South Carolina's Milky Way Farm sells the greatest raw milk and cream

by George Vigil, January 24, 2010
in Organic Food

Raw Milk As we are somewhat new to the Carolinas, we were delighted to find that L.D. Peeler's Milky Way Farm in located in Starr, South Carolina, sells its natural dairy products locally — locally to us, that is. They have a schedule of places to pick it up as well as various stores and markets in South Carolina that sell it. Now, yes, we have to travel across the border from Charlotte, North Carolina to Fort Mill, South Carolina in order to buy it — but, geez, it's about five miles. Not far at all.

And it's well worth the trip. We load up on sweet milk and thick cream (I like coffee with my cream). We also use the cream to make our all-natural ice cream, which we flavor with different organic extracts such as lemon or orange.

What's more, I also use the cream in our homemade baked bread. At some point I want to see if I can make some butter, since I notice that the cream is pretty thick — while it's labeled as “light cream”, it's much thicker than other creams I've purchased elsewhere.

Raw Buttermilk According to its website, scmilkywayfarm.com, the milk is produced by Jersey cows that graze on grass — and Milky Way Farm does NOT pasteurize its milk (that means that they don't cook it). If you cook the milk, it will last quite long in the fridge, but the reason for that is that most of the nutrition has been boiled out of the milk. Thus there is less of what makes it a food and so it spoils nowhere near as fast as natural milk that hasn't been pasteurized or homogenized.

NOTE: If you read on a label for Organic milk that it has been pasteurized, it is NOT organic milk. This is a deceptive misrepresentation of what the product actually is. Pasteurized milk cannot ever be organic. Organic milk cannot be processed or in this case boiled.

Milky Way Farm simply takes the milk from the cow and bottles it and sells it to the public, like nature intended.

And in my opinion, this is the kind of milk that does bodies very good. All the minerals, proteins and vitamins are still intact.

Additionally, Local Harvest says of Milky Way Farm:

The South Carolina Department of Health tests Milky Way milk monthly for e.coli, bacteria, and SCC (somatic cell count which can indicate mastitis infection), and yearly for TB, and Brucellosis (Bangs disease). In addition to these tests, the farm voluntarily tests its cows for Johnes, a disease similar to Crohn's disease in humans. If not detected, Johnes can spread throughout a herd, significantly reducing production and ultimately resulting in a cow's death.

To find out more about Milky Way Farm, you can visit their website: scmilkywayfarm.com.

ADDED: please read the comments below for information we did not have at the time of writing this article.

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28 Comments for "South Carolina's Milky Way Farm sells the greatest raw milk and cream"

Diane Vigil
Comment posted on 01/24/2010 @ 8:19 pm

Good article, George. As we'd previously not had raw milk from Jerseys, I was surprised to find how mellow it really is. Excellent.
E Thomas
Comment posted on 04/23/2010 @ 6:42 pm

my understanding is that they feed the cows some grain. The grain is not organic and from what I could discover in researching them, its GMO grain. Definitely not organic! Why go to the trouble of getting raw milk and then drink gmo's?
Diane Vigil
Comment posted on 04/24/2010 @ 1:17 am

Could you possibly tell me where you got that information? I'd tried to do a bit of research earlier, but hadn't found anything. I'd appreciate hearing where you got that information.
momo
Comment posted on 05/25/2010 @ 2:21 pm

I'd also like to know where you got this information E Thomas. Please share with us as I recently started drinking raw milk from them. Site owner/moderator, could you please email Mr. Thomas and invite him to come back and reply to his post and our questions? Thank you.
Kelly
Comment posted on 08/11/2010 @ 12:16 pm

Their own website states they feed grain and they refuse to comment on HOW MUCH GRAIN. This bothers me. I am not sure about it being GMO or not but this why you must visit the farm to see for yourself.

Also being from a more northern state where Raw Milk was plentiful, the milk had TASTE, real sweet taste. In my opinion, Milky way milk is taste-LESS stale and boring. Reminds me of store bought milk. Oh how much I miss my local raw milk.
Diane Vigil
Comment posted on 08/11/2010 @ 3:06 pm

Kelly, I have to agree. It's important to know what a farm is doing.

By the way, we're from California, where we could get Organic Pastures' organic raw milk — and, indeed, it had taste. It was sweet. The body reacted as if it were getting essential nutrients. I don't get the same feeling from Milky Way milk.
Lynn S
Comment posted on 06/16/2011 @ 9:56 pm

I know this is a really old thread but was wondering what you ever found out in regards to the milk and what MW feeds their cows. Do you have any more information on this? Thanks!
Diane Vigil
Comment posted on 06/16/2011 @ 11:10 pm

What I see on their website is this:

The cows have access to pasture and hay year round. Weather permitting, the hay is grown on our farm; otherwise, we purchase hay from local farmers. The cows also have limited access to grain, and their portions are determined by their production.

Other than this, there is the comment above by E. Thomas about GMO grain, and some minor discussions here and there.

But as to what might be deemed proof or evidence of anything untoward, I have nothing. I'm not saying it's true; I'm not saying it's not true. I'm saying that, unfortunately, I don't know.
Diane Vigil
Comment posted on 06/16/2011 @ 11:32 pm

By the way, I will add that we are still drinking the Milky Way Farm milk, which is very tasty.

The fact that the organic raw milk from Organic Pastures (which we were able to get while we were in California) might have been different is, well … it was certified organic.

We are shortly to be moving to Austin, Texas, where I hope we'll be able to find raw milk — hopefully organic.
Kelly
Comment posted on 06/17/2011 @ 5:26 pm

Hi Diane:

I was in a coop that received MW's milk. I heard directly from the coop leader that he in fact does feed grain, and that the farmer (Peeler) stresses local over organic. Therefore, since GMO corn is everywhere and its organic counterpart is so difficult to find (and expensive), I would bet the farm (no pun intended) that that is exactly what the cows are getting.

The cows all get separate rations based upon their productivity. I do not like this because if you want to increase your milk yield, you do NOT add more grain, you get more cows…

Not only that, the operation is huge, not only does he do RAW MILK sales which he has drops in many, many places every day…. he also does pasteurized milk. In my opinion, it was too big of an operation for us. I was not happy with his milk, his methods, his size… he just wasn't the right fit for us.

Also, we just moved to San Antonio, TX…. you and I will be neighbors once again!

Welcome to Texas!
Diane Vigil
Comment posted on 06/17/2011 @ 5:56 pm

Wow, Kelly! Thanks for the information, and glad to hear you're in San Antonio.

My understanding is that you can get raw milk in Texas … or that you can get it directly from farmers (or something like that). Would you know yet?
Erin
Comment posted on 07/8/2011 @ 8:36 pm

As another raw milk producer here in Charleston, I would just like to say that grain-fed milk is never going to be as good for the cow *or* for the people drinking it as 100% grass-fed. Grain feeding leads to the perfect environment for harmful bacteria to thrive in the cow's digestive tract. As Alan Nation says, "feed a cow five pounds of grain, turn her into a pig." Who wants milk from a pig?
Diane Vigil
Comment posted on 07/8/2011 @ 10:14 pm

Hi Erin. Thanks — but could you clarify about feeding cows grain and turning them into pigs? Does that imply that grain is a fattener, or …?
Kelly
Comment posted on 07/9/2011 @ 3:08 pm

Hi Diane:

Are you in Austin yet? Drop me an email when you arrive at Kelleohara at AOL.com. I can email you all the sources of raw milk in our vicinity.

Also, to butt in on your convo with Erin… Yes, actually grain (corn, etc) is a fattener… which is why conventional beef farms feed their cattle grain and lots of it because it fattens their herd up faster……etc.
However, the problems associated with that method abound… uggh..

Just came home from the farmers market – I just love Saturdays!

Kelly
Diane Vigil
Comment posted on 07/9/2011 @ 4:35 pm

Thanks for the information, Kelly. I'll email you.
Lynn
Comment posted on 07/9/2011 @ 5:27 pm

Sorry for re-starting this thread and then abandoning the discussion! (It has been busy here to say the least.)

After posting here and reading the first few responses, I decided to just call LD and see what he had to say. Needless to say, rumors abound in the internet -some true and some not- and the best way to find out the truth is to head to the source, right?

Here is a summary of our discussion…
He used to sell exclusively to the local dairies for pasturization -as did his father and grandfather before him. Then he was approached on several occasions by a milk inspector that kept trying to get him to start selling raw milk. He was continually told that their farm and milk was cleaner and producing better milk than any the others he inspected and there is a growing market for raw milk. He obviously gave in and started offering raw milk. (I didnt ask if he still sells to the local dairies for pasturization but seem to remember reading somewhere that he does send his excess to the bulk dairies…?)

They are certified to have a maximum of 120 cows and currently have about 90 -75 of which are milking. (Someone told me they had been there and "saw he had over 500 cows -see what I mean about rumors??)

He does indeed supplement with grain -but not in the way most "grain fed" farms do. He works with a nutritionist that comes and evaluates each cows nutritional needs. That specific cow is then allowed (or NOT allowed) a set -small- amount of grain each day. Each cow wears a transponder that is coded with the amount that she is allowed and it is also not allowed to be eaten all at one "sitting".

The grains he feed are not certified organic as they are too expensive. (We can attest to that as we pay over twice as much for our organic chicken feed and our organic goat feed was almost 3 times the non-organic.) However, he does his best to buy from farmers that are non-GMO producers. Also, he does not feed large amounts of corn or soybeans but rather feeds like alfalfa. (You have to rememeber that "grain" can be any combination of anything that is not grass or hay.) He does not feed ANY by-products.

Let me see…

He does give the cows probiotics on occasion -again based on nutritional need. The ONLY time a cow is given antibiotics is when she is drying off and getting ready to calf again. Any cow that is given an antibiotic is sent to a seperate pasture and it not milked for several months (more than long enough for the ab to be out of her system).

I think that pretty much sums up the conversation. In the end, we are more than satisfied to continue buying from them -unless something in their practice changes. My husband was raised on a dairy farm in extreme northern NY and it was impossible to NOT feed grain at some point in the year. With long and harsh winters where grass is not available and hay isnt as fresh towards the end, alfalfa and other grains were always supplemented. Yes, some of the reason was to help keep fat on the cow for the winter. This is not unhealthy in my opinion -it is excessive grains that are not healty.

Another thing to remember is that cows milk is naturally "filtered" by the cow just as human breast milk is filtered. The cows body uses the nutrients to make the milk -it is not made *from* the feed.

Just wanted to put some direct answers out there for anyone else who is wondering. We have been drinking their milk for about 2 months now and love it. My husband hadnt been able to drink milk for years (after leaving the farm) and is now drinking as much or more than the rest of us -and is more healthy because of it! In fact, we went from using about 4 gallons every two weeks to now using 7 gallons! :-)
Diane Vigil
Comment posted on 07/18/2011 @ 7:03 pm

Thanks for the update, Lynn. Much appreciated.
Erin
Comment posted on 08/3/2011 @ 9:45 pm

If his cows really eat so much grass, the cream should be yellow. Is it yellow? All that I've seen is pure white. Grass fed cows would never have white cream at this time of year.

While it is difficult in other parts of the country to get by without feeding grains, we don't have harsh winters here, and it should never be necessary to feed grain, unless you're trying to increase your production. And grain is never healthy for a cow. She just wasn't made to consume corn.

I just have a problem with the misrepresentation of a product. If he is 100% grass fed, ok. But he's not. And I constantly run into people that have been led to believe that this product is from 100% grass fed cows. And that's just not true.
Kelly Cevallos
Comment posted on 08/5/2011 @ 1:54 pm

Erin – Well said!! And no his cream is lily WHITE! I know from first hand knowledge.

Regarding harsh winters, specifically upstate NY harsh winters… My mother lives on the St. Lawrence River in Waddington, NY and the college town of Potsdam, NY is about 25 minutes south. It was in Potsdam where I got my raw milk while I was there. He fed absolutely ZERO grain. Talk about harsh winters, they have plenty of 30 below days during their ultra long winter season. His cows are happy and healthy and give the best colored, best tasting milk.

What bothers me most are farmers and NON-FARMERS telling me what MUST be done which is simply not true. I found a farmer that didn't feed any grain whatsoever and his cows were not dropping like flies because of the lack of grain in their diet.

Also – I still have the email from the MW coop leader. After reading it again, and re-reading my previous post, I did not misrepresent any information or fuel any rumors. Here is her email detailing the operation.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hello Lauren,

I'm having some trouble getting answers from Milky Way Farm about their milk. My wife has tried to contact them via email several times and has also tried calling them. On the site it says that they use grain. I'm trying to find out how much grain are they feeding the cows? What kind of grain is it?
Is it GMO or non-GMO? Is it organic grain?

Thank you,

Rick
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hi Rick. Sorry you haven’t had success getting your questions answered by Mr. Peeler. He’s usually pretty quick (for a farmer) about responding to emails… usually within a few days.

Anyway, here’s how Milky Way Farm handles their grain:

Mr. Peeler has a nutritionist on hire who comes out and takes a sampling of the hay he will be feeding. The nutritionist tests the nutrition content of the hay and then works with a local grain mill to mill up a ration customized to the nutritional needs of the cows based on what is lacking in the hay. So, the grain is only providing that which the cows need, as the vitamins/minerals in the hay will vary from cutting to cutting and from farm to farm (Mr. Peeler does grow some of his own hay, and the rest he buys locally). The amount of grain fed to each cow varies and is determined based on her production, body condition, and whether or not she is bred. Their individual rations are fed out over a 24 hour period using a special electronic collar/grain bin system. When a cow approaches the grain bin for her ‘treat,’ a device on the bin reads her collar and then dispenses a portion of her daily ration until her full ration has been dispensed. At that point, the bin will no longer open for her until the next day. The rations range from a couple of pounds of grain at the low end to 20 lbs or so (which isn’t actually all that much to a cow) for a heavy producer that needs improvement in body condition.

As an aside, this all comes down to genetics… some cows will continue to increase production and use more energy the more grain they’re fed up until a certain point where it balances itself out. Feeding no grain to these cows can be devastating to their condition as they will produce large quantities of milk anyway and become emaciated in the process. Today’s dairy cows simply aren’t ‘natural’ animals in the purest sense of the word… they’ve been bred to produce huge quantities of milk and they need a lot of energy to do it. My family’s Jersey cow is like this… we struggle to keep weight on her despite a never ending supply of green grass and local hay. So, we have to grain her.

The types of grains will vary depending on what the cows need, and the grain mill obtains local grains if at all possible… sometimes they do need to buy some items outside the state due to shortages. The grain is not organic or non-GMO. Most of the grains, save for the soy and corn when they’re included, probably aren’t GMO though because there are actually very few approved GMO grains at this point. Mr. Peeler’s focus is on supporting local farmers, and doing things as naturally as possible, while keeping the milk affordable… not so much on ‘organic’ as defined by the USDA.

Anyway, that’s probably more info that you wanted, but I hope it helps! This subject is a bit of a passion of mine as our family has livestock of our own now, having moved from the suburbs several years ago. So, I tend to ramble on. =)

Lauren
Co-op Organizer
lauren@trianglemilkcoop.org
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Again – if this operation fits your family, then so be it. It did not fit my family so we traveled 4 hours to Greensboro, NC to get our milk … and 4 hours back every other Sunday. We found a much smaller operation that fed only a treat while milking. That treat was only about a pound or so twice a day. That milk was delicious, had flavor …. I gave up my ice cream addiction once I found his milk – It literally tasted like ice cream. I hope all who desire raw milk get milk that tastes like that! DELICIOUS.

Diane – please give me a call when you get to Austin 210.745.2740 :)
Diane Vigil
Comment posted on 08/5/2011 @ 3:04 pm

Hi Kelly. Well, all I can say is … I hope you've found that kind of milk in Austin!

I'll give you a call a little later. I'm on a bit of a weird schedule right now.
Carolina
Comment posted on 08/31/2011 @ 11:57 am

Hey Kelly,

I was wondering what farm you got your milk from in Greensboro? We are actually local and would prefer to be able to visit a farm directly and get our milk source locally.

Thanks!

Carolina
Debbie
Comment posted on 09/17/2011 @ 3:05 pm

I also live in the Greensboro, NC, area and am interested in the local dairy selling raw milk here. Contact information would be greatly appreciated, as I've recently relocated from SC and am in need of my raw milk fix. Thank you!
Kelly Cevallos
Comment posted on 09/17/2011 @ 7:27 pm

I was trying to avoid this, but since more than one person spoke up, I will respond.

Ladies, if interested in raw milk, then you know that raw milk is illegal in north carolina. Due to its illegality, I will not disclose on an internet forum who our source was. I will lead you to the Weston A. Price chapter leader in the area. Please do look her up and contact her and she will be able to help you.

Also, once you do find a source in North Carolina, I would urge you to be discreet in who you tell. The law is cracking down on dairies and if his dairy is harassed in any way, so many families will be seriously affected by the loss of his milk. It is truly a wonderful product!!

I hope I have helped and please do forgive me for not being more forthcoming. Remember, it our own government who is telling you what we are allowed to put in our body and what we are allowed to do for a living. A cryin' shame is what it is! I wonder how we EVER allowed this to happen.
Alison Price
Comment posted on 01/29/2012 @ 2:23 pm

Hi Everyone!
I'm in CHarleston and desperately on the search for organic or at least truly 100% grass fed, Jersey cow raw milk. Erin… you posted above saying you are in Charleston and are a producer? Please help me find you!

I looked into Milky Way and spoke with the farmer myself. He said he does feed them grain and its local. He had no idea if the grain was GMO or not, he admitted that himself to me on the phone.

I'm REALLY interested in hooking up with a Charleston raw milk farmer who has year round supply and is TRULY 100% grass fed. I have a 1.5 year old and a 4 year old who love milk and i feel so much better giving them healthy, raw (and as close to organic) milk.

Any help is appreciated!
Alison
Alison Price
Comment posted on 01/29/2012 @ 2:24 pm

If you don't feel right posting your contact info, let me know and I can give you a way to contact me instead.

Alison
Diane Vigil
Comment posted on 01/29/2012 @ 2:30 pm

Allison, while you're waiting for Erin to respond, you might take a look at the RealMilk.com website (created by the Weston A. Price Foundation) for providers in South Carolina. I see a couple in Charleston that might work for you — and perhaps Erin is one of them:

http://realmilk.com/where08.html#sc
Alison Price
Comment posted on 01/29/2012 @ 3:36 pm

Hi DIane!
Your so nice to post this, but I've exhausted these options. Geers sell Milky Way Farms milk. The Sea Island Jerseys milk is wonderful and I've bought it whenever possible at the farmers market. But its a small operation and she has been completely out of milk for several months.
Diane Vigil
Comment posted on 01/29/2012 @ 3:49 pm

Darn. Let's give her a bit to see if she returns, then.

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