Raw Milk
In the evening, just before the pigs dinner I let them out into the field for a run and a grass munch. There is not a lot of grass yet so there is still a danger of them rooting. So their grass break is not very long. But they eat the whole time.Pigs! Then they are called in for their dinner washing it down with a drink of raw milk.
Are you pregnant Poppy? (there has been no sign of her coming back into heat but you know I won’t believe it until I see the udder). See how she is losing hair on her back? It may just be seasonal shedding but today I am going to rub all the pigs all over with DE (Diatomaceous earth). If it is an external parasite that should clear it up.
I spent a lot of time yesterday afternoon with the small wire cutters trimming Tima’s nails. They are very tough and I find the wire cutters the best thing for the job. It is important with the kunekune to handle their feet often so this job goes easily. Tima has terrible hooves. They drink a little raw milk too. 
Naomi says hullo. She is seven days old today. She drinks a lot of raw milk.
Lady Astor washing her baby. She provides us with the raw milk made with good clean green grass.
When I am working with the cows and calves Boo has to stay outside the gate.
Boo hates to be out of the action especially when Naomi pulls faces and laughs at him. (Boo and Ton get raw milk for breakfast too)
And now I have raw milk in the fridge and soon it will be in my coffee. This is from yesterday’s milking – so you can see the thick cream. It takes a good 12 hours to separate up.
Today, I will skim that cream out- later today I will start a yoghurt with the milk and by tomorrow afternoon I will make raw cultured butter and by the weekend I will be making a fresh rosemary and chilli cheese. (Yes, I have rosemary and chillis growing in the glasshouse). I love the fresh cheese. Oh the joy of it. This lovely life. I will make more muesli today too, that is the best with cream!
And on Friday we drink White Russians!
I drink the milk raw of course. This is grass fed raw milk. The best of the best. I cannot stomach pasteurised milk but raw – I can drink as much as I like.(Raw milk is not for everyone of course and that is fine, I am not trying to start an argument, people get so heated (joke) over the raw milk discussion but for me it is a simple and powerful medicine.) I don’t sell it, I milk my cow for myself, my husband and my animals. But once I am back with raw milk in my diet all my aches and pains disappear. The soles of my feet no longer throb, the broken cracked skin on my hands clears up, my joints ease (and I am not old – just old injuries). My hay-fever goes away. My tiredness lifts. It is my magic! That and the summer of course, this beach girl LOVES the sun. I am a lucky girl.
Here is an interesting article I read the other day looking at the links between raw milk and alleviating arthritis. And if you can find raw milk it is a case of Know your Farmer. Only ever buy from the source, at the farm and inspect her set up first. Milk is a live food, it must be handled correctly. And also ask what the cows are eating – good green pasture is king!
Have a lovely day.
Your friend on the farm
celi
79 Comments on “Raw Milk”
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Great news that you are getting enough milk besides nourishing Naomi. I didn’t know that raw milk was helpful with arthritis (which is my major source of pain). This is dairy country, so I should be able to find some.
Enjoy the season and the milk.
love,
ViVx
I call myself Naomi’s twin. I only take my share.. If you do get some raw milk, remember to start slow – the enzymes will get to work cleaning up your belly and this is best done with sips at a time.. I start with it in my coffee then work up to two glasses a day after a week or so.. c
Thanks for the good advice: I am a bit of a bull at a gate, so the warning was necessary.
Yay, its summer on the Farmy – White Russians 🙂 I find the Kahlua on its own solves most of those problems too 🙂 You know you almost make me want to try raw milk … but no it won’t happen mainly because ‘raw milk’ doesn’t exist around here, in the city. Strawberry daquiri’s /spritzers next. Good to see Sheila and Poppy out and about in the sun. Laura
Oh strawberry daquiris! Yes!
I know the pigs will enjoy a good massage with the DE. I hope Poppy will stand still long enough. Naomi is very cute and does make funny faces. I’m glad Lady A grooms her. A good mom does that even if she forgets where she leaves her. Enjoy the milk/cream. It looks delicious! Good morning C.
Poppy is s sucker for a belly rub, I aim my fingers at her belly and she rolls over!! c
The battle about raw vs. processed milk is definitely a foolish one. I agree with you on the subject and I’m fortunate to live in a state where I can buy it directly from the farm… Love to make my own butter!!!!
Do you culture it? I love the taste of cultured butter.. c
I bet you have the best morning coffee with that cream!
The best!!
I love raw milk. We owned part of a cow..(who knew that was possible!) and were able to receive raw milk each week. Sadly, we didn’t drink enough of it to make it financially feasible so we stopped. And when it turned to buttermilk!! Ah, the best biscuits in the world. 🙂 If I could get just 1 qt a week it would be perfect. Enjoy that fresh milk!!
That is the most brilliant way Carol. Here in BC it’s also illegal to sell raw milk but people found this way around it. I hope you find a farm to share just a little milk with. 😀
Just a couple of glasses a day will help create that lovely gut balance that is crucial to health.. c
And here I am taking daily probiotics at upwards of $50/month to get the same thing!
It’s illegal to sell raw milk here, and the whole argument was badly inflamed recently when someone fed raw ‘pet milk’ to her child and that child died from TB contracted from the milk… It would be difficult to find a farmer willing to risk the consequences. But I agree that nutritionally raw is better, tastes better, and makes outstanding cheese by comparison.
Yes, I read about that. Who the hell would a) Buy raw milk in a supermarket. b) Pet milk ! and c) give it to a CHILD . Did she save a sample of the milk for it to be tested for TB? My mother had tuberculosis. They immunise for it in NZ now. TB does not show up an hour after a cup of milk. Too many issues surrounding that childs death. And the media with all its own inflammations. Poor wee kid. c
A few years ago I lived in northern NSW, in dairy country. I could, let’s say, acquire a few litres of fresh raw milk by roundabout means, and used to make cheese with it. So much more flavour. I knew the herd, knew the farmer, and trusted him. Sadly, these days, milk is a bit of an academic subject for me. I’ve discovered I am very deficient in lactase and have to steer clear of milk, cream, yoghurt and fresh cheeses. 😦
I love the cheese! Sorry you can no longer eat it … ah well. c
raw milk cheese is made and sold locally to me: Camembert. But you have to read the label.
Camembert – yum
Lucky you!
I’m lactose intolerant and raw milk is one thing I can actually consume without pain, a beautiful thing.
This is So common nowadays.. pasteurisation kills a very important enzyme that allows us to digest milk. (Well you know all that) i am surprised so many people CAN drink the ultra P’d milk. When I am not milking a cow then milk is not on my menu either,P’d just makes me hurt and feel nauseous. c
Two Naomi faces this morning…priceless 🙂
She is a lovely wee cow and still very friendly.. c
Naomi is a precious wee calf.
I wish I could get hold of raw milk – sounds like the perfect elixir for everything.
Have a beautiful and happy day C. We are cold and miserable here with rain to boot.
🙂 Mandy xo
Oh no, cold and miserable – how is your garden?
Oh Naomi!!! Sweetness.
Can’t wait to get fresh milk again from our goats!!!! Should be happening mid-May!!! 🙂
I can recall the days long ago when the milkj that we had at my Grandada’s house was served straight from the urn on a horse and cart. It would be ladled into a jug and covered with a lacy thing with beads around it….also when we went to Wales we went to the farmer for some milk and that was straight from the cow whilst we waited….nowadays..it is from the suoermarket, semi skimmed, pasturised, homogonized and any other ‘ized…it tastes nothing like proper milk but that is all that we have now.
When we first came here you could get fresh milk, which we did have, but it was in lemonade or other such 2ltr bottles and one lot of milk we had tasted of beer…the bottle had not been washed…it was disgusting! I dread to think of what germs etc we could possibly have drunk….
Be sure to click on the link about raw milk and arthritis – it isn’t just arthritis. From Weston Price Fdn. enlightening! Getting raw milk anywhere has become a serious problem for those who wish to drink it. It has become an underground operation and secretive – who would have imagined 50 years ago that raw milk would be something to be hidden and worked almost like it was an addictive drug! We live in crazy times. Anyway, Celia, well done on your wisdom and good for you that you have access to it! YUM
I always say – the closer we can get to God’s created food as it was intended – the healthier we will all be. Nothing against modern refrigeration and storage methods – – – especially since they can keep those natural foods longer for our consumption.
Have a lovely day!!!
Naomi is looking so glossy and well, she is so sweet ! I wish I could get hold of raw milk, sounds just the thing I need! x
I have just been looking on the internet, and I can get raw milk from a farm in Buckinghamshire, quite a way away though. But there are farms scattered around the uk that do sell raw milk. They are not allowed to sell in shops though.
I love the photo of Lady A grooming Naomi. I have never had raw milk. I do not like pasteurized milk – I never have been able to stomach the taste. So, it would take a lot of courage for me to try raw milk… but gee, all of those health benefits you talk about make it mighty tempting for me to try it. Maybe when I come to visit I can try… at the very least I KNOW I love butter and cheese!!! Ha ha!
I am a great fan of raw milk myself, and it’s legal to buy it in SC. There is one local dairy just down the road (Milky Way Dairy) that sells raw jersey milk, which is ABSOLUTE HEAVEN. Goes for a bout $8/gallon, and believe it or not, you can even get it in the local grocery in a plastic jug (though I am no fan of plastic) just like any other old milk. I’m still not used to it after seven years in NC, where raw milk was highly prized but completely illegal. (People got around it through cowshares and the like, of course.) There are so many things I wish SC regulated a little more, but I’m glad they leave the milk alone!
It is illegal to sell raw milk here in Texas. However, folks get around it. They sell something else (ie:carrots) and you get a gallon of milk for free. 😉
A gallon of carrots please!
I remember the nudge-nudge-wink-wink transactions of raw milk in the US. It’s a shame. In France, they have raw milk vending machines! buck a litre!
WOW! In Chicago there is a black market, though it is not actually illegal to sell it here, but they love a black market up in chicago.. there are cafes where they meet to do the exchanges!
You are udderly fixated. 😉
Get mine from a local farmer, and arrive early on Monday mornings just as he is finishing the milking of his small Jersey herd, so I know it is as fresh as can be! had friends visit and put cream in a little jug for their coffee – that couldn’t say enough on how great my coffee was and was surprised when I told them it was cream off the top of my milk! They use that dreadful artificial cream ‘delight’ !!
artificial cream, that is an anachronism if ever I heard one!
I was at an ecological center yesterday with it’s farm and I saw a calf nursing and noted just how thick and white that raw milk was! It must be good stuff 🙂
I remember the big cans of milk being transported to the creamery at our farm in Germany. For a while we had a small creamery in the village. What I liked the best was the wonderful butter our milk produced.
I will concentrate on the healthy sheen on those cows avoiding the stuff in the fridge. We did have raw milk delivered to our house when I was young, but a TB scare meant the herd had to be put down and our family at that stage moved to the bottled kind. Raw or doctored, my body could not tolerate it.
I just read somewhere, someone said something like…some, some, some…It’s absolutely absurd that we live in a culture that thinks twinkies, cocoa puffs and mountain dew are good foods and raw milk is not! The best milk I ever had was raw goat’s milk and can’t get that either, for many of the same absurd reasons. I’ve never had raw cow’s milk but I’m sure it is just as wonderful and good for you as the goats!
I love Naomi’s sweet, little face!
I have never had raw milk. I can’t digest milk fats very efficiently due to a hereditary condition, but it sounds like magic! I’m glad you’ve got the milk flowing on the farmy now!
You are so lucky to be having the raw milk and making cheese. We pick our goat up next week and I certainly can’t wait to make cheese! You mentioned rubbing DE on for external parasites, would you give it internally to any of your animals?
YUP. it goes in their feed, esp for the chickens. Though the pigs hate it when I add it, the cows don’t seem to mind. However when it comes to internal parasites in pigs, i bring out the big guns, I lost a pig once to round worm.. do not want that to happen again.. c
Poor Boo – the cows are a bit big to be dog babies 😉
Lucky you to have all that milk. I was brought up on raw milk and wish it was still available but alas, dairy herds are few and far between in this part of the country.
I didn’t know there’s a black market here in Chicago for raw milk. I think I’m allergic to cows’ milk so now I’m drinking soy milk in my coffee. What do you think of soy milk, Cecilia?
Naomi is so cute! Are those her teeth she’s showing?
Yes those are her teeth. I don’t know much about soy really. So I tend to avoid it. c
Soy can cause problems with thyroid in some people – not all, but it is a concern to even pediatricians around here. We used to have local dairy farms, but regulations and big business ended up closing them. There are some local farms, though…but it’s all very hush hush. Important the dairy knows what it is doing to keep all healthy. Back to basic farm diets seem to be beneficial and many are returning to that for many reasons.
So nice you are managing so well with your farm – may encourage others
(Not much cuter than a little calf)
I aways thought I judt didn’t like the flavour of milk but maybe if I get lucky one day and taste the real stuff it will change my view – and be good for me too!
Everything is looking ever so good there, Miss C!
Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
https://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com/sherlock-boomer
I don’t think I’ve ever had raw milk and don’t have much access here, but now I will know to take it easy if I ever get a chance to try some, thanks! Naomi is just a beautiful heifer. Love her “toofy” shot!
My grandparents had a dairy farm so I spent my earliest years drinking milk straight from the cow, sometimes literally! Now when I’m in the country I find myself striking up conversations with likely suspects that may be able to hook me up… no success yet but I’m determined… cow sharing… hmmm.
The raw milk might also help Poppy’s bald patch. I drink my coffee black now but used to love it with a dash of cream. I also dream of homemade butter and cheese, and would drink milk if I could lay my hands on the good stuff.
Oh, we are so lucky too to have a constant supply of raw milk (on the down low) from a nearby farmer. When I was little we would get milk direct, but I stopped drinking milk entirely for over 20 years because it just tasted gross to me. Raw milk bears no resemblance to what’s sold in cartons at the store! Raw milk tastes and feels like food to me; not one of the usual distasteful side effects usually associated with milk. Milk in general may get an unfairly bad rap because of the denaturing processing commercial milk undergoes before it’s deemed “safe” for your fridge (radiation, anyone?). Raw rules!
EllaDee has the right idea-just start chatting up people with a couple cows….
We are lucky too , our neighbor has a cow and we get to milk evenings now for milk! Our children drink a gallon a day and I’ve made cheese and butter, you so can’t beat raw milk I agree!!
that sounds like a great deal!
When we were children growing up in Taranaki raw milk was delivered into our billy at the gate each morning. Then came pasteurisation & I became intolerant. But yoghurt seems to be an OK way to have milk, maybe because it puts the probiotics back in.
wow.. taranaki is a beautiful area.. c
Yes, it’s dairying country plus mountain; a pretty good combination! I grew up around [other people’s] cows & even was introduced to hand-milking, so my ears prick up every time I read ‘milk’ in your posts.
it is a wonderful area, I do wish i had spent more time with cows as a youngster.. c
It’s illegal to sell raw milk here too. I’m fortunate to occasionally get some raw goat milk from a neighbor. I do not like the pasteurized goat milk you can buy in the store but the uber fresh raw I get is wonderful. There is a small dairy that pasteurizes but does not ‘ultra’ pasteurize. I believe that means they don’t heat it as hot or as long as ultra. i know it does have a shorter shelf life and it’s a bit more expensive but tastes much better than the large company brands so that’s my treat to me. The whole thing is silly, farmers no longer milk, dump it in cans and haul it to the dairy, now it goes directly from the cow to a chilled bulk tank to the chilled milk truck, never sees the light of day! Hard to see what could happen to it as long as the cows are healthy!
How does Tima react to her ‘pedicure’? I’ve had to trim the outside ‘claw’ on both Percy’s back feet, they wanted to curl up. If I sneak up on him while he’s napping and have John give him a belly rub it works okay.
The belly rub is the trick, for sure and handling the feet every chance I get whether trimming of not.. but I think it will always be a work in progress, thank goodness i don’t have to trim Poppys!.. c
I think it is legal to buy raw milk here in NZ, although you have to get it straight from the farmer, you can’t buy it in the stores (or I have never seen it, anyway). I would be too afraid to buy it from a store, I would like to be able to see the cows and know the farmer follows good practices, before I would drink the milk raw. My first cousin used to buy raw milk from a farmer and all her family came down with an awful bout of severe food poisoning, which was traced to their raw milk. Thankful it wasn’t something worse! It has put me off a bit, bu I still like the idea, I believe raw milk has so many health benefits, just have to find the right farmer to get it from. For now I am sticking with yoghurt!
I have treated milk every which way and never poisoned myself.. but yes.. yoghurt is wonderful! c
Interesting to read Kate’s comment as I saw another also recent interview where the Govt put a ‘stop’ on the raw ‘bath milk’ many people bought in shops if not supermarkets here in Oz. Firmly off the ‘allowed list’ now!! Not my area of expertise but I know all the milk I drank back in Europe was ‘raw’ and it surely nourished me!! The rosemary and chilli cheese rings all the right bells with me and I’ll be so happy when I know you can have your fave ‘White Russian’s again 🙂 !!
Life is good!.. c
Sleep deeply, sleep well . . . and hopefully life will be good tomorrow also 🙂 !! hugs . . .
It’s been years and years since I’ve had raw milk. I was just a kid riding along with my Uncle when he was delivering chicks (he had a hatchery in Iowa). It seemed that every farm we went to the “city kid” was given a tour, introduced to all the animals then plunked on the porch with a huge glass of fresh cold milk (raw, usually from the morning milking) and home made cookies. Considering we’d go to anywhere from four to six farms a day, I ended up well filled on the milk and cookies which my Aunt wasn’t too pleased about because I really didn’t want any dinner. Wonderful memories. I’d still be more than happy living in a small town, or even better, a small farm. Maybe the next lifetime.
Thank you for teaching me something new today. I did not know that about raw milk. I’m glad it makes you feel better and that’s all that is important.
That is interesting about raw milk Celi .. Must check out that link. What a little honey Naomi is. Give that girl a pat from me please? 🙂
Naomi is a pretty little girl.