Organic or Non-organic...What's the big difference? Pt. 2 Dairy

Dairy 

     The more Brooke and I have read up on nutrition and our nations food the more we have started to  buy more organic food and get away from "Factory farmed or produced foods".  It is more expensive short term (By short term I mean that you might be okay for awhile, but will most likely end up spending a lot more money on frequent family visits to the Dr. or even develop medical issues later in life.) and can take more time to shop, but we are doing it for our kids, which we feel you can't put a price on.
   Unfortunately it's near impossible to go 100% organic in our society for many reasons, so we are starting with the most common foods we eat, one of which is dairy-specifically yogurt and milk .  We (mostly our kids) go through about 3 gallons of milk a week, so other than buying our own cow the next best thing was buying milk from the local dairy's.
    There aren't too many small local dairys around anymore either, so we've been buying it from the grocery store. Trader Joe's is the cheapest place I've found since it's about a dollar cheaper per gallon than anywhere else at $5.99, but we might start buying it from the  farmers market due to recent info I read about where they get their "organic" milk from.   We thought about buying from Oberwies but they do not label their milk as organic, because some of the farms they buy from did not pay to be classified as organic, and it's not really buying local since they are a national company. Not a bad thing, but if we are going to go all natural we want to support and buy from a real local dairy.
    Here is a good link about what goes on with milk and  called "considerations for pasture - beef and dairy producers".http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/cattleprod.html  

  From my research I found a few major issues with Factory Dairy Farms, which is why we won't buy dairy from them anymore:
1) Mastitis: This is an infection that the cows develop in their mammary glands that is caused by unsanitary bedding, use of hoses in milking, or flies. It can happen to any cow, but is much more prevalent in factory farms. When it happens there is a discharge that gets into the milk and is very painful for the cow. Organic farmers treat this with a  homeopathic infusion or  ointment, while factory farms just load them up with more antibiotics. Many times the cows are not treated at all since the farmers don't want to take the cow off the milking line.  If untreated mastitis will spread to the legs and the cow will go lame, which means it's of no use to the dairy farmer anymore so they auction it off to be slaughtered.

Does this look normal to you?

2) Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy or "Mad Cow Disease"  is more prevalent in factory farmed cattle.  This is because one of the main causes is by-products in the cows feed.  The USDA has stated that grass-fed cattle have a much lower chance of contracting Mad Cow disease since they are not consuming by-products in their feed.

Yup, that's cow crap they are standing it.

 

3)rBGH's/ rBST or bovine growth hormones are used in factory farmed dairy cattle to help them produce more milk at a faster rate. These hormones are naturally found in cattle, but farmers inject them with much higher than normal amounts. Unless the container is marked NO rBGH's, or has the statement "No significant difference has been shown between milk derived from cows treated with artificial hormones and those not treated with artificial hormones" then the cow has been injected with rBGH!!  
       Elements of rBGH have been linked to causing cancer, specifically breast, colon, and prostate cancer. What makes  rBGH  hazardous is the "insulin like growth factor" or IFG-1, which is what causes cancer in humans.  This is why U.S. Dairy products and rBST is banned in every other developed country in the world!!  It is allowed in the US because of a company called Monsato that produces it and has spent millions lobbying to keep it legal.This isn't just milk, but any dairy product such as yogurt and cheeses.

 

4) Soy milk is not really a better option to cow's milk since most soybeans are genetically altered and owned by  one national company that bio engineers their beans to be resistant to pesticides. I'll talk about this more in the next blog.
 
So besides not having the issues described above one of the many benefits  from having milk delivered or buying it at a farmers markets is that it comes in a glass bottle.   This is better for several  reasons. 1) It stays colder, which makes it tastes better, and 2) No waste from plastic containers. So not only is it better for YOU, it is better for our environment and 3) There are many theory's on toxins that are released from plastic containers into whatever it is they are holding. If you want to read more about why organic milk is better than regular milk here's a great article.
http://hubpages.com/hub/Organic-Milk--Is-It-Worth-Your-Money

Happy cow's!

Here's another website that ranks the quality of dairy products from dairys and grocery stores around the country. You'll notice that surprisingly Trader Joe's received a 1 out of 5 cow score since it would not participate in the study and is believed to buy it's milk, both organic and non-organic from Factory Farms. This is why we are looking for other sources of milk.
http://www.cornucopia.org/dairysurvey/index.html
 So there you have it.  If you're going to drink/eat dairy you are doing yourself and your family a huge disservice and putting them at risk by not buying grass fed dairy. Next up Produce.