some people don’t do a good job of cleaning the teats.
I can certainly see how someone might feel inclined to “harass” a person they felt was threatening them. And the gun of the law is very much a threat.
It’s just plain crazy that raw milk is illegal, especially in the dairy state!
We need to send “cease and desist letters” to the gov’t.
Fduh – says it all! Idiots. Stop meddling and let me drink and eat what I choose to without your messing it up!
It still astonishes me that the majority of folks don’t even question whether or not something is true? I work in healthcare and see this EVERY DAY! I have patients that get sick from a medicine and when I question whether that could be the cause of their illness, they assure me that it is not a side effect. When I check into it…AMAZING! It IS!!! Teach your kids to test everything! Don’t just assume someone else did and that it is true. FIND OUT FOR YOURSELF! Thanks Sarah for being willing to put up with complete ignorance on some folk’s part and helping those who are trying desperately to find good nutrition and wellness for our families! God bless!
i think this is a great point – there are plenty of even industry-admitted risks that go along with conventional healthcare. it’s important to know the facts before making a decision, but we should have the right to actually obtain the facts and make our own decisions (neither of which does it seem the government wants to allow us to do in this matter).
wouldn’t it be interesting if the government banned OTC and prescription drugs because of the high possibility of negative side effects?
It is good to see that there are more comments on this thread made by people in the affirmative, than people we had stick with us after the first State action against cowshares at Clearview Acres in 2001.
We continue to make progress, and sappy well shot scare tatics no longer have the fear they once held over us.
Keep drinking and eat well…
Tim Wightman
We bought two goats this summer to help ensure our access to raw milk. We’ve been drinking it for 11 years now. But I know not everyone can do that!
I love your site! We have been drinking raw milk for twenty years (my husband for his whole life). The battle for the government to get out of the way of our good health has been a long one and is not yet over. My husband’s father went to jail back in the eighties over the freedom to choose alternative therapies for cancer treatment. And though there has been some give there is so far to go. Now we have a government regulating what can be grown in front yards, and what we choose to put into our bodies. As citizens, we must say, “Enough!” We were born into a “free” country that is losing its freedoms left and right. I appreciate blogs such as yours that are willing to say the hard things, and hopefully we will have ears to hear.
Why does the government need to be involved in our food choices? If they feel the need there certainly are enough chemicals in our corrupted food supply that they could target if they want to be involved. This fat unhealthy country could use some fast food, chemical additive, GMO, and multi-national food police!!! Easier to pick on the little farmers who are producing good healthy food choices.
@Bubbe Nan You go girl!!!
PS: Bubbe Nan is my mother-in-law. How lucky am I? 🙂
I know! Raw, delicious, natural milk is labled as bad, while Doritos is on every shelf. Go figure!
In response to the video- I don’t give a rat’s @$$ what “science” says. I’m severely lactose intolerant. If I dare to eat a small ice cream cone with fewer than 2 Lactaid tablets, I’m running for the hills an hour later (with 2 Lactaids, I’m just uncomfortable for a few hours). With raw and low-temp pasteurized milk, I’m fine. I feel better on raw, but if the degree of pasteurization affects the degree of my discomfort, I think that’s a pretty good indicator that pasteurization isn’t good for me.
Though, he’s right in that raw milk didn’t CURE me of lactose intolerance, but if I’m drinking raw, there’s nothing to cure.
I’m with you! If there is ANY pasturized dairy hidden in other food even, I get sick. So many people are “allergic” to milk, or intolerant. I don’t have this problem with raw dairy and I also make my own dairy products. So much better. Seems wrong that the “good” stuff makes us sick. Not really, just saying.