The Dairy Industry
1. Excerpts from 'The Mountain Empire's disappearing dairy farms', by Debra McCown
http://www2.tricities.com/news/2010/oct/03/mountain-empires-disappearing-dairy-farms-ar-538952/
'...According to the National Agricultural Statistics Service, in 1950 there were more than 3,000 farms with dairy cows in Washington County Virginia. By 1987, that number had dropped to just more than 150.
'...In 2007, the most recent agricultural census counted just 34 farms with dairy cows. Now, only 10 dairies remain in the county, and some of them are hanging on by a thread.
'...The system that existed is recalled as equally idyllic by nonfarmers, who had milk delivered to their porches daily.
'...“They would deliver it in glass bottles, and then you would rinse them out and give them [back], and they would wash them and sterilize and re-use them. I always thought that was brilliant,” said Melissa Watson, library manager for the Historical Society of Washington County, Va., and a longtime Abingdon resident for whom the milk truck was a common sight in the 1960s.
'...“For some reason, I don’t know if it’s just nostalgia, but it seems like the milk was better,” she said. “It tasted better, I swear it did.”
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(My note- of course it tasted better. That is the taste of unprocessed, raw milk. I could not believe how good it tasted when I first tried it in 1979 It is a living food. It smells like sunshine and it tastes like grass. And, according to the regulators, it's a dangerous, illegal substance that should not be in the hands of the common people.)
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'...The processors and the milk marketers that we have are getting rich off of us,” he said. “If you figure what a pint of milk is at the store, which is about $1, and you figure out what we’re getting for a hundredweight, somebody’s getting rich off the milk, and it’s not the farmer.”
'...For the past month, milk prices have been about $16 for a hundredweight, which Rector said is a break-even price; but for the previous year-plus, it’s been well below that.'
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Think about it. You go to the store, and you pay $1.00 per pint of milk (much more for 'organic', a label of dubious validity). The farmer gets $16.00 for 100 pounds of milk. If you remember the old conversion, 'a pint's a pound', so that same pint on the farm brings the farmer 16 cents or less. Who gets the difference? Why is all of this necessary?
The short answer is, it is *not* necessary. Not at all. The process is of the utmost simplicity. You have a cow, you milk it, and drink the milk. You have a cow, milk it, and share the milk with a neighbor. Ah, but not simple at all, according to government regulations. You are a dangerous individual handling a dangerous substance- milk-involved in an illegal activity.
Joel Salatin's books deal with this and many other topics describing how far away we have gotten from the simple aspects of sustainable living. My favorite is, 'Everything I want to do is illegal, War Stories from the local Food Front'. I include a list of his books;
- Salad Bar Beef. (1996)
- Pastured Poultry Profit$. (1996)
- You Can Farm: The Entrepreneur's Guide to Start & Succeed in a Farming Enterprise. (1998)
- Family Friendly Farming: A Multigenerational Home-Based Business Testament. (2001)
- Holy Cows And Hog Heaven: The Food Buyer's Guide To Farm Friendly Food. (2005)
- Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal: War Stories From the Local Food Front. (2007)
- The Sheer Ecstasy of Being a Lunatic Farmer. (2010)
- Folks, This Ain't Normal: A Farmer's Advice for Happier Hens, Healthier People, and a Better World. Center Street. 2011
US map of raw milk laws from their website.
