The Weston A. Price Foundation has covered extensively the dangers as well as the benefits of consuming farm-fresh milk in their many articles online.
See: http://www.realmilk.com/documents/PathogensinRawMilk.pdf where retired pathologist, Ted Beals, MS, MD says, "I do not disagree that milk, like all foods,can be contaminated with disease-causing microorganisms, but the inquiring public needs accurate and objective information. The opponents of raw milk have learned how best to scare people". This is a very complete and referenced article from Wise Traditions magazine that states conclusively "That fresh raw milk has the properties to kill pathogens is no urban legend; it is proven science."

Here's a link to California court documents http://www.realmilk.com/documents/expert-testimony-0508.pdf where it is a matter of court record that the USDA's own standards and measurements of milk bacteria reflect that pasteurized milk is more likely to be contaminated with bacteria than is raw milk. This is dry stuff, but you'll find this testimony (from a hostile witness) about 3/4 of the way through the treatise.

". . . it appears that most investigators are thoroughly convinced that raw milk poses a major threat to public health, and thus they often rush to judgment to implicate raw milk even when the science is not fully supportive." comes from yet another rebuttal found here: http://www.realmilk.com/documents/ResponsetoMarlerListofStudies.pdf.

Further, it is important to note that this is an issue of many facets with bacteria count being just one. Food freedom is a vanishing right, and small dairy operations are in real danger of extinction in the USA. Food Democracy Now has teamed up with several other groups. Since you indicated your support of folks' freedom to choose what to eat, perhaps you'd add your voice in an email to Attorney General Holder:
http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/doj_dairy/?r=5707&id=9803-2080185-ANJ2hlx to save dairy farms.

Lynn

While I know there are many raw food proponents out there, and I understand the good bacteria debate, I myself would not trust milk from my own cow without heating it first even if the teats were absolutely clean. My reasoning is because it is coming from a living animal that is simply not immune to illnesses or diseases and the idea that bacteria exists in both good and bad forms.

So in my view, while we may be killing off good probiotics, etc. we still get the benefits of non-hormone raised cattle in a very clean environment. Had I raised my own cow I may be tempted to try some raw milk just for the heck of it, but otherwise heating to me is not a sin more than thinking one form is indefinitely better than the other.

On that note, we really should get a choice and not poopoo on what other people prefer. I do disagree with the government's handling of the issue, though I am glad they have not banned raw milk in california

However, I'm not sure that pasteurization is a guarantee of total safety; see Two People Die After Drinking Listeria Tainted Milk.

Which is not to say that your milk wasn't safe (or was). I'd guess that most of us grew up drinking milk, and here we are, ages later, still alive and well.