Is Lawton's Family Farm getting a "raw" deal?

[MossRoad]

How is the state "on the hook" if someone gets sick?

If the state has laws against raw milk sales and doesn't enforce them, they are on the hook. However, there are technically no raw milk sales in a herdshare program, so the state isn't responsible.

 

[cqaigy2]

Why can't Foxboro stay
the way it's always been
since I moved in?

Glad to see that Lawton's Family Farm is back in black.
Around here, a small town will start to get "the buzz" - all the real estate agents tell you that you simply must buy a place there because the schools are the best and the taxes are so low. Then all the new folks want town water, sewers and sidewalks, an indoor pool at the high school instead of the YMCA, and an indoor track, and a hippodrome, etc, etc. Then they can't believe how much the taxes are going up! It's kind of funny ... if you don't happen to live there yourself.

Oh and btw, i want those smelly dairies to go too. I think they are a health hazard, now that i moved right next to one because i just love the bucolic atmosphere of an idyllic rural setting.....:duh:

 

[dmccarty]

I do not like it when government uses regulations to shutdown a business because some government employee wants to do so.

On the other hand, I think it is nuts to drink raw milk. Raw milk was a huge health problem before pasteurization and most people getting sick and/or dying were kids. Raw milk can give you some really nasty infections.

From the CDC, CDC - Raw Milk Questions and Answers - Food Safety

Can drinking raw milk hurt me or my family?
Yes. Raw milk can cause serious infections. Raw milk and raw milk products (such as cheeses and yogurts made with raw milk) can be contaminated with bacteria that can cause serious illness, hospitalization, or death. These harmful bacteria include Brucella, Campylobacter, Listeria, Mycobacterium bovis, Salmonella, Shiga toxin-producing E. coli, Shigella, Streptococcus pyogenes, and Yersinia enterocolitica. From 1998 through 2011, 148 outbreaks due to consumption of raw milk or raw milk products were reported to CDC. These resulted in 2,384 illnesses, 284 hospitalizations, and 2 deaths. Most of these illnesses were caused by Escherichia coli, Campylobacter, Salmonella, or Listeria. It is important to note that a substantial proportion of the raw milk-associated disease burden falls on children; among the 104 outbreaks from 1998-2011 with information on the patients ages available, 82% involved at least one person younger than 20 years old.
Because not all cases of foodborne illness are recognized and reported, the actual number of illnesses associated with raw milk likely is greater.

Given that not many people are consuming raw milk products, an average of 11+ raw milk outbreaks a year seems high to me.

Mycobacterium bovis is bovine tuberculosis which can be transmitted to humans. How? Most likely in raw milk. Brucella causes an illness that has a variety of names such as Malta fever, milk sickness, Mediterranean fever, and Bang's disease. The illness causes headaches, miscarriage, body pain, high fevers, and depressions and can last YEARS. The vet, James Herriot, in the movies/TV shows based on the All Creatures Great and Small books, caught Malta Fever and it really messed him up in real life. He most likely got sick from being working on a cow infected with Brucella but a more common route of infection is raw milk or raw milk cheeses. Malta Fever is nasty illness. Today, even with antibiotics, it can take weeks of treatment to get rid of the infection. HOPEFULLY, this is not something that is likely to occur from raw milk in the US due to testing and vaccinations in bovines but it surely is not something I would risk.

The other illnesses from raw milk are bad enough but no way would I want to run the risk of getting TB or Malta fever.

For Thanksgiving, we were at the family farm and I noticed a book from the 50s that dealt with health issues in farm animals. One passage I read was about using chemicals in the dairy to sanitize the milking machines. The book mentioned how a small amount of bacteria can quickly grow in milking equipment even using some sanitizing chemicals.

While I would not drink raw milk, if that is what someone wants to do, that is their decision.

Later,
Dan

 

[300UGUY]

My wife was buying raw milk from a local farm, I insisted that she quit after somebody got sick from milk from that farm. The farm blamed the person who bought the milk, but the woman was quite sick, with liver and kidney issues from the milk. I don't know if they are still selling or not.

 

[SPIKER]

Local Amish farm/owner in Ohio a few years ago was arrested and fined for it, not sure what all went down with it in courts. There was a big out pouring and I think it went to shares but the cops want fines and arrests...

As kids we drank whole milk from the local farms selling milk for 2 gallons for a buck in the 70's and 80's... Never got sick, but was tiring shaking up the butterfat off the top Worked at dairy as teenager and 1~2 gallon jugs a week went home with me after haying season as needed thru the week.

Mark

 

[EMB5530]

Yea, should really listen to the FDA about raw milk because they are pretty spot on about the info they provide.:duh:

 

[AchingBack]

The purity of the milk has to do with the way it is handled, from teat to machine to container to consumer. I learned long ago to waste the initial squirts of the udders. Any impurities have concentrated in the udders, and should be expelled on the ground before entering the finished product. My grandpa milked a small herd this way, and no one in our family has died due to raw milk. Personally, I hate milk, and gladly donate my share to whomever.

 

[dmccarty]

Why did the town try to make it difficult for this dairy to sell raw milk?

Was the town really concerned about the health risks of raw milk or did they create these specific rules to drive the dairy out of business?

The farm has been in existence of hundreds of years and the 25 remaining acres has to be very valuable. Certainly, the town would get far more tax revenue if the farm grew some houses instead of making milk. Would a government official create regulations that would close a business? Nah, that would not happen....

Later,
Dan

 

[Bird]

I, too, grew up drinking raw milk, from our own milk cows instead of a dairy, from the time I was born. And I was the one who had to do the milking from the time I was 10 years old until we moved to town when I was 15. I quit drinking milk a lot of years ago, because it was putting weight on me. And I'd quit using milk for anything if I had to be the one to milk a cow twice day every day again.

 

[mudcat47537]

We have been drinking raw goat milk for 15 years, raised both kids on it never been sick from it. Myself I worry more about what the government says is safe to eat that has been genetically modified and had chemicals sprayed all over it than I do what comes from a goat or cows teat naturally.