Is this better than storebought milk?
http://www.ehow.com/info_8218729_physical-characteristics-raw-milk-detail.html
I’m not aware that feeding grass to potatoes gives any benefits.
I do know one benefit of raw milk: tuberculosis.
Another article from the same site how to drink raw milk, linked to from that page. Doesn’t look quite as wonderful now, does it?
So why the difference between the articles? eHow.com is what’s called a content mill. Until 2010 it accepted any submission on any topic from any person. That’s how it grew so big. You’ll notice these articles aren’t signed or dated. The article the OP cited is standard raw milk propaganda. And I mean that literally. It cites the Campaign for Real Milk which is an arm of the Weston A. Price Foundation, the leading propagandists for quack notions about milk. If you ever see either of those names in an article about milk, run, and then scrub down your computer screen. Or maybe you should do that in the other order.
What do potatoes have to do with the price of beans?
Note that this article mentions 35 people who “have gotten tuberculosis from contaminated cheese or raw milk”, but then exclusively discusses cases of tuberculosis from eating Mexican cheese made from raw milk (which cheese was probably not legal to import). IOW, it isn’t especially pertinent to the OP’s question.
Note this at the end of the article: “Joe Baca, a spokesman for the Food and Drug Administration, said it was now rare for cattle here to be infected with the bacteria” - which seems to support conventional rural wisdom that raw milk from local healthy cows is okay.
I was visiting a friend lately who works on a farm, he brought unpasteurised milk home. I was thinking I’d try it - until I saw it. Full of specks of dirt and even flies. He sieved it and heated it and I chanced putting it in my tea after that. Oddly enough though, it was so dirty because they intended it to be pasteurised. I’ve heard this is a fairly common approach on dairy farms. Not very inspiring either way…
Nearly all Swiss (mountain) cheese is made from raw milk btw. You know the famous Gruyere, and what’s the other one, Emmental, etc etc. But I presume they have very high standards - I’ve never heard of anyone having problems with it.
We buy raw milk from these folks. We’ve been to the dairy, and their milk is not “full of dirt and even flies”: perhaps because it is *not *meant to be pasteurized, it’s meant to be bottled and drunk.
I’m not going to try to convince anyone here that it’s “better” than any other milk, but I will tell you that it *tastes *far better. And having seen the operation in person, I’m not at all concerned about the safety. Your mileage may vary.
I have visited family-run commercial dairy farms in my area and tasted raw milk. The cows are milked using milking machines. The cows’ udders are washed before the machines are attached and there is no opportunity for “dirt and flies” to get in. I have also milked goats by hand and there was no dirt in there, either.
The dirt and flies came from the bucket, not out of the cow.
What bucket? Cows aren’t usually milked by hand into a bucket. As Cub Mistress said, most farms use milking machines and there are strict procedures for washing the udders, milking machines, pipes, tanks, etc.
That was kind of my point - if indirectly.
When the milk is going to be pastuerised, people (farmers and/or or people in the creamery) feel they can do anything to/with it, seeing as it’s going to be sterilised (I’m not saying this is the norm, but I have seen it personally).
OTOH if it’s not going to be sterilised, great care has to be taken with it. If I had the option, I’d certainly try it raw.
Unless you have personally inspected the premises AND have the knowledge to understand hygenic conditions for milk production, you’de have to be insane to drink raw milk. Milk is a virtually ideal growth medium for bacteria. MMMM, hepatitis.
I don’t buy that pasteurized milk is treated more unsafely than unpasteurized milk. Milk is one of the most thoroughly inspected and regulated industries in the US.
Too late to edit:
It’s kind of like saying you’re less likely to get pregnant without a condom, because without it you’ll be more careful.
The farmers and creamery workers frequently buy the end products of the dairy farm, (cheese, sour cream, butter, milk) the same as you and I do. Very few make their own, they don’t have time! They don’t want milk with dirt and flies strained out any more than you do. I have very strong doubts you saw a commercial dairy operation, at least not in the US.
Alternatively, you could obtain your raw milk from a farmer with a good reputation who has been supplying it to others for a long time without problems. I live in Amish country, and that seems to be the accepted practice here.
The rule of thumb (hoof?) I’ve heard is that you shouldn’t drink raw milk unless you know the cow’s name.
Raw or “sweet” milk is the absolute best for making biscuits. But only buy it from a certified and inspected dairy. I have two great-aunts that died from bovine tuberculosis back in the early years of the 20th century, at about 12 years old. Pre-pasteurization, I guess.