Our family has been drinking raw milk since 2006.  Personally I never realized the effect pasteurized milk had on my system until my second pregnancy.  With my first pregnancy I had horrible acid reflux and I puked a LOT in my third trimester.  I chalked it up to pregnancy hormones and that was just my lot in life.  It was during my third trimester of my second pregnancy that I was able to correlate the puking with pasteurized dairy.  We were only drinking raw milk at that time and I wasn’t puking.  But whenever I consumed pasteurized dairy products like ice cream I would throw it up within 30 minutes.

We’ve gotten our raw milk locally near Kansas City from a variety of different farmers over the past 6 years.  We prefer raw A2 milk from Guernsey or Jersey cows but supply isn’t the easiest to find.  When we can’t find A2 milk we will get raw milk from a Holstein farmer south of Lee’s Summit.  A1 raw milk is still 100 times better than pasteurized milk.

I feel confident that my children are getting the wholesome milk that their bodies need to grow.  I also love that our family can make butter, yogurt, cheese, kefir, and other yummy foods from scratch with no added ingredients.  Kevin and I hope to have a farm someday and raise A2 milk cows to sell their wonderful milk.  Below is more information on the risks of pasteurized milk and the benefits of raw milk.

Some truths about milk:

“DANGERS OF PASTEURIZED MILK: Many studies have linked consumption of pasteurized milk with lactose intolerance, allergies, asthma, frequent ear infections, gastro-Intestinal problems, diabetes, auto-Immune disease, attention deficit disorder and constipation. During a period of rapid population growth, the market for fluid pasteurized milk has declined at 1% per year for the past 20 years. Fewer and fewer consumers can tolerate pasteurized (and ultrapasteurized) milk (Don’t Drink Your Milk, Frank Oski, MD, 1983).

LACTOSE INTOLERANCE: In a survey of raw milk drinkers in the state of Michigan, over 80 percent of those advised by a healthcare professional that they were lactose intolerant were able to consume raw milk without problem. (LactoseIntoleranceSurvey.doc).

PROTECTIVE COMPONENTS: Raw milk contains numerous components that assist in:

• Killing pathogens in the milk (lactoperoxidase, lactoferrin, leukocytes, macrophages, neutrophils, antibodies, medium chain fatty acids, lysozyme, B12 binding protein, bifidus factor, beneficial bacteria);
• Preventing pathogen absorption across the intestinal wall (polysaccharides, oligosaccharides, mucins, fibronectin, glycomacropeptides, bifidus factor, beneficial bacteria);
• Strengthening the Immune System (lymphocytes, immunoglobulins, antibodies, hormones and growth factors) (Scientific American, December 1995; British J of Nutrition, 2000:84(Suppl. 1):S3-S10, S75-S80, S81-S89).

FORTY-YEAR-OLD SCIENCE AND ANCIENT HISTORY: Claims that raw milk is unsafe are based on 40-year-old science and century-old experiences from distillery dairy “factory farms” in rapidly urbanizing nineteenth century America.”  Realmilk.com

The type of cow your milk comes from is just as important:

“All proteins are long chains of amino acids. Beta casein is a chain 229 amino acids in length. Cows who produce this protein in their milk with a proline at number 67 are called A2 cows, and are the older breeds of cows (e.g. Jerseys, Asian and African cows). But some 5,000 years ago, a mutation occurred in this proline amino acid, converting it to histidine. Cows that have this mutated beta casein are called A1 cows, and include breeds like Holstein.

Proline has a strong bond to a small protein called BCM 7, which helps keep it from getting into the milk, so that essentially no BCM 7 is found in the urine, blood or GI tract of old-fashioned A2 cows. On the other hand, histidine, the mutated protein, only weakly holds on to BCM 7, so it is liberated in the GI tract of animals and humans who drink A1 cow milk.

BCM 7 has been shown to cause neurological impairment in animals and people exposed to it, especially autistic and schizophrenic changes. BCM 7 interferes with the immune response, and injecting BCM 7 in animal models has been shown to provoke type 1 diabetes. Dr. Woodford’s book presents research showing a direct correlation between a population’s exposure to A1 cow’s milk and incidence of autoimmune disease, heart disease, type 1 diabetes, autism, and schizophrenia.”  Mercola

So where can you buy raw milk?:

A list of farmers in the US who sell raw milk can be found at RealMilk.com

“CURRENT SITUATION FOR RAW MILK SALES IN USA

• Retail sales are legal in 10 states
• On-farm sales are legal in 15 states
• Herd shares are legal in 4 states
• There is no law on herd shares in 6 states
• Pet food sales are legal in 4 states, implying that human consumption is feasible
• Raw milk sales are illegal in 11 states and the District of Columbia

SITUATION IN EUROPE: Raw milk sales legal in England, Wales and most of Europe; sold in vending machines in several European countries.” realmilk.com

Below is one of my favorite videos of a couple using a raw milk vending machine in Slovenia.  There is a built in UV ray to prevent bacteria contamination.  I want one of these on my farm someday.

A friend sent me this link after I posted the above information.  All dairy cows in Missouri have to be hormone free and the cow must be rested if antibiotics are used.  So if you are getting local Missouri milk you don’t have to worry about those.  Grassfed vs organic grain fed vs. conventional grain fed information is also something to look into from the farmer.  A good article with more information about milk and all the options can be found at this blog.