Milk from a cow?

Swan_2

my grandfather was a gamekeeper & when I was staying with him & my grandmother during the school holidays, first thing in the morning we used to walk up to the neighbouring farm with our metal flagon & collect the day's supply of milk, it was wonderful on our morning porridge

I can remember standing in the farm dairy & watching the milk run over what looked like an oversized wash board. does anyone know what that was for? rapid cooling perhaps?

Dora_the_Explorer_5

Oh dear, I'm reading this thread dribbling! Green top is fabulous, and milk straight from the house cow is paradise. But that applies to UK cows, and Bulgaria might be slightly different in terms of hygiene and disease. Is the old bloke drinking all the cow's milk or is his family drinking it as well? If they are, do they all look well on it? What does the local doctor say?
If you decide not to try it, why not accept a little from him as he's put out the hand of friendship, and dispose of it. He could easily be offended if you turned it down on health reasons - imagine how you would feel if he turned down one of your Victoria sponge cakes for health reasons.

elvis_bloggs

Question:-

"My neighbours have a dairy cow and have been drinking her milk for years without a problem. But I've read that unpasteurized milk is unsafe. What do you think?"

Answer:-

Zoltan Rona, MD, MSc: There are many reasons why people still drink raw, unpasteurized milk. Pasteurization destroys dozens of valuable enzymes such as lactase, required for the breakdown of lactose (milk sugar). Other enzymes destroyed are galactase for assimilation of galactose (a simple sugar found in lactose) and phosphatase for absorption of calcium. Without these enzymes, milk becomes very difficult to digest, causing bloating, gas, constipation and, in severe cases, chronic diarrhea in susceptible individuals. Also, there is growing evidence that the form of calcium in standard grocery store milk is poorly absorbed.

Pasteurized, commercially available milk has numerous other drawbacks, including the fact that it can contain hormones, antibiotics and other drugs, but I still believe it is much safer than the unpasteurized variety. Risk of infection for those who drink unpasteurized milk is high. Organisms harboured by raw milk that are most often cited as causing gastroenteritis (stomach flu or worse) include Helicobacter pylon, salmonella, staphylococci, hemolytic E. coli and even rabies. Symptoms of illnesses caused by these bugs can range anywhere from diarrhea, rectal bleeding and stomach cramps to ulcers, colitis, coma and death.

These risks of life-threatening infections are often pooh-poohed by advocates of raw milk, who are known to say, "I've been drinking raw milk my whole life and I've never been sick from it." Such people who never develop symptoms are only that way because repeated exposure to micro-organisms can lead to a certain level of immunity. It is very much like when one goes to Mexico, drinks the water and gets severe diarrhea, while the local population tolerates the same water without any symptoms. Although people who drink unpasteurized milk may have built up a tolerance for potentially lethal bugs, there is no guarantee the same will hold true for you. Frequent exposure to raw, unpasteurized milk may eventually provide a level of protection, but no one's immune system can protect against all micro-organisms possibly found in raw milk. People with weaker immune systems, such as children and the elderly, are particularly at risk to become severely ill or even die as a result of consuming the stuff.

ZTD

Well, this is only my second post, and already I'm being contentious. :eek:

elvis_bloggs wrote:

Zoltan Rona, MD, MSc: There are many reasons why people still drink raw, unpasteurized milk.

<big snip>

These risks of life-threatening infections are often pooh-poohed by advocates of raw milk, who are known to say, "I've been drinking raw milk my whole life and I've never been sick from it." Such people who never develop symptoms are only that way because repeated exposure to micro-organisms can lead to a certain level of immunity.

This seems to be a bit of a "pulling yourself up by the bootstraps" kind of explanation. They drink it and don't get sick because they are immune. They are immune because they drink it. So what happened way far back in the mists of time when it was their "first time"? What did their parents do?

Was it..? "Don't worry son. You're only puking your guts up because it's infected with salmonella. We'll just keep giving it to you until you become immune."

That strikes me as unlikely.

Now my personal take on this. I drink raw milk. I've only been drinking it for a period of months. I have not become sick. I cannot claim any sort of immunity to anything on a farm, as I am a townie, through and through.

Pasturisation damages milk. That at least is indisputable. The idea is to damage the milk sufficiently to kill anything nasty lurking in it. This also kills the nice things living in it.

Raw milk has (so I'm lead to believe) bacteria in it as a matter of course - rather similar to having bacteria in your gut as a matter of course. This leads to the somewhat crazy situation of milk being pasturised (killing said bacteria and depleting it of enzymes and vitamins) then bacteria being added back to it, for it to be sold as "probiotic" and at a massive premium.

People producing raw milk have a definite incentive to make sure the cow's welfare is paramount. "Bad" bacteria are only in milk when they are in the cow. That means the cow is sick. Sick cows produce sick milk. Pasturisation doesn't make the milk better - you just have dead sick milk.

If you consume raw milk from a sick cow, then it certainly is possible (not guarenteed) you will catch what the cow has. At this point the farmer will probably lose his business. That's where the incentive for animal welfare comes in.

If you consume pasturised milk from a sick cow, you are most unlikely to fall sick (assuming no contamination past the pasturisation process). You could be drinking small amounts of pus and blood from mastitis etc and you will never know. There isn't the same sort of incentive for animal welfare in that situation.

A further advantage with raw milk is in contamination. If a bacteria finds its way into pasturised milk - it's in nirvana, virgin territory. If it finds it's way into raw milk, then it has to fight what is there for space (the crowding-out theory).

Of course a lot of this in IMHO, but I hope it gives people pause for though, and ideas for discussion....:)

krishna

I milked cows in India, by hand, and drank it "straight from the cow". Like others have said, if the animal is healthy, no problem. The only time we threw milk away was if the cow had mastitis. If you are concerned, then just bring the milk to a boil, turn off and let it cool, then you have effectively carried out your own pasturisation.

thriftlady_2

I've had milk straight from the cow a long time ago and I'd love to have it again.Does anyone know where I can get it in the Worcestershire area.I've never seen it at my local farmshops ?

BTW Joanna Blythman's new book 'Bad Food Britain' has a chapter on our obsession with food safety and how it has actually undermined the production of real food.Essential reading for everyone interested in good food;)

[Deleted User]

When my late Ma-in-law was alive and living in Northwood on the Isle of Wight there used to be an old woman living nearby who she got her milk from.Straight from the source as it were, she also bought her eggs from her as well.They were so free range they were scratching about in this old ladys yard. We always had both and I wouldn't have dared question my Ma-in-law as to whether it was safe or not, she was a formidable lady.
It certainly didn't do her any harm as she died at 87 in her own bed with all her falculties including her perfect set of unfilled teeth !!
She brought her three sons up on what she grew in her 3/4 acre of garden ,and she never used chemicals on the garden as she couldn't afford them as she was a widow at 28.My late husband never tasted anything from a tin until he went into the RAF at 18.
I am sure half of the allergies and ill-health today is caused by the chemicals that are put into our food. If you neighbour is 80+ and has been drinking his own animals milk then it hasn't done him any harm.I would go for it ,you will be surprised at how different the taste of proper milk is from the chemical-inducted stuff from tesco's.
As a child, a treat for us children was a rice pudding made from 'gold-top' milk, or 'gold top' poured on our porridge.As a city child it was the closest my Mum could get to buying 'fresh from the cow 'milk. I don't think you can buy it much anymore as it's considered unhealthy. It never did me any harm and I am 64.

thriftlady_2

I uesd to love gold top too.I was a child in the seventies which seems like a different world now:rotfl: My mum used it for rice pud.You can buy Jersey milk in the supermarket which is lovely and rich.

The thing I really miss is top of the milk.Most milk is homogenised now,however I recently discovered that Waitrose whole milk isn't and has a lovely deep layer of cream on the top.We used to have it on puddings.But,guess what? my kids don't like it!

twink

i used to drink milk straight from the cow too when i was younger and i remember gran putting it in big bowls and then skimming the lovely yellow cream off the top she used to make crowdie too a soft cheese it never did me any harm
my father when he was finished in the bakery used to go round with the bakers van to all the farms etc and would often get a drink of milk and he later contracted bovine tb but that was years ago assume the cows are all tested now