# Would you drink raw milk poll.



## mrs.h (Feb 1, 2010)

I got this from another board which many of us go to. So I thought I would post it here.
http://www.jsonline.com/polls/87239557.html
I voted yes.


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## dragonlair (Mar 24, 2009)

I voted yes on it, even though I don't live anywhere near you!

At work (A hospital) they have a health program for the employees. They help you monitor your health and if you follow the program you get gift cards. Being constantly poor, I decided to sell my soul to the hospital for 250.00 in gift cards. I went in yesterday for the first visit. Despite the fact that I am healthier than most of the workers there I got put in the medium risk group because-gasp- 

strike 1- I drink lots of goat milk. 
strike 2- Raw goat milk
strike 3- raw goat milk products! (yogurt, ice cream, butter etc)

OMG, I'm going to die and go to hell because of my goats. In this day and age no one should be drinking raw milk! I'll get TB, and all sorts of horrid diseases!!!!! So what if I have not been sick in several years. So what if I can be around sick people and not catch what they have. So what if I can out work people half my age. So what if my old bones are thicker than the concrete posts that hold the building up. I'm going to hell because I drink raw goat milk!!!!! hehehe 

For supposedly intelligent people they are pretty stupid.


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## Ziggy (Nov 13, 2009)

Latest results still show NO leading at 52 % - please go and vote. People who are on Facebook may want to join this group.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/North-Carolina-Alliance-for-Raw-Milk-NC-ARM/326079698821?ref=ts


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## Legend Hills (May 29, 2008)

I voted yes. Of course I would drink it. Best stuff in the world. 

Kim


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## LamanchaLover (Jan 11, 2010)

I voted yes.


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## mrs.h (Feb 1, 2010)

Ziggy said:


> Latest results still show NO leading at 52 % - please go and vote. People who are on Facebook may want to join this group.
> 
> http://www.facebook.com/pages/North-Carolina-Alliance-for-Raw-Milk-NC-ARM/326079698821?ref=ts


I am on facebook and I have joined. Thanks!


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## Dana (Dec 7, 2009)

Of course! 

My neighbor tried to scare me by saying I could get anthrax! (I was just brand new to goats and so I ran with my tail between my legs into the house and looked up anthrax in goats milk on the internet- just to be sure.) Not true. Ha-ha!


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## HeidiEllsworth (May 28, 2009)

I have a friend with a precious girl (she's 14 years old) who has a rare medical condition. From what I understand, she has small, frail arteries and veins. She's on blood pressure medication. Whenever she drinks raw goat milk, her blood pressure stabilises to a normal level. Whenever she goes off of the raw milk, her blood pressure elevates. Her condition is so fragile, that she has difficulty whenever they drive over the pass in the Sierra Mountains to go to specialists in Sacramento. Has anyone heard of raw milk helping to reduce blood pressure? Thanks!


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## Faithful Crown Nubians (Dec 5, 2007)

I voted yes, even though I don't drink milk...I would drink it raw but I would have to have some chocolate in it. Lol. I can't drink cows milk unless it's chocolate milk.


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## Ashley (Oct 25, 2007)

dragonlair said:


> I voted yes on it, even though I don't live anywhere near you!
> 
> At work (A hospital) they have a health program for the employees. They help you monitor your health and if you follow the program you get gift cards. Being constantly poor, I decided to sell my soul to the hospital for 250.00 in gift cards. I went in yesterday for the first visit. Despite the fact that I am healthier than most of the workers there I got put in the medium risk group because-gasp-
> 
> ...


Another case of the laboratory theories just not playing out in real life!


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## Ziggy (Nov 13, 2009)

Thanks for voting. 

This poll is in Wisconsin (which is also no where near me) where there are Raw Milk hearings underway that may help shape some new laws across the country.

Those in favor of Raw milk need to speak out everywhere to help make politicians hear our voices over that of big agribusiness and the FDA.


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## kuwaha (Aug 22, 2009)

I think it shows an amazing lack of education that 51% say 'No'.... now if they listed the pros/cons of each side before asking the question I bet they'd get more intelligent answers 
I heard a radio show one time on raw milk and some of the most ignorant observations were being touted as gospel... well, I'd better quit before I get on a soapbox


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## Bernice (Apr 2, 2009)

Before modern conviences that's all people drank was raw milk. Thanks Heidi for mentioning about the blood pressure and raw milk. I just had a dr appt and my BP is up, had to change my meds after 20 some yrs. I will have to try drinking raw goats milk to see. 

I wouldn't drink raw milk from just any goat or cow, would want to drink it from one of my own.


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## Faithful Crown Nubians (Dec 5, 2007)

Bernice said:


> I wouldn't drink raw milk from just any goat or cow, would want to drink it from one of my own.


Same here!  And after tasting some raw milk from another herd....ick. Never again. lol


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## favablue (Apr 11, 2009)

Voted Yes!! 

Who wants to drink dead milk?


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## Furiouzgeorge (Dec 24, 2009)

Voted Yes!!! We drink raw-milk every day. We have a friend who is a biology major and actually introduced E. Coli into a jug of her fresh Goat Milk. She left it on a shelf and tested daily. The E. Coli levels dropped more and more each day until she could not find anymore. Now, she should have done a control jug, and repeated it a few times, etc. But I'm prone to believe that Raw milk has a lot more going for it than regulators like to give credit for!!!


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## dragonlair (Mar 24, 2009)

Its now 51% yes !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## LLB101 (Sep 29, 2009)

Furiouzgeorge said:


> ...biology major and actually introduced E. Coli into a jug of her fresh Goat Milk. She left it on a shelf and tested daily. The E. Coli levels dropped more and more each day until she could not find anymore. ...


I have 6 baby food jars in my fridge, 3 sets of 2. One of each set was pasteurized, the other raw, same milking, same culture introduced into each set. One set is a control that was just left out on the counter for 48 hrs before being refridgerated, that's what I grew up with "back in the day" on the childhood farm.

In each case the pasteurized jars got disgusting after 10-15 days, while the raw ones are still not awful after months. One smells definitely like over ripe cheese, but its still whitish and not foul, just like strong cheese. All the pasteurized ones have black and green and gray stuff, major fuzz in one, and are putrid.

I think the public has been sold a major bill of suspicious goods by the industry/gov't partnerships that realized they could profit from people's fears. Once upon a time, before microbial and health status checking for food producing animals, there was real disease and suffering passed on to humans. But once we learned that stuff, then we didn't need to throw the proverbial baby out with the bathwater and go so far on to "dead" food! We could have kept the best benefits of both... but then they would have made less money and have less control... what a way to control a population, to suggest that they are not capable of even feeding themselves and have to "buy" from the Big Safe Provider... that would be an illegal Racket if anyone other than big Biz/Politics tried it.

My three cents...

ok, I'm going back to trying to ignore this thread, its too maddening :rofl


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## Pam V (Jan 3, 2009)

I do drink raw. My own.
The milk the my brother brought over from a goat that I gave him....I saw his handling practices....no.

Is the pole just yes/no or are there situations such as if you knowthat milk is handled correctly.....
And then thre is the are you preg part (no for me). 
I wonder ....WIll it help cut too strict regulations or will it go the other way and give people that do not have good practices tooo much feedom and cause helth issues.
I obviously don't know anything and maybe overthink it.


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## lexnspice (Nov 12, 2009)

YES, ALL THE TIME, MY GRANDKIDS, MY BOYS, MY HUSBAND, ALL OF US. I HAVE HEART DIEASE, WITH A NUMBER OF PROBLEMS HIGH CLD, YOU NAME IT, BUT AFTER STARTING WITH MY GOATS MILK, MY NUMBERS ALL WENT DOWN, MY HEART DR. BLESS HIM, HIS NAME HIS NONE OTHER THAN DR. VALENTINE, SAID I WAS IN BETTER CONDITION NOW, THAN THE LAST 10 YEARS!!!!!!!!!! dance: WE LOVE IT, AND I CAN'T GO BACK TO REGULAR MILK IT IS SO BITTER TASTING TO ME, BUT I WAS ALSO RAISED ON RAW COW'S MILK. WHAT WAS GOOD 2000 YEARS AGO, SHOULD STILL BE GOOD NOW!!!!!


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## Furiouzgeorge (Dec 24, 2009)

"which advocates say has health benefits but others say can be risky because it *can cause* food-borne illnesses."

I think even the pollster is a bit brainwashed. Raw milk cannot *cause* food-borne illness. The only difference between Raw and and Pasteurized milk is the fact that pasteurized milk no longer has the healthy bacteria or enzymes in it to fend off future contaminants. The industrial food revolution did destroy our traditional food chain. The poor treatment and lack of understanding of animals and their biology was a huge cause of illness and death. That's why we began down this slippery slope of regulation. Food Giants have taken this, one, or a hundred steps further then it was ever supposed to go. Now that farms are cleaner, safer places (well, nearly all farms, we can't really say whether the food 'manufacturers' are following the guidelines they have forced into place), it is LESS SAFE to drink pasteurized milk than it is to drink Raw. Raw milk comes with it's own 'protective' properties that help to sustain it's quality. Because Raw and Pasteurized milk are treated nearly the same after the Pasteurizer, it's these qualities that will help preserve the Raw milk from poor handling, lack of refrigeration, etc.

My rant...sorry folks, I have some pretty strong feelings about the value of Raw milk!!!


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## buckrun (Mar 7, 2008)

Good stuff!


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## Nana (May 12, 2010)

I can tolerate raw goats milk but pasturized cows milk is just no good. I can't handle it. My youngest is also intolerant and couldn't drink breastmilk if I drank cows milk or ate cheese from cows. He had to have rice milk as a baby. Now that is some nasty sweet tasting stuff. He can now tolerate raw goats milk and I am going to try goat cheese.


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## IXEL (May 17, 2010)

I voted YES! And the yes vote is up to 64%!


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

I have seen alot of goats and alot of places, and I can tell you that it's a small minority that I would feed my grandchildren raw milk from their places. In most instances our customers will police us, and why I think changing the law so that you can deliver raw milk to stores or central locations is a bad one....raw products like this must come with a realtionship between the customer and the dairy. We all know folks who deliver milk for the same price as you pick it up at the farm because they don't want people seeing just how truly nasty the place is or how much money doesn't go back to the does. It's like buying those organic veggies at Walmart for 3 times more...sorry but do you really think they are any different? Out of season organic produce or veggies, sorry I am an eternal pessimist. Vicki


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## Ozark Lady (Mar 21, 2010)

I grew up on a dairy farm, and we had raw cow's milk everyday. My grandma made all of our butter. I thought everyone did that. Even as a child I knew to shake the milk before you pour!

When we moved from the dairy, I developed a major milk allergy, odd the raw never bothered me. Within 1 year I had to have my tonsils out. Hmmm?

My children were breastfed, and were so allergic, that milk would effect them, if I drank it.
The youngest child was: what they call a failing to thrive baby. I was eating a dozen eggs, and drinking 1 quart of milk per day, in an effort to get my milk up, and his weight up.
We tried supplementing all kinds of formulas, nothing was helping. He was only gaining 1/4# per week.
Finally, my goats freshened, and I learned to milk. I was soon drinking 2 quarts of goat milk per day, I literally felt that I was floating in it! But my son still wouldn't gain. In desperation, and fatigue one day, as I was milking and he was hungry as usual. I just grabbed his bottle, and milked straight into it. Yes, the udder was clean, I was drinking it all the time. And gave it to him. He slept immediately, and was happy! I thought I had killed him, since he slept for over an hour.
I then tried to pasturize his milk, for safety reasons. And he was right back crying every hour, the diarhea was back, and not gaining. I said forget it, just went raw, and usually warm from the goat!
He went for a check up and the health department was amazed, until I said goat milk.
They came unglued. They demanded that I see their pediatrician, they were going to take my baby away, because I was unfit.
Well, their pediatrician looked him over, and said, mom knows best... keep up the good work.
We were losing this boy, and now he is healthy! The nurses was insisting the protein would ruin his kidneys, the doctor said it is almost identical to breast milk, leave her alone!
Instant replay with granddaughter, but this time, as soon as she wasn't gaining, it was right on raw goat milk!
Oh yeah, raw is the only way to go.
But, I do prefer it to be my goats, since I can control the cleanliness and the diet.
My nubians pumped too much oil on milk if they ate much corn, so I fed them more oats, alfalfa pellets, etc, and less corn, until I got healthy goats and tasty milk, without corn oil on it!


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## Nana (May 12, 2010)

Now that is a very interesting story. I do think there is something to it. :biggrin


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## LLB101 (Sep 29, 2009)

Vicki McGaugh Tx Nubians said:


> ...it's a small minority that I would feed my grandchildren raw milk from their places. In most instances our customers will police us, and why I think changing the law so that you can deliver raw milk to stores or central locations is a bad one....raw products like this must come with a realtionship between the customer and the dairy. We all know folks who deliver milk for the same price as you pick it up at the farm because they don't want people seeing just how truly nasty the place is or how much money doesn't go back to the does...


 :yeahthat Wholehearted agreement on EVERY point here!

Money can't buy the milk I have or the peace of mind about the conditions and health.

Or my recordkeeping :rofl

If I do ever get licensed, I want customers to come meet the goats, know exactly who & where their milk comes from. I can't stand the mess out there with this ridiculous weather lately, I think my pen should be clean enough that I'd sit in 95% of it anytime. There's always going to be "that spot" to avoid, its by one gate lately, but it should be a spot, not where they lay regularly. Its never going to make a lot of money for the time I'll put into it, but hey I do so much volunteering now, I'll consider part of it volunteering the same as if I was doing it for a raw milk education group.


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## Holly (Mar 27, 2009)

I voted Yes......


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## Poverty Knob Goats (Apr 13, 2010)

Yes here. We drink it every day.


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## feistymomma (May 20, 2009)

Yep, we drink it (well, when I have does in milk. I don't now sadly  ) I have heard all of the so called "cons" of drinking raw milk, but if it is done in a clean manner it is so much better for you. We would make all of our cheese and ice cream from milk as well. I can't wait until next year when I have fresh milk to drink again!


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## Ashley (Oct 25, 2007)

The other day one of my goats got her foot in the pail. Turned out to be a nasty poopy foot as well. So I dumped it into a container to give to the dogs and didn't get around to it for a while. You know the milk encased manure in thick, cheese like stuff and the milk curded up and smelled just like cheese.. I bet it wouldn't have hurt you to eat it. Raw milk is pretty powerful. But I was nice enough to let the dogs still have it. 

I read a microbiologist's testimony in a court case online and he said you can squirt ecoli into a container of raw milk and leave it on the counter for a day and there will be no ecoli in the milk after that time. Of course, in the fridge this would not happen so fast. 

I'm still very clean with my milk of course, it only makes sense to be and I like the milk to taste as awesome as possible. But I think there is actually a lot more leeway in reality than we realize.


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## LLB101 (Sep 29, 2009)

Ashley, I've heard that story about the ecoli, do you have a link where you read it? I'd be interested.


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## lorit (May 10, 2010)

Absolutely! Family has for the past 7+ years. Started out buying from local folks but after 6 years of inconsistent supply and cleanliness issues, made the plunge and bought my own goats.  I will say, that even though I saw conditions less clean than I'd have liked, we never got sick or anything. However, I DO like being able to keep my own goats. 

Same story as a few other folks - babies who were so allergic to "store" milk that they couldn't even nurse if I drank it. That got us started on this whole raw goats milk life.


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## feistymomma (May 20, 2009)

up to 64% yes now. And my son was one of those babies! I had to have my gull bladder taken out when my son was 6 weeks old...breast feeding quickly went out the window. Formula just didn't do it. He grew well, but he was always fussy and it just didn't agree with him. When he was 4 months old, my grandmother called me up and said bring the truck, I bought you a goat. So, that is how I started with dairy goats. I milked her (and at that time did pasteurize), but he thrived!!!! He is such a healthy SMART child. I couldn't give him what he needed but the goat sure could  I would highly recommend using goats milk over formula!!!!


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## Sondra (Oct 25, 2007)

voted yes
seems so strange to me to have all this whoopla when we have drs. here recommending even newborns be put on raw goats milk and colostrum.


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## MilkMan (Feb 3, 2010)

I voted yes. It is up to 64% yes votes. We have been drinking it since February. Since that time, I have lost almost 20 pounds without any dieting. I drink it with every meal, and i seem to eat less. I think it is because raw milk has almost everything your body needs. My weight loss has slowed, but I can feel my body getting more muscular. I haven't felt this good since I was 18 years old. When you get everything you need, you eat less. I would agree with the post above about the public being mislead. The gov has attempted to make people think you will get sick if you consume it raw. So it's not so much being uneducated, it's more of a case of miseducated. I was ready online a while back on a website against raw milk. One line was that "over 800 people got sick from raw milk last year." I almost had to laugh. How many people have gotten sick from containimated peanuts, tomatoes, spinach, and other mishandled fresh foods? A WHOLE LOT MORE THAN THAT! That being said, I don't see people saying to stay away from these foods. It boils down to regulation. Raw milk can't be regulated or controlled, so they don't want it a part of out daily lives, and it takes scaring people to keep them from doing it for themselves.


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## LLB101 (Sep 29, 2009)

yep, there was just a post on LM Talk list about this, an article was posted that asks the very logical question, why this vendetta against raw? Why do they focus on this so disproportionately?

It goes on to cite a MA congressman admitting he was pressured by Big Dairy... but its still hard to believe its simple economics driving this. If it was, why wouldn't they just try to drive public perception to their (wrong <smile>) view that pasteurized is better? That's the American Way, right? Just out market 'em! Why the legal challenges and vendetta route?

There's a scary bill that passed the House, and and an even scarier one S. 510 in the Senate still, that use the FDA's legal battle material with the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund (FTCLDF). In that court case, the FDA blatantly says "There is no 'deeply rooted' historical tradition of unfettered access to foods of all kinds." and "Plaintiffs' assertion of a 'fundamental right to their own bodily and physical health, which includes what foods they do and do not choose to consume for themselves and their families' is similarly unavailing because plaintiffs do not have a fundamental right to obtain any food they wish."

Who are these loonies? How do we morally slightly hope someone in their family gets a little sick and some wise Dr recommends raw milk? No permanent damage to family member, just enough to get their attention? 

How do we fight something so absurd?

The FDA even wants to override States rights to raw milk legislation, and ban it at the Federal level, claiming they have the right to ban INTRAstate raw milk.

Here's a link to the article: http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_20795.cfm

I still wholeheartedly agree with Vicki's post that shipping raw milk long distances and mass marketing it is a bad idea. Let Big Dairy have that market. Since we want raw for fresh and healthy, the closer we are to our milk suppliers the better for raw. Mine's about 10' from my kitchen door :rofl

But really, not everyone has that option to have their own goats for time/space/life considerations...

That's why we need small, local producers who know their consumers personally and vice versa, not Big Gov't FDA who hints that fresh CSA and Farmer's Market's are next, since they are not sterilized into dead stuff... Its just mind boggling to see the progression they are succeeding with eating away our rights to our own bodies' care.

Do you think They've discovered this site yet?


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## Ozark Lady (Mar 21, 2010)

I have had folks call me, and literally beg for milk.
But, it just wasn't worth going to jail for.
I had a friend who agreed to board goats for folks who couldn't keep their own.
They would come milk their own goat, or stand as my friend milked it for them.
When they didn't need the milk, it was okay to go ahead and milk it, for the goats health and dispose of the milk as the friend wanted to.
But, folks actually go to ridiculous lengths, when if raw milk were just legal, it wouldn't have to be like this.


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## LMonty (Oct 25, 2007)

Selling raw goat milk from the farm in AR is legal..

Raw milk sales in Arkansas are illegal with one exception. Arkansas permits the sale of up to 100 gallons of raw goat milk per month directly to consumers on the farm where the milk is produced.

For recent information, check out http://arkansasnews.com/2009/02/04/...ected-lawmaker-critical-of-department’s-role/

http://www.realmilk.com/happening.html


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## LLB101 (Sep 29, 2009)

that seems like a sort of reasonable law to keep small producers in direct contact with their customers. I wish we had that option here. In WA, raw is legal *IF* you jump thru a zillion licensing hoops and then they are trying to shut down most of the distribution systems, even tho' technically its legal.

sure, the AR law way makes it hard for those who can't get out to a farm, but as Vicki was saying, in some ways mass marketing to the stores changes the relationship, and there's some increased possibility that it becomes just smaller scale Industrial Ag with all those anonymous flaws.


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## HeritageFarm (May 4, 2010)

Vote up to 64% for Yes. I suppose other people discovered that you can vote however many times you want.


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## Bella Star (Oct 27, 2007)

I voted " YES " .... I drink raw milk now ! :biggrin


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## SALTCREEK_Nubians_Linda (Nov 13, 2007)

I drink the milk from my goats, but I know how well my animals are, how I clean the utensils, how I handle the milk, etc... I would from Vicki's goats. I've seen her dairy. Let me see your dairy and I might drink your raw milk.


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## LLB101 (Sep 29, 2009)

I totally agree with this. The slippery slope towards Industrial Ag Grocery Store Raw Milk scares me, although raw is by far the healthiest. Its like that old joke about fire, it can save your life and stop you from freezing to death, or it can burn your house down. The small direct farm to consumer model is definitely best, but let's face it that cuts out access for much of the population. We have to have regulation where we don't have personal knowledge.

On the other hand, all the regulated foods cause food borne illness some times too, more often by some studies.


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