# Can you drink milk straight from the cow? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 2, 2006, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-drink-milk-straight-from-the-cow/378855 "2006-11-02T16:14:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![RumMunkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@RumMunkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RumMunkey)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-drink-milk-straight-from-the-cow/378855/1 "2006-11-02T16:14:11Z")
Doesn’t it need to be boiled, or pasteurized or treated in some way? ---
**Author:** ![FormerMarineGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/65b543/32.png) [@FormerMarineGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FormerMarineGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-drink-milk-straight-from-the-cow/378855/2 "2006-11-02T16:21:21Z")
You can if you want, but I [definitely wouldn’t.](http://www.dietitian.com/fallacie.html) According to the link provided: > [@](#): > > Milk straight from the cow is called raw milk, which is a carrier of several serious diseases. To kill any of these “disease producing bacteria” in milk, you should pasteurize the milk first. The Public Health Department suggests “heating raw milk to at least 161 degrees for 14 seconds and cooling it rapidly to 45 degrees or less”. You should make sure all your pots and utensils are clean before starting. Your county Public Health Department may have a pamphlet on raw milk, call for one. > > Nutritionally, my concern for persons drinking raw milk is centered on the lack of vitamin D in raw milk. Your body needs vitamin D for adequate development of bone and teeth. Children especially need adequate sources of vitamin D to prevent rickets, which is characterized by a bowing of the legs. Before fortification of milk, public schools gave cod liver oil to schoolchildren to prevent rickets and to prevent faulty mineralization of teeth. > > So I would suggest that if you are drinking raw milk, pasteurize it and take vitamin D supplements to meet your Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) of five micrograms for adults (ages 25 to 50), 10 micrograms for children and young adults (ages 6 months to 24 years) and 7.5 micrograms for infants (ages 0 to 6 months). Most fortified milk found in grocery stores has vitamin D added to provide 10 micrograms per quart. ---
**Author:** ![SnakesCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4af34b/32.png) [@SnakesCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnakesCatLady)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-drink-milk-straight-from-the-cow/378855/3 "2006-11-02T16:24:22Z")
I did many times as a kid, but I sure wouldn’t do it now. I hate warm milk. ---
**Author:** ![RumMunkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@RumMunkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RumMunkey)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-drink-milk-straight-from-the-cow/378855/4 "2006-11-02T16:29:53Z")
So suffice it to say that you could, but really shouldn’t drink Milk directly from a cow, and you \*really \*shouldn’t drink any milk from a cow that survived a nuclear war 4 weeks previous. Stupid Hollywood writers :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-drink-milk-straight-from-the-cow/378855/5 "2006-11-02T16:33:42Z")
[QUOTE=RumMunkey] Doesn’t it need to be boiled, or pasteurized or treated in some way? [/QUOTE] Nah. You just scape the manure off the udders, milk into a pail, scoop the dead flies out of it and drink away. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![diggleblop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@diggleblop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/diggleblop)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-drink-milk-straight-from-the-cow/378855/6 "2006-11-02T16:36:41Z")
Yes, my mom grew up on a farm and drank it everyday from cows and goats. ---
**Author:** ![slaphead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@slaphead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slaphead)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-drink-milk-straight-from-the-cow/378855/7 "2006-11-02T17:06:07Z")
[QUOTE=RumMunkey] Doesn’t it need to be boiled, or pasteurized or treated in some way? [/QUOTE] Well, the relevant groups of humanity managed reasonably OK for approx 5,000-7,000 years without bothering with any of those, unless you count making it into cheese or yoghurt as a treatment. Raw milk may pose a slightly higher health risk, but it’s not exactly a Deadly BioHazard ™ ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-drink-milk-straight-from-the-cow/378855/8 "2006-11-02T17:09:07Z")
Look, the reason there is such concern for contamination in the milk supply is that contaminated milk from one cow gets dumped into giant tanks with the milk from every other cow in the dairy. So one smear of manure on one cow can contaminate a whole tank, that tank gets shipped to a processing plant where it could be mixed with more milk, and pretty soon that one little dab of manure has contaminated the entire milk supply of north america. But drinking raw milk is not poison. The hysteria about raw milk is just crazy. Yes, pastuerization is essential for our industrialized dairy practices. But not when you milk one cow into one pail and drink that milk. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-drink-milk-straight-from-the-cow/378855/9 "2006-11-02T17:14:18Z")
Since the question has been answered, I’ll saw this question surprised me. A lot of our parents were farmers, for Og’s sakes! I mean it wasn’t that long ago. In India people still keep cows and drink their milk, I’ve drunk it straight from the cow (and it was awful, but that’s beside the point). On to another question - Is there some law in the States or any other country that you have to boil/pasteurize it first? I have a vague memory of going to a 4-H fair in the States where they gave me milk from the cow without boiling it. I milked it myself and then drank it. Or so I think. And one more. What do farmers here in the States do? I don’t mean the big dairy farmers, I mean don’t people just keep a few cows for themselves on small farms? Do they boil the milk first all the time? ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-drink-milk-straight-from-the-cow/378855/10 "2006-11-02T17:18:06Z")
You can get [brucellosis](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brucellosis) from drinking raw milk. Read that Flannery O’Connor story called “The Enduring Chill” for an entertaining treatment of the same. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-drink-milk-straight-from-the-cow/378855/11 "2006-11-02T17:31:06Z")
You don’t drink it straight from the cow - you chill it first. It’s wonderful - has approximately the same relationship to grocery store milk that ripe tomatoes fresh from your garden have to the kind you’re served at McDonalds in the middle of winter. This isn’t surprising when you consider that packaged milk is nearly always several days to a week old and had been roughly poked and prodded during that time. As Lemur866 notes, the actual hazards of drinking raw milk from a healthy cow, while not zero, are quite low. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-drink-milk-straight-from-the-cow/378855/12 "2006-11-02T17:33:53Z")
I really have to disagree that it’s wonderful, though! It’s a matter if taste. I find it lumpy and yucky. And waaaaay too thick for someone accustomed to drinking 2%. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-drink-milk-straight-from-the-cow/378855/13 "2006-11-02T17:35:18Z")
[QUOTE=Anaamika] What do farmers here in the States do? … don’t people just keep a few cows for themselves on small farms? Do they boil the milk first all the time? [/QUOTE] FWIW, I’ve met more than a few who happily consume milk raw. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-drink-milk-straight-from-the-cow/378855/14 "2006-11-02T17:39:30Z")
[QUOTE=Anaamika] It’s a matter if taste. I find it lumpy and yucky. And waaaaay too thick for someone accustomed to drinking 2%. [/QUOTE] I never normally drink whole milk - indeed I don’t drink much even at 2% and below. But I would certainly jump at the chance for raw milk. It’s as you say: a matter of taste. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-drink-milk-straight-from-the-cow/378855/15 "2006-11-02T17:42:30Z")
[QUOTE=Anaamika] And one more. What do farmers here in the States do? I don’t mean the big dairy farmers, I mean don’t people just keep a few cows for themselves on small farms? Do they boil the milk first all the time? [/QUOTE] I had several relatives that were family dairy farmers. They would take a pitcher out to the milking barn at milking time and and fill it up. Definitely warm and not all that tasty. Since the cream flecks floated on top, if you put in ice cubes you got cream spotted cubes. Anti-yum! In the days the early individual milkers and milk cans, there was a sieve that was placed on the top of a milk can. A paper filter was put in the sieve and the milk from the milker was poured thru that into the can. (The cats that hung around the barn loved the filters when they were discarded!) The lids were put on the cans (using the most ancient wooden mallets in the universe) and put into cold water tanks until the dairy truck picked them up. Later, instead of individual milking devices, plastic tubing was used so that the milk flowed straight from the cows to a central collector in the barn (but then still into cans). One relative had a “chiller” system that cooled the milk a little before it went into the can. Then the cans went away and one big chilled tank was used. The dairy tank truck would pull up, hook a hose to the tank and transfer it. In that era there was finally chilled milk readily available at any time. Note that in the era that I was visiting, there was regular testing of the cows, their milk as well as antibiotics. The chances of the classic milkborne diseases were quite small. Vitamin D supplements are only really needed if a child doesn’t get enough sunshine. I.e., growing up in a crowded city with thick coal haze. A kid living on a farm is sure to get plenty of exposure to sunlight. Note that a lot of groups are lactose intolerant and going without milk (and the added Vitamin D) is almost not an issue. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-drink-milk-straight-from-the-cow/378855/16 "2006-11-02T17:44:08Z")
[QUOTE=Anaamika] Since the question has been answered, I’ll saw this question surprised me. A lot of our parents were farmers, for Og’s sakes! I mean it wasn’t that long ago. In India people still keep cows and drink their milk, I’ve drunk it straight from the cow (and it was awful, but that’s beside the point). On to another question - Is there some law in the States or any other country that you have to boil/pasteurize it first? I have a vague memory of going to a 4-H fair in the States where they gave me milk from the cow without boiling it. I milked it myself and then drank it. Or so I think. And one more. What do farmers here in the States do? I don’t mean the big dairy farmers, I mean don’t people just keep a few cows for themselves on small farms? Do they boil the milk first all the time? [/QUOTE] The state laws I’m familiar with mostly mandate that any milk _for sale to the public_ must be pasteurized. The raw milk states often get around those laws by allowing people to buy shares in the cows, making them legally part-owners. Owners, i.e. farmers, can do as they like with their own milk. Other states, however, say that farms must register and be inspected to ensure they comply with strict standards to sell raw milk. Upon searching, I found [this site](http://www.realmilk.com/milk-laws-1.html), which summarizes the raw milk laws for every state. Apparently Michigan does make raw milk illegal for all but is winking at some cowshare programs. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-drink-milk-straight-from-the-cow/378855/17 "2006-11-02T18:04:18Z")
[QUOTE=Anaamika] And one more. What do farmers here in the States do? I don’t mean the big dairy farmers, I mean don’t people just keep a few cows for themselves on small farms? Do they boil the milk first all the time? [/QUOTE] Almost no farmers in the US own[milch (ha, I’ll bet you didn’t know that’s the proper term) cows](http://www.thefreedictionary.com/milch+cows) any more. ---
**Author:** ![ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-drink-milk-straight-from-the-cow/378855/18 "2006-11-02T18:11:10Z")
When I was a kid (I’m 32) we’d get one of those huge glass mayo jars full of fresh cowsmilk from our neighbor, about once a week. Mmmmm. When I milked cows in college, an older lady lived in the cottage attached to the milking barn, and every few days she’d come to the cold holding tank and fill up a small saucepan to make homemade pudding. MMMMMMMM!!! ---
**Author:** ![Tully\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7ab992/32.png) [@Tully\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tully_Mars)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-drink-milk-straight-from-the-cow/378855/19 "2006-11-02T18:40:31Z")
**Can you drink milk straight from the cow.** You can, but it’s inconvenient and a little dangerous. You have to lay on you back or get down on your knees on the ground under the cow. It’s rough on the back and neck and the damned old hussy is liable to step on you. Or shit on you. It’s much easier to put it in a bucket and drink from the bucket. Seriously, there is an increased risk of bacteria being passed through the milk if it has not been pastuerized. But, personally, it’s one of those things I wouldn’t worry about if you’re in control of the cow’s food source. Straight from the cow, it’s not homogenized, so you develop the habit of shaking up the container when you take it out of the fridge to mix the butterfat back into it. I still catch myself doing that from time to time. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-drink-milk-straight-from-the-cow/378855/20 "2006-11-02T18:52:27Z")
[QUOTE=Anaamika] And one more. What do farmers here in the States do? I don’t mean the big dairy farmers, I mean don’t people just keep a few cows for themselves on small farms? Do they boil the milk first all the time? [/QUOTE] My mom grew up on a farm, and when we visited, we simply had raw milk. Never boiled it or anything. I miss the creamy taste of real milk. 🙂 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-drink-milk-straight-from-the-cow/378855.md?page=2)