Rebuild from Depression Blog

No pesticides
No antibiotics
No hormones

Dairy as a food group is actually low in pesticide residue. The USDA collects data on residue and dairy is consistently low. The filtration system provided by the cow probably helps.

Cows on antibiotics in a conventional dairy system are actually put in the "hospital" to recover and they are moved back into the herd when their milk tests clean of antibiotics (below trace levels).

All milk has hormones. Not all milk is made from cows on rBST, but there is no hormone-free milk. Even my milk had hormones. That's just the nature of milk.

In the press covering the loss of certification at the Vander Eyk Dairy, Fresno Bee reporter Garance Burke quoted Western United Dairymen spokesman Mike Marsh saying, "Consumers may perceive that milk produced by grass-eating cows is of higher quality than conventional dairy products, but they are equal."

And that's where I tend to disagree. Anyone who grew up on a farm or buys their dairy products right from a farm where Bessy has access to pasture has experienced the difference.

The grass that cows eat contains precursors to Vitamin A, Vitamin K, and beneficial fats including alpha linoleic acid (ALA) and (conjugated linoleic acid (CLA). Those grazing cows also get more sun and produce more Vitamin D. Conventional herds tend to hang out under shade structures and the processing plant puts in the Vitamin D.

The deep yellow color you find in butter from cows eating rapidly growing grass comes from the beta carotene and Vitamin A in the butter. As long as a coloring agent was not added, the color of the butter is a good indicator of the access to grass of the cows. The color will change over the seasons because grass doesn't grow year-round in most of the world. Here in California, from about January through May, I expect a dark yellow butter if I am paying the big bucks for dairy products from pastured animals.

Like the dairy industry in general, I would like to see dairy labels change. I want to know if the cow is pastured. A cow eating grass will have a diet rich in nutrients not found in grains and legumes and those nutrients will find their way into my dairy products.