I'm buying a cow!

Well I know Wisconsin has a lot more, but I bet there are a few here and there in Minnesota too ;)

I'm sure there is. I'll have to check on how safe it is for kids. My daughter is 3 and my niece who lives with us is a year and a half. Although we could just get them pasteurized milk... Thanks for the info - you are always a wealth of information Kelly!

Definitely research the safety issues.  I had always thought raw milk would be really dangerous but when I started reading about it, I decided it's actually safer than pasteurized milk.  Milk that comes from a healthy cow is perfectly safe when it comes out of the cow, the issue is that it can be contaminted with all kinds of stuff if it's not handled properly after that.  Dirt, cow poop, stuff like that can get into the milk container if it's not handled right and nasty stuff can even get in it if the farmer doesn't wash his or her hands before milking the cow.  It also has to be chilled very quickly.

Since most small farmers drink their own milk and feed it to their kids, they are usually very careful with it.  and if they are selling it or giving it out through a herd share or something, I would think they would be super careful because of all the legal issues.

Since most pasteurized milk comes from sick cows (the cows in the factory farms are almost all sick, and they  never treat them for it; they just keep milking them until they die or become so sick they can't stand up anymore) and it usually has growth hormones and antibiotics in it, I don't think it's very safe.  The dangers are different, but there are dangers.

when it comes to your kids, of course you have to be really careful and decide what you think is best for your kids.

 Both my sister and I ended up hospitalized as children after consuming raw milk from the neighbor dairy farmer.  Now whether that was because it was raw or because it was mishandled, I do not know.  We were both really young (4 & 6) and I remember that we were not allowed to drink his milk ever again (doctor's orders). 

Raw milk is awesome!  I was part of a coop for a while but because there weren't that many of us in my family drinking it it became not cost effective and it was piling up.  Raw milk tastes so good and it really is versatile.  Skim off the cream and make homemade butter and the rest of the milk can be used to make cheese or whatever you want.  I really miss it sometimes.  I'm a little bit jealous of you now.

Did you make cheese?  I'm planning to make yogurt and butter because I've been told by many people that's not too hard, but cheese seems hard to me.

I've made cottage cheese.  Super easy.  Basically milk and vinegar.  I also understand that the whey can be used to make cheese once you've seperated it from the curds, but I admit I've not gone any further than the cottage cheese.  You can order the cultures for all kinds of cheeses online and really make some awesome cheeses.

I may try it at some point because I really love cheese and now that I can get milk from a farm, I want to really limit the amount of dairy I buy from the store.  I've already been cutting back and I eat a lot less cheese than I used to, but I love cheese so it would be great if I could make it.  It just sounds hard to me, though.

Time consuming but not terribly complicated I don't think.  I've tried to back off as much as I can with things that are made from animals that have been treated with hormones and antibiotics or have nitrites and nitrates.  I think it's important for my long-term health.  I was also part of a local CSA but with school I just couldn't keep up with the produce we got each week.  I fully intend to join up again once I graduate and have the money and the time to enjoy the great variety and unique produce available through them.

Kelly:

I made my first batch of raw milk mozzarella this morning!  It was easy -- my first time making any cheese at all.  I followed the directions here:

fiascofarm.com/dairy/mozzarella.htm

I ordered the cheese cultures, rennet and citric acid from The Dairy Connection, as mentioned on the above website.  A picture of me working my first batch of curds is below.  The finished cheese came out great.  Let me know if you want to give it a try and you have any questions.

-Joe

OK, I might have to try mozzarella.  Did you shred it when it was done? Or form it into a block and slice it or what?