Hal (my husband) and I chatted with several farmers at a local farmer’s market today. An enthusiastic bunch, they are keen to support FFFKy.org’s purpose of keeping small farms out of the way of Big Agencies. I asked them to sign up for our email list. The bigger the number on the counter (the orange button in the right column on the website), the more influence we have in Frankfort!
Re. the Raw Milk Bill, that is definitely being withdrawn. Yay! None of us and not one person we spoke with liked it. It was too vague and didn’t seem to offer any protection to the farmer or the consumer. Word is that something else may be coming in this session. I will keep you posted. Please keep us posted on your thoughts on the matter, not just with raw milk, but with all farm food freedoms and the long reach of the regulatory arm.
I know raw milk is not an issue for many of you. However, it is the hot button issue right now and the farm food freedom fight is focused on this one product. How this turns out for raw milk will be an indication of how successful we will be in protecting all our farm food freedoms. Of course, we are confident we will win because we are flat out not giving up our raw milk. Besides which, we are talking about MILK, the kind our ancestors and the Founders drank, for goodness sake.
Even if you are not a dairy farmer, the sad fact is, if you step outside the regulatory box in any way — growing organic, not using growth hormones, wanting to sell directly to consumers — regulatory agencies feel threatened by this and react in kind. If you get a chance to see the movie Farmageddon, you’ll see several recent, real life situations where Big Agencies have ruined lives, stolen property and shut down farms based on… nothing. No complaints, no illness, nothing. It is ongoing, too. A Farm To Fork dinner on an organic farm in NV was recently raided — the story is here. Hope you are sitting down!
Finally, please read the story of a Kentucky family who restored their newborn to health with raw milk. Why is this stuff illegal?
Sent: Wednesday, 21 December, 2011
Please add me to your email update list so I can have some input into this issue. I am a recent transplant to Kentucky and I am a chiropractor (not currently practicing or licensed in Kentucky). This issue is very important to me! I have a 6 month old son, and mom began to not be able to keep up with demand for milk by the 2nd month.
As such, we tried every formula on the market, and he could not tolerate any of them, and we wasted several hundred dollars in the process. He would vomit them up, and broke out in rashes. He also became constipated and did not have a bowel movement for over 2 weeks. We were within 48 hours of having to hospitalize my son for “failure to thrive” and things were not looking good for him. I was able to chase down some raw goat milk, and he did great with it. If we did not find the goat milk, he may not have survived! He is currently six months old and doing great. His pediatrician was amazed, he went from normal to thin and sick when mom couldn’t produce enough milk to meet his nutritional needs, now he is again thriving and in the 85-90% for height and weight.
I was able to get some raw goat milk in Kentucky, but due to the crazy regulations, I was not able to secure a consistent source. By the time I realized the need and solution, my options were very limited as most goats had quit producing for the year. Then I was in dire need to secure milk, and EVERY one I spoke with was unwilling to sell me milk for fear of being prosecuted, fined, or jailed, although many sympathized with my plight. As I ran out of what little milk I had, I spent the better part of 3 days on the internet looking up potential places to get raw milk, and calling dozens of people. I could not find anyone willing to help me.
After exhausting all leads I could find, I then turned to calling people in Indiana and Illinois. After again spending several more hours I was finally able to locate 2 people who have actively producing goats that were willing to legally sell me raw goats milk. Unfortunately the closest one is over almost 2 hours away in Indiana and the next closest is over 2 hours away in Illinois. This is a serious inconvenience to me, and will make it significantly more costly as I will have to do a 5 hour roundtrip at least once a week.
I think it is absurd to prohibit a small farm, or any for that matter, from providing a safe and valuable product to people who want to use it. Many people choose to consume raw milk for the health benefits, and those who choose to pay the premium prices are informed of the risks and the rewards, which is why they are willing to pay significantly more than off the shelf pasteurized milk. It is well documented that pasteurized milk has next to no nutritional value, and I would never consider feeding my son the “ultra highly pasteurized” milk, or he would have starved to death. Those who choose to purchase raw milk should not be prohibited from doing so. The CDC has even recently released a long term study showing there has not been any diseases passed from raw milk (unfortunately we can’t say the same thing about pasteurized milk, and how it is handled until it reaches the end user).
This state has far over reached common sense with it’s regulations. By highly regulating this niche market, the state is making it even harder for a small farmer to stay in business. The over regulation is making a good product the public can benefit from unattainable by most people.
I think the state should ease restrictions on the sale of raw milk, and eliminate all the cumbersome restrictions that have been put in place. At a minimum the state should continue to allow the “herdshare” program and eliminate the restriction on the sale of milk. The state should prohibit any regulatory body from interfering with the production, distribution or sale or raw milk. It is a choice many will not want to make for a variety of reasons, but for those of us who choose raw milk for our consumption, we would like to have that option, and in my case I am very adamant about it. I believe raw goat milk likely saved my son’s life, and I know it saved him from going into the hospital. Those are indisputable facts. To prohibit me from that is just plain wrong!
Sincerely,
Dr. JDr. J is only anonymous because he doesn’t want the authorities knocking on his door.
Have a great week, everyone! If you know someone who might be interested in securing our Farm Food Freedoms in KY, please forward this and ask them to subscribe. Thank you!